Revelations from Selangor's budget sitting

 Selangor recently tabled its fourth consecutive balanced budget. I'm proud to work for a state government that has not only accomplished this singular achievement, but simultaneously increased the state's financial reserves to record levels.

Whether or not that pride makes me an objective judge of the following I can only leave to the reader to decide for his or herself.

This article will elaborate three things I learnt about the Khalid Ibrahim administration from this year's budget, discuss some shortcomings of our Westminster system briefly, and then indulge in a few personal observations about the Dewan Negeri Selangor.

Statesman vs politician

The first thing I learnt about the Khalid administration in this last Dewan sitting is the emphasis the menteri besar places on the long term versus the short term.

It is said that the politician thinks of the next election, whereas the statesman thinks of the next generation.

This year's budget is the last before the next elections. Where the federal budget and the budgets of other states all were filled to the brim with election goodies of every shape and form, there was a glaring - almost shocking - lack of the same in this year's Selangor budget.

One could almost sense the disappointment in Pakatan Rakyat assemblypersons who had to return to their constituencies with little in the form of new handouts.

Khalid (left) mentioned specifically in his budget speech that there would be nothing of the sort. Whatever the political cost, he said that as a matter of principle, a state's budget must reflect a commitment to long term development - not short term political gain.

Thus, nothing even remotely resembling Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) handouts were in sight.

In its place were long term development projects that the state needed in the long run - projects that Khalid himself might not see finished not only in his tenure as menteri besar, but in his own lifetime.

This, more than anything else, was what Khalid felt money needed to be spent on.

Will this nobility - an impractical nobility, some would eagerly say - cost Khalid dearly in the face of enemies from within and without? Only time will tell.

If he continues as menteri besar however, it would seem that Selangor's children will see an even better state than their parents enjoyed.

Reviving the civil service

The second thing I learnt was how much Khalid was an institutionalist.

To those in the "industry", a culture of resistance from various elements in the civil service to most things non-Umno is well known.

Khalid, perhaps more than anyone else, has avoided a confrontational approach to this problem.

Where some may have preferred a more iron fist, Khalid has practiced the principles of accommodation.

This is not merely part of political strategy. From his many comments throughout the Dewan sitting, it became clear that Khalid has a fervent belief in strengthening public institutions (one of Bersih's demands, as I recall).

One got the sense that whatever the short term growing pains, he felt it integral that he leave behind a stronger, more independent civil service than the one he found in 2008.

Where some of his own associates would have preferred turning to the private sector for more effective solutions, Khalid believed that you had to trust the civil service if you wanted them to grow and improve.

In the long run, he seemed to opine, we could only function properly as a developed state if we successfully restore certain standards and ideals to the civil service, no matter what it took in the short term.

Thus, in these five years, Khalid has entrusted the civil service with more and more core tasks - reflecting his conviction that they will respond to that trust with better performances and a stronger sense of duty and integrity.

The hands-on menteri besar

The third thing I learnt about Khalid was the degree to which he is a hands-on administrator.

As part of my work, I had to sit through every single hour of the Dewan sitting. I will elaborate briefly later on how some of those hours felt like days.

In sharp contrast to our prime minister, I found that Khalid sat in the Dewan through its long proceedings almost as long as I did.

He sat and he listened carefully to what each representative said, with more attentiveness and patience than I did, it seemed.

A large part of the Dewan proceedings consist of elected representatives questioning and grilling the state government.

Especially as the Dewan sat as a committee and reviewed the budget for each government department, I was surprised at how Khalid relentlessly stood up to answer question after question, issue after issue, day after day.

Matters were raised, many obscure and many which I had never heard about.

Yet, Khalid seemed to have enough detailed information and familiarity with each case to engage meaningfully on the issue - albeit, I imagine, not always providing an answer that placated the representative who was doing the asking.

What this indicated was that Khalid spent a lot of time on details, and that he knew the ins and outs of nearly every issue of concern that was raised.

The only way to achieve this is if you actually care about and play close attention to the neverending avalanche of problems that cross the menteri besar's desk every day.

If I had the attention span or staying power to achieve that level of detail, perhaps I would be on my way to creating that alternative to Google I've always wanted to put together.

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NATHANIEL TAN believes this world is full of people, he was born to love them all. He blogs at www.jelas.info and tweets @NatAsasi.