Dubious claims by ex-Selangor state-secretary that MB was informed of Khusrin

It is hard to tell if former Selangor state secretary Ramli Mahmud is trying to do the Sultan and the federal government a favor by going to the press and laying bare what he believes are facts that will prove that Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim was lying when the latter accused him and the federal government of deliberately keeping secret the controversial appointment of Khusrin Munawi as the new state secretary.

Ramli had told the press “the public service department, through the public service commission (SPA) had sent out the names of three shortlisted candidates to the Selangor Sultan, to which his highness had given his blessings to Datuk Khusrin as state secretary."

“I received a letter stating that the Sultan gave his blessings to Datuk Khusrin and I was asked to inform the public service department. There were copies of the said letter (of Mohd Khusrin’s appointment). So I received the letter and the mentri besar also received a copy of the letter, so he should be aware of it."

However, his statement only shows that the federal government through the PSD had informed the Sultan but not Khalid. Ramli himself only knew about Khusrin from the Sultan's reply to the PSD letter and not from the PSD directly.

According to Ramli, the reply from the Ruler confirmed that Khusrin was the choice from a short-list of three names sent by the PSD. Ramli's admission implies that this was the first time that he got wind of Khusrin's appointment. This is consistent with Khalid's contention that he was never consulted even though it is he who is the chief executive of the state, rather than the Ruler who is above executive matters.

Ramli further claimed there were other copies of the Sultan's reply. But even if Khalid was on the "copied to" list, how can Ramli be sure that the letter did really reach Khalid's office and was not intercepted midway. Did he pesronally hand over the copy of the Sultan's letter to Khalid?

According to Selangor officials, so far the only thing that Ramli has managed to clear is that the PSD never informed Khalid just as Khalid has claimed. The federal government department only submitted the shortlist to the Sultan, bypassing the Mentri Besar.

"The more they lie, the more the conspiracy is exposed. Bit by bit, we can start to piece together what actually happened and I can tell you it is not a pretty picture," the Selangor aide told Malaysia Chronicle.

Forced to accept an enemy who may sabotage them

The Pakatan Rakysta state government has staged a huge fight to reject Khusrin. His appointment is not only unacceptable to them because he is an Umno member and has in the past worked continuosly to foil them at the expense of professionalism and fair play.

In addition, his qualifications do not match the position. Other senior civil servants have complained about Khusrin, a Grade C officer, jumping over their heads because the state secretary is a senior post traditionally open only to Grade A officers.

There is widespread belief that Prime Minister Najib Razak personally picked Khusrin, the former director of the state Islamic department JAIS, because of his Umno background.

Najib is keen to regain control of Selangor and has transferred hundreds of thousands of Rela officers to the state to allegedly pose as phantom voters in the coming election. There is speculation these Rela volunteers may even be ordered to stir unrest so that Najib's federal government can call a state of emergency, which would indirectly give them control of the country's richest state.

Malaysia Chronicle appends below a news report of an interview Ramli gave to the media this morning.

KUALA LUMPUR - Former Selangor state secretary Datuk Ramli Mahmud claimed today that the state government had been informed of Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi’s appointment, despite Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim saying otherwise.

The Selangor mentri besar insisted yesterday that the state government was initially unaware of Mohd Khusrin’s appointment, and had blamed Ramli for not informing him of Putrajaya’s candidate.

Today, Ramli explained that he had received an official letter from the Selangor palace which stated that the Selangor Sultan had given his blessings to Mohd Khusrin’s appointment.

“The public service department, through the public service commission (SPA) had sent out the names of three shortlisted candidates to the Selangor Sultan, to which his highness had given his blessings to Datuk Khusrin as state secretary.

“I received a letter stating that the Sultan gave his blessings to Datuk Khusrin and I was asked to inform the public service department.

“There were copies of the said letter (of Mohd Khusrin’s appointment). So I received the letter and the mentri besar also received a copy of the letter, so he should be aware of it,” Ramli told The Malaysian Insider today.

The private secretary to the Sultan, Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani, yesterday provided a list detailing the chronology of events leading to the appointment of Mohd Khusrin.

According to the list, Ramli had received the names of the three shortlisted candidates from the public service commission (SPA) on December 3 last year.

Mohd Khusrin was one of the three shortlisted candidates.

Khalid however claimed that Ramli had never informed him or the state government of the shortlisted candidates.

“I was never told... Ramli did not tell me. The fact that the Chief Secretary chose to deal with the former state secretary without my knowledge… Ramli chose to deal with Sidek only without the knowledge of the mentri besar. This is one of the issues that leads to today’s problem...well it’s up to how you want to look at it, write it,” the Selangor MB had said.

Ramli defended himself today, saying that as far as he was concerned, he had done his job, and did not want to get involved in the on-going row over the state secretary appointment.

“I would not know if the Selangor MB does not know about this, well he should be aware (of the appointment.) Originally eight names were sent to the Sultan and this included Datuk Khusrin, so I thought the matter had already been settled.

“I was only doing my job. When the Sultan gave his blessings I informed the Public Service Department,” Ramli added.

Khalid’s administration has repeatedly insisted that Mohd Khusrin would not be accepted as state secretary, even after Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah himself had called for an end to the debacle.

The state’s ruler said yesterday that he did not want Mohd Khusrin’s appointment “politicised”, adding that he was saddened his previous remarks had been “manipulated” by “irresponsible quarters” and had confused the people of Selangor.

- Malaysian Insider