Selangor BN questions ‘small role’ given to Khusrin

February 10, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — The Selangor Barisan National today took to task the Selangor government for instructing new State Secretary Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi to concentrate his duties on land and properties owned by the state government, claiming this was a very “small role” for the senior state civil servant.

State Opposition Leader Datuk Mohamad Satim Diman said this was surprising as such matters came under the purview of district and land offices.

“Why should Khusrin(picture) be monitoring these cases,” he told reporters after a meeting with Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim here today.

Mohamad Satim, who is also the assemblyman for Seri Serdang, said Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s action in issuing the instruction lowered the prestige of state civil servants as it indicated a lack of confidence in the new state secretary.

Last week, Abdul Khalid held a meeting with Khusrin at his office and instructed the latter to give priority to Selangor government-owned land and properties, in particular problematic ones and update him on the status of such properties from time to time.

Khusrin’s appointment as the new state secretary became a controversial issue with Khalid alleging that he was not consulted about it despite Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor having given his consent to the appointment.

The mentri besar’s meeting with Khusrin came after the state assembly convened a special sitting to amend the Selangor constitution to give powers back to the Selangor Sultan and the mentri besar to appoint the top three state civil servants — the state secretary, financial officer and legal adviser.

However, the PKR-led state government failed to garner the two-thirds majority required to make the amendment.

The appointments for the three posts are made by the Public Service Commission, a federal agency. — Bernama