Selangor MB: PM influencing civil servants to be anti-Pakatan

By Clara Chooi

February 25, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim today accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak of encouraging civil servants to discriminate against Pakatan Rakyat (PR) when the latter allowed the Chief Secretary to the government into a meeting meant for Barisan Nasional (BN) state government leaders.

The Selangor mentri besar said Najib’s statement on Thursday that the meeting was only meant for BN mentris besar and chief ministers was “shameless” since the country’s top civil servant Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan was also present.

“As a civil servant, the Chief Secretary should not have attended the meeting which was clearly meant for a political party.

“He should have been more professional,” Khalid (picture) said in a statement.

The PKR leader added that Sidek should have excused himself from the meeting and informed the prime minister that it was “discriminatory”.

Najib, said Khalid, had not only displayed an undemocratic attitude but had also set a “dangerous precedent” in encouraging civil servants to discriminate against PR-led governments.

He also raised suspicion over which party had funded the meeting, which Najib had described on Thursday as “common practice”, and asked if had been BN or the federal government.

“If the federal government is funding the meeting how can the prime minister arrogantly say that it is a common practice and that there is nothing wrong with it?” he asked.

On Thursday, Najib refuted allegations that he had snubbed PR by deliberately excluding their representatives from a mentris besar and chief ministers meeting earlier in the week.

The prime minister had told a press conference that the meeting was merely for “co-ordination” between the federal and state governments and was not one enshrined under the Federal Constitution.

“Meetings that, according to the Constitution, involve all states, we will invite all mentris besar and chief ministers from the opposition... such as land committee, local government and meetings involving state finances... We respect the Constitution,” Najib said after chairing an Umno supreme council meeting.

“The meeting held two days ago was more of a co-ordination between federal and state governments and this is limited to Barisan Nasional (BN) MBs and CM only,” he added.

He also said this was a common practice from before, reiterating that he had not deliberately snubbed PR leaders.

“They hold many meetings on their own without inviting as well... we don’t complain,” Najib said, laughing.