Speculation has been rife that opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was contesting the by-election to eventually replace Khalid as the MB in order to sort the problems between the state government and Selangor PKR.
"God willing, if I am accepted by everyone, I will continue to be Menteri Besar," Khalid said in a TV3-organised programme aired last night. The show was taped two days ago.
According to the second-term MB, he is not bothered by those who are unhappy with his administration as he was used to such matters even before delving into politics.
He gave an example of his involvement in business, that although there were many who were not satisfied with the decisions he had made, but in the end, he was the one who reaped the benefits.
"In my years of working experience, the word 'unsatisfied' was not only said today. When I took over Guthrie, many were unsatisfied but I was satisfied.
"When I look over estates in Indonesia, many were unhappy. But at the end of the day, I am happy," he added.
Last week, Khalid signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the federal government, allowing Selangor to take over four water concessionaires in the state by injecting RM2 billion for the shares.
Khalid was highly criticised over the agreement with Putrajaya as many top PKR members including Anwar claimed that they were unaware of the MoU.
PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli then urged the MB to reveal the contents of the MoU while party deputy president Azmin Ali said there was no reason for Khalid to be afraid of the Official Secrets Act to disclose the terms in the document.
Khalid said PKR's openness as a reformation party allows anyone to speak their minds out and disagree with one another.
He said a leader had to be confident and understand what he is doing in order to be able to explain his actions to the people.
"You must understand… we are a reformed party. Everyone is free to speak up.
"If we believe and understand what we are doing, we can answer everything. It could be that they are just looking at the Langat 2 project. But we are looking at it as a whole. That can be explained," he said in the interview, which was chaired by Datuk Johan Jaafar.
Speaking about the water restructuring agreement in Selangor, Khalid said the negotiation is something that the people had been waiting for as they were not burdened with the increase in water tariff.
He said, with the MoU, the state government was looking at an increase of not more than 12% every three years.
"The people of Selangor asked me to do this. If I hadn't, they would have to pay RM1.70 from the current RM1. Of course they were waiting for this.
"An increase of not more than 112% every three years is considered reasonable compared to other states or in other parts of the world," he said.
In the hour-long interview, Khalid reiterated his position that the MoU signed with Putrajaya cannot be amended even if he steps down as the Menteri Besar.
He said the position of a state or a country will be dented and will not be respected if the sealed agreement is not implemented.
"The agreement between the federal government and the state cannot be amended because when a deal is made, we must see it through.
"It does not matter who is representing the state or country. If it is not done, the ranking of a nation will not improve because it did not keep to its promise," he added.
Khalid denied Johan's statement that the restructuring of the water concession companies is a form of nationalisation.
He said the state government has not forced shareholders in concession companies but instead is paying them with a reasonable profit.
"I don't think nationalisation happened in this matter, as nationalisation is where we pressure shareholders. But this one, we are paying them accordingly," he added.
In the interview, which was also attended by Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili, Khalid also announced that the state government was now in the midst of planning the development of a dam with a new water technology system.
He said the Hybrid Off-River Augmentation System (Horas) was developed to flow water from rivers so that more dams could be used for raw water.
"We are beginning to see how water sources in Selangor, where even if there was a lot of rain, we don't have water. That is why I began a better negotiation with the federal government. We will find other water sources such as Horas.
"This area will also allow underground water to be used, giving us a larger amount of raw water than the amount brought from Pahang," he said, adding that the technology could be used up to 2050. – March 6, 2014.
Source: The Malaysian Insider
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