Who will be the lucky man Prime Minister Najib Razak will offer to the people of Selangor as their next Mentri Besar or chief minister if the Umno-BN wins back the state from Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat coalition?
Indeed, the list of prospective candidates is not short but the reality is that there are very few valid choices for Najib, who is also the Selangor UMNO chief. The hottest bet and flavor of the month now is Subahan Kamal, the Umno assemblyman for Taman Templer.
A trained accountant, Subhan began his career in 1990 with Bank Rakyat (M) Berhad and in 1995 was appointed Senior Private Secretary to the Deputy Minister of Finance until 1998. He was subsequently appointed Senior Private Secretary to the Deputy Minister of Human Resources in 1999. Subahan is now an Executive Committee Member (EXCO) of the UMNO Youth wing. He has also held various directorships in public listed companies such as OCB Bhd and KFC Holdings Bhd, and is currently a vice-president in the Football Association of Malaysia.
What is so special in having a guy with a corporate background or was a CEO of a company to head a state government. The obvious inference is that PKR Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim has done a stunning job in re-organising and reviving Selangor. And Khalid was a big-time corporate chief.
Copy-cat
The main criteria for an MB or CM must be integrity and honesty. These values exemplify all the good qualities without which there cannot be any true leadership. The MB can appoint all the professional advisers and competent heads of department he needs to swing around a distressed situation.
Even the thinking or strategy, whether for the economy, social development or politics, can be outsourced to a think-tank or special unit of professionals. But to make the best decision, put the ideas into practice and implement the projects diligently - you need to have integrity in the very core of your character to get the job done well.
Does not Najib have other choices? After all, Subahan has been low-profile and few have heard of his name. Who are those who think they have a chance?
Well, names like Agriculture minister Noh Omar, former Works minister Mohd Zin, Senator Ezam Mohd Noor and even former Selangor MB Muhammad Muhammad Taib have frequently been tossed. All have some chance of being chosen with the only one completely out of the picture being Khalid's predecessor, the corruption-tainted Khir Toyo.
Ultimately, the decision is Najib's and UMNO's? Chances are Najib will decide against the lineup above given that each of the men have a murky past. Hence, the spotlight now swiveling onto Subahan.
'Old' guard unhappy
But have not UMNO-BN had enough bad experience from appointing business-based people to lead a state government? For example, Syed Razak Syed Zain owned and managed several companies before becoming the Kedah MB in 1999. Muhammad Hasan, the MB of Negeri Sembilan, also has several businesses.
UMNO too has appointed many lecturers, doctors and other professionals to helm the states it controls. But whether business background, professional or purely political background, all have turned out to be huge disappointments so far - their records and tenures marred by mismanagement, corruption and abuse of power while they enriched themselves.
The Malay Mail recently reported that three corporate personalities and a serving senior civil servant were being considered for the top Selangor job.
“It is in line with the prime minister’s transformation policies and he wants the people – especially Selangorians – to believe in Umno and BN again. There have been many issues concerning corruption, abuse of funds and land grabs which caused BN to lose Selangor," said a party source.
“We need to reassure the people that the person who will lead Selangor is someone with a good track record in financial management and running a huge company,” said another party source.
That there is already resistance by the 'old' guard is clear. According to Mohd Zin, who is also Selangor UMNO liaison secretary, the proposal was still being studied.
“Well, if it is what the prime minister wants, we must consider,” said a clearly less-than enthusiastic Mohd Zin.
“You look at Selangor today; is Khalid a good leader? Just because you are a good manager doesn’t make you a good leader. Running a state and corporate management are two different things."
Subahan has his own fires to put out
In 2009, Subahan made a promise that he may soon regret. He had publicly vowed he would not stand for election if he failed to resolve the Bukit Botak housing issues in Selayang, which had been mismanaged by the UMNO-BN state government during Khir Toyo's time.
Subahan made this pledge in November 2009 during a MESRA Rakyat program organised for the people in Taman Mutiara, Bukit Botak. However, after nearly 3 years, the housing problems have yet to be resolved either by UMNO or Subahan.
It is Khalid's Pakatan state government that is now sorting out the issue for the Bukit Botak residents. And these residents are murmuring to themselves, if left to UMNO-BN, they would have to wait till the cows come home!
Yes, the truth is despite what Mohd Zin said earlier pertaining to Khalid's shortcomings, it is the present PR state government who are solving the residents' problems in Selangor - area by area - after decades of neglect by the BN.
“The state has adopted Bukit Botak as a pilot project to help solve problem of the settlers who had to wait many years to get a permanent roof over their heads”, said Khalid.
Will his constituents re-elect him?
So, Subahan faces his own problems of credibility. Even if he ignores his own promise and defends his seat in the 13th general election, there is the risk his constituents may dump him.
Another of Subahan’s efforts that ended with pie in the face was a move to erect and hang as many BN flags as possible all over Bandar Baru Selayang. A group of UMNO bikers in the style of Mat Rempits were gathered, paid and even escorted by the police to hang the flags.
But the people there were not impressed. After the Mat Rempits were done at around 3.00 am, another group of youths moved in and tore up all the BN flags, replacing these with Pakatan banners and such. To crown it all, the youths even piled all the BN flags together right in front of Subahan’s house to send him an unmistakable message.
Bad example comes from Najib
So for Najib, the most important lesson - if he is bothered to learn - is that a fish rots from the head. His 'machai' or men take the cue from his lead. If he is corrupt and under-handed, then they are corrupt and under-handed.
A good and reputable CEO suddenly catapulted into the MB's chair will not solve Selangor's woes. Najib cannot be so intellectually challenged as not to understand this - he is just playing favorite political game - imagery and perception. If he truly believed that a sold managerial background was key, he would not have forced Hassan Merican the ex-Petronas CEO to resign.And this is why, Hasan took up another job of a similar level in neighboring Singapore - to give Najib a nice slap in the face for the slight!
At the end of the day, strip away all the rhetoric and hot gas, Najib will go against all good advice and rational thinking. Like all past UMNO presidents, he will appoint someone who will support him and obey his orders. That is the main criteria to become an UMNO Mentri Besar! No doubt, the candidate will have to swallow his pride and say 'YES' in double-quick time whenever Najib throws out a question, but it is worth it!
Once, they sit in the MB's chair, they can do whatever they like and Najib won’t care a hoot, even if the state goes bankrupt. Instead, he will support them if they are caught up in any scandal for the UMNO president too benefits from questionable deals struck by the MB. Sometimes, the UMNO money-making system is like a pyramid or multilevel selling scheme, where dubious 'commissioning' is the name of the game.
Doing it all wrong
Najib has shown how NOT to manage a government. For example, he should know better than to meddle with the choice of contractors for the Ampang LRT extension. He should not have directed the tender board to award the deal to a consortium led by George Kent Bhd, which is controlled by his crony from school days.
The Ampang LRT deal is a clear example of not heeding good, sound and professional advice based on proper vetting procedures. Najib has shown himself as the best example of what UMNO prime ministers, mentri besars or chief ministers should NOT be - corrupt, dishonest and incompetent as ever.
Malaysia Chronicle
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