Selangor MB's pol sec Faekah at bay

The brouhaha in Selangor PKR over the menteri besar's political secretary has more to do with her inflated role than with any quirks of personality, though the latter is said to be just as troubling.

Faekah Husin is the second person to emerge from the coattails of party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and move into a position in the Selangor state government only to wade into controversy.

A few years back, Elizabeth Wong, the Bukit Lanjan assemblyperson, made the same transition from Azizah equerry to executive councillor before landing in a spot of bother over risqué photos of her, apparently circulated by her paramour.

But whereas Wong's problem blew over quickly because one driver of the controversy disappeared, Faekah's problems are likely to persist unless of course there's a contraction to the many roles she plays as MB Khalid Ibrahim's political secretary.

Faekah (left) must be one of the more visible political secretaries there is. She sits on the board of several state government-linked companies.

This is contrary to the archetype: political secretaries are discreet, largely invisible operators who - away from the media glare - work to lubricate their bosses' ties to the party, media and public.

Political secretaries cannot be power brokers, which is what Faekah cannot avoid being by virtue of her position on state GLCs.

She is also on the board of Geran Selangor, the body set up by the MB's office to disburse funds for projects that are for the benefit of people in Selangor.

These positions render Faekah a formidable presence in the state government, a situation at variance to the role traditionally played by political secretaries.

MB courted trouble before

The reason why this aggrandisement of a political secretary's role has gone largely unchallenged is that Faekah enjoys the confidence of the MB.

Khalid's main problem is that he is not a politician. He came to politics from the corporate world where you don't necessarily have to please so much as manage things well.

That he has, as CEO of the Selangor estate, done rather well is not in dispute; the surplus of RM1.3 billion in income over expenditure by the state government last year is evidence of his good management.

However, he has been slow to recognise as the PKR leader of a state regarded as a jewel in the federal crown that politics is also about providing opportunities, rewarding loyalties and managing expectations of the party faithful.

Oblivious of these aspects of his role as MB, he has courted trouble with sections of the party - mainly ex-Umno members - whose 10 years (1998-2008) in the political wilderness before the Selangor government was captured by a PKR-led opposition has had them ravening for whatever rewards were to be had.

The latter bunch have had trouble accessing the MB and had contrived, when Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (right) quit as Khalid's political secretary a few years back to become communications director of PKR central, to place their candidate in that position.

But Faekah stepped into the role, courtesy of party president Azizah and accepted with alacrity by Khalid.

This caused consternation in the ranks of Selangor PKR who felt they were being neglected.

When Faekah went on to be placed on the boards of several GLCs, her role as a buffer between the MB and the PKR horde that was already disgruntled from neglect was played out in a way that only fanned the latter's grievances.

She alienates more than she cultivates

Worse, it is said that Faekah has political ambitions. If so, she has a strange conception of how best to go about achieving this.

Usually, political secretaries to powerful barons with aspirations to clamber up the ladder are careful about the path they trod, taking pains to cultivate all and sundry, particularly those they think would be crucial to their prospects for upward mobility.

Faekah alienates more than she cultivates. In that, she reflects the weakness of her boss whose past corporate career did not require him to endear so much as to execute.

Faekah is a type of functionary that is a problem for the present-day political parties: they regard the party as a form of social mobility, so that, eventually, the protection of the party's political structures becomes more important than the people the party is supposed to represent.

But MB Khalid is sticking by her as his defence of her conduct and endorsement of her capability confirm.

Good managers, especially the ones that do not seem to be failing, seldom dispense with underlings that reflect their style and PKR, the Selangor division at least, has to live with the choice.

The best thing that ought to be done in a party poised for a long stay near or at the central levers of political power in Malaysia - a situation that would inevitably result in more choice when it comes to selection - to think through the question of suitability, something that would surely yield in wisdom for future appointments.

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TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them. It is the ideal occupation for a temperament that finds power fascinating and its exercise abhorrent.