After a little more than a week of wrangling over who from PKR is to be Selangor menteri besar, incumbent Khalid Ibrahim took the oath of office as the state's CEO today.
When it comes to power relations in Malaysian politics, incumbency confers enormous advantages - just ask the BN if you doubt that.
The propulsion of incumbency and a track record that has more plusses than minuses have pushed the former Permodalan Nasional Berhad CEO to commence his second term as MB of the richest state in the country.
But Khalid would damage his credentials if he does not take heed of critics' objections to him.
The nub of the case against extending his tenure made out by challenger Azmin Mohd Ali (far right), the Selangor PKR chief who caused a tempest in a teacup by doing so, was that Khalid takes a long time to make decisions on investment proposals because of a disinclination to delegate responsibility.
He doesn't trust anyone enough to delegate and so micromanages which often means he does not have enough time to respond quickly enough to business proposals.
This causes frustration among local investors keen to get going on their propositions but the MB remains unimpressed with the businessmen whom he has not known from before his time as MB.
Between nerve and courage
When you have been a successful CEO of a big government-linked corporation like PNB, it must take an enormous amount to disturb your sangfroid even if you are sufficiently aware you are now tending a field whose essential character is much different to a corporation.
The corporate man looks at the work culture in his place and the bottom line and then decides if he is doing well or not; the political one has not only to look to ethics and sustainability, he has also to manage people's expectations - a thing that's far too elusive to pin down.
It's like the difference between nerve and courage, about which it is easy to be confused.
Nerve is what you need to jump out from a four-storey building when there is no other escape from a fire; courage is when you go back for a friend.
A similar difference obtains between corporate managerial and political panache. Khalid lacks the latter which is why Selangor PKR stalwarts are driven to distraction by his lack of appreciation for their needs.
Khalid (left), having had a fairly smooth ride up the corporate ladder in plantation group Guthrie and in PNB, has not really had a spell in the wilderness of want such as signal members of Selangor PKR have had between the start of the reformasi struggle in 1998 and partial success in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat's victory in Selangor at the 2008 general election.
Party politics is also about jobs, opportunities and rewards which a corporate man may find it difficult to appreciate. The latter is apt to think he has made it on his own steam; therefore he does not need patrons and, worse still, parasites.
Party politics, however, is also about patronage, networking and IOUs which can come due at awkward times.
Someone inured to years in the wilderness would know these realities instinctively and will comport himself, when installed in power, in such manner that he knows the right mix of patronage, rewards and opportunities that will keep a ravening horde at bay.
Understandably, corporate types would consider such exertions vexatious but skilled political ones revel at this game.
New political secretary
In his second term as MB, Khalid would have to acquire some of this skill if he is to appease stalwarts among the PKR cohort in Selangor and from outside the state who live in the Klang Valley and dabble in business there.
He would clear a formidable obstacle in the way of his responsiveness to this claque if he eases out Faekah Husin (right), his political secretary who hasn't a clue that the placation of this group is a political necessity.
Assuming that Khalid, because of his corporatist past is not good at this game, one must assume that he would have the dexterity to make sure he has a political secretary who would supply his lack.
Unfortunately, Faekah exacerbates rather than lubricates Khalid's shortfall. Now, his continued occupation of the MB post is dependant on he getting a new political secretary.
He is said to appreciate the need for a new one but is against easing out the current one with anything less than refined methods.
If extended to his not inconsiderable virtues as Selangor MB, which have seen the state accumulate reserves of RM2.6 billion from a position of debt inherited from the previous BN's government's profligacy, Khalid would easily become the state's most accomplished chief minister by the end of his second term.
When it comes to power relations in Malaysian politics, incumbency confers enormous advantages - just ask the BN if you doubt that.
The propulsion of incumbency and a track record that has more plusses than minuses have pushed the former Permodalan Nasional Berhad CEO to commence his second term as MB of the richest state in the country.
But Khalid would damage his credentials if he does not take heed of critics' objections to him.
The nub of the case against extending his tenure made out by challenger Azmin Mohd Ali (far right), the Selangor PKR chief who caused a tempest in a teacup by doing so, was that Khalid takes a long time to make decisions on investment proposals because of a disinclination to delegate responsibility.He doesn't trust anyone enough to delegate and so micromanages which often means he does not have enough time to respond quickly enough to business proposals.
This causes frustration among local investors keen to get going on their propositions but the MB remains unimpressed with the businessmen whom he has not known from before his time as MB.
Between nerve and courage
When you have been a successful CEO of a big government-linked corporation like PNB, it must take an enormous amount to disturb your sangfroid even if you are sufficiently aware you are now tending a field whose essential character is much different to a corporation.
The corporate man looks at the work culture in his place and the bottom line and then decides if he is doing well or not; the political one has not only to look to ethics and sustainability, he has also to manage people's expectations - a thing that's far too elusive to pin down.
It's like the difference between nerve and courage, about which it is easy to be confused.
Nerve is what you need to jump out from a four-storey building when there is no other escape from a fire; courage is when you go back for a friend.
A similar difference obtains between corporate managerial and political panache. Khalid lacks the latter which is why Selangor PKR stalwarts are driven to distraction by his lack of appreciation for their needs.
Khalid (left), having had a fairly smooth ride up the corporate ladder in plantation group Guthrie and in PNB, has not really had a spell in the wilderness of want such as signal members of Selangor PKR have had between the start of the reformasi struggle in 1998 and partial success in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat's victory in Selangor at the 2008 general election.Party politics is also about jobs, opportunities and rewards which a corporate man may find it difficult to appreciate. The latter is apt to think he has made it on his own steam; therefore he does not need patrons and, worse still, parasites.
Party politics, however, is also about patronage, networking and IOUs which can come due at awkward times.
Someone inured to years in the wilderness would know these realities instinctively and will comport himself, when installed in power, in such manner that he knows the right mix of patronage, rewards and opportunities that will keep a ravening horde at bay.
Understandably, corporate types would consider such exertions vexatious but skilled political ones revel at this game.
New political secretary
In his second term as MB, Khalid would have to acquire some of this skill if he is to appease stalwarts among the PKR cohort in Selangor and from outside the state who live in the Klang Valley and dabble in business there.
He would clear a formidable obstacle in the way of his responsiveness to this claque if he eases out Faekah Husin (right), his political secretary who hasn't a clue that the placation of this group is a political necessity.Assuming that Khalid, because of his corporatist past is not good at this game, one must assume that he would have the dexterity to make sure he has a political secretary who would supply his lack.
Unfortunately, Faekah exacerbates rather than lubricates Khalid's shortfall. Now, his continued occupation of the MB post is dependant on he getting a new political secretary.
He is said to appreciate the need for a new one but is against easing out the current one with anything less than refined methods.
If extended to his not inconsiderable virtues as Selangor MB, which have seen the state accumulate reserves of RM2.6 billion from a position of debt inherited from the previous BN's government's profligacy, Khalid would easily become the state's most accomplished chief minister by the end of his second term.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.
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