In a nation already reeling from price hikes and an uncertain economy, the game being played by politicians from Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) only further exacerbates the anxieties of the people.
While many Malaysians may feel the Kajang by-election is a futile exercise that will not change their lives, questions are arising whether it indeed will, now as the water restructuring exercise is being linked to the by-election.
Out of the blue, Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government on Wednesday paving the way for the construction of the contentious Langat 2 water treatment plant and related projects.
This took the PR parties by surprise as most were embarrassingly caught unaware of the development.
The question now is why the sudden urgency and secrecy by the Selangor government to ink the deal after six years of impasse?
Has it got anything to do with the impending removal of Khalid, if PKR de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wins in Kajang?
Is that scenario making Khalid and the BN break out in cold sweat and have sleepless nights?
To answer these questions, one has to relook the issues preceding the MoU signing.
On Jan 8, much to the surprise of PR parties, Khalid made an unilateral announcement that Selangor and the Federal government have reached an understanding on the water issue.
That same day, then PKNS general manager Othman Omar sent a letter to PKR deputy president and Selangor chief Azmin Ali that he had been dropped as a director in the state subsidiary, claiming it was on the instruction of the state executive council.
Power play then began in Selangor and the tide slowly turned against Khalid and it culminated with calls for his ouster.
Although Khalid later managed to state his case that he had never sacked Azmin, it was too late for him.
Then came the Kajang gambit played by Anwar.
On Jan 27, Khalid was taken by surprise when he said he only knew from media reports that Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh had resigned.
A by-election was called and Anwar had since been announced as the candidate and should he win, is strongly touted to replace Khalid as the new Menteri Besar.
Khalid then went on to say that he was not resigning and this raised the spectre of a confrontation with Anwar.
On Feb 13, amid claims of overtures from BN, Khalid’s long-standing court dispute with Bank Islam suddenly ended with an out of court settlement.
Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the MoU on Wednesday.
This has set tongues wagging since most Selangor PR law makers and those involved in the water negotiations over the years were left out of the loop.
Is Khalid using the water issue in his power play with Anwar and his nemesis Azmin?
It looks like Khalid has well used his Ace, which is the water issue.
It must have also been a huge relief to Najib and company as dealing with Anwar as the MB must have sent jitters to those who are only too well-versed with him when he was the Deputy Prime Minister.
With Khalid under pressure from within PKR, has BN found a safe haven for him?
It is believed that the water deal was brokered by a very high ranking “Tan Sri” while Najib had asked his officers from the Prime Minister’s Department to speak to the concession holders, which include Splash, Puncak Niaga and Syabas.
With the water issue out of the picture for now, Anwar will have few bargaining chips left, when and if he takes over as the MB.
Anwar must have relished the spectre of dictating terms to the BN but Khalid may have robbed him of that pleasure.
Kept in the dark by Khalid
PKR leader Dr Xavier Jayakumar voiced the party’s strategic director Rafizi Ramli’s lament that the party was left in the dark over Khalid’s water dealings with Federal Government.
“We have no idea what it is all about and we are only reading the details in the media.
“We had our political bureau meeting on Tuesday and Khalid’s representative did not utter a word about it. This is not the way we should learn about it.”
Meanwhile Klang MP Charles Santiago of the DAP said Khalid seemed to think that he knew everything and failed to deliberate with others involved in the water negotiations.
“I was involved in the talks but now I don’t even know why an understanding was reached. There are so many unanswered issues like the non-revenue water issue and how will be the RM2 billion from Putrajaya be used?”
He added that the water issue had left a bad taste among many PR politicians in the state.
Meanwhile PAS research centre director and former Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said that until last Monday, Khalid had maintained to the state water review panel that the meeting with the Federal government had yet to materialise.
“We were totally unaware of things and suddenly we received a call asking us to attend the signing of the MoU.
“Personally, we are happy as it is for the benefit of the people, but the question here is at what price. What was the trade-off between Khalid and Najib? RM9.65 billion was what we had been asking for from day one of the negotiations.”
He said the party believed there was some form of intervention and plenty of arm-twisting for the MoU to materialise.
“They have refused to sign the deal all along and suddenly they do … why? It does not take a genius to figure that it has something to do with Kajang.
He said it was okay if RM9.65billion was all that was involved.
“But if there is some form of compensation we do not know about, then it may eventually come back to us. There should not be any hidden cost or agenda.
“We have objected to the Langat 2 project all along and suddenly everything is agreed upon. None of the panel members were consulted at all.
“The timing of this MoU is too telling, taking into consideration the Bank Islam out of court settlement and the Kajang by-election. These issues have been long standing and suddenly they are resolved.
“From what we heard, Najib is worried about the post-election scenario which may make Anwar much stronger if he is made MB.”
With so much play in progress, the coming weeks should see many more daring and vicious moves taking shape.
Written by Shanker Ganesh and Patrick Sennyah of FZ
No comments:
Post a Comment