Monday, February 23, 2009

The Moon jumped over the Cow

Malaysiakini - PAS seeks 'tell all' meeting with Khalid!

PAS Selangor has shown PKR, and Khalid Ibrahim in particular, that as an ally it’s less supportive than the DAP which has much earlier declared its 100% backing for the besieged Selangor MB.

Malaysiakini reported "In a 'less than full support' statement, Selangor PAS said Khalid should reveal the decisions that he expects to make in dealing with the allegations."

This is the same State PAS which had held covert pan-Malay talks with UMNO, and which incidentally Fairus, the Deputy CM of Penang, wanted in for the PKR as well.

And I believe it’s the PAS that PKR has been on tender hooks and behaving badly (conduct of gross disloyalty) regarding the contemptible attempt to smear the good name of Elizabeth Wong.

Anyway, thanks to MACC or the UMNO version of the Inquisition as I had alluded to in my post Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus - the MACC, Chief Inquisitor Ahmad Said Hamdan @ Tomás de Torquemada, declared prejudgementally (most unbecoming of a MACC chief) that "there was strong and good evidence" against Khalid Ibrahim ...


... in alleged wrongdoing in the maintenance of a luxury car (a Lexus which is Khalid's personal property, but which he uses for his offical duties as MB) and purchase of sacrificial cows.

‘Sacrificial’ cows? This implies worshipping. Mana ada?

They were disembelihkan and parceled out as free daging sapi to the rakyat of Bandar Tun Razak.

Let’s examine the first allegation – maintenance of Khalid’s personal Lexus.

As the MB of Selangor Khalid has use of an official car, but he elects to use his own Lexus. I assume he is not charging the State for that.

So this bloke is using his own car for State duties.

Think of the wear and tear of his Lexus and the added/imposed road risk, all without cost to the State.

Shouldn’t he at least be allowed to charge the maintenance expenses to the State … provided of course the maintenance expenses can be proven they were directly related to his official functions … stuff like petrol, oil, water … and in the longer run, even tyres.

The counter argument is of course weaker but nonetheless could be mounted … like why couldn’t he like everyone and use the State car – nak syiok sendiri saja, so bloody well pay for your own petrol.

And, if he merely assigned all his petrol bills to the State, including those he used for his personal trips, then it becomes tricky.

Additionally, what else had been changed for maintenance?

But on the balance of it all, I would argue that based on what I have touched on above, Khalid should be entitled to claim maintenance expenses from the State.

In fact Malaysiakini reported in 'MB didn't order cows and it's his Lexus' that his lawyer Sankara Nair stated: "The Lexus is his own personal car which he was using even before he became the menteri besar, while the maintenance expenses for official purposes were all approved by the state."

There appears to be clear cut accountability, so I think it’ll be difficult for the bullsh*t MACC to have a solid case against Khalid. But then again, people have been charged for less.

On the cerita kerbau I think Khalid may have a problem. No doubt Sankara said that Khalid didn’t order the 46 kerbau to be donated as free beef during the Hari Raya Korban festival last December, but alas, the people who benefitted from Selangor State’s largesse were from his federal constituency of Bandar Tun Razak, in another State (not Selangor).

There appears to be a very strong case of ‘conflict of interest’, much in the same way as it would be seen, if Selangor State or one of the Selangor State controlled enterprises donated the same equivalent to the federal constituency of Seputeh during Chinese New Year, even without the knowledge or agreement of Teresa Kok, ADUN for Kinrara.

As my visitor Observer and many others have stated, it’s wishful thinking to hope UMNO won’t be keeping a beady eye on the PR, hoping to yell: “Aha … KNN ... gotcha!”

5 comments:

  1. "But on the balance of it all, I would argue that based on what I have touched on above, Khalid should be entitled to claim maintenance expenses from the State."

    What if he drove a Hummer? :P

    As Observer et al. have already alluded to, it really seems like the sensible thing to do would've been to play it safe and follow protocol as closely as possible to avoid gotchas like this... surely in such circumstances at least for the first year one should be on guard a bit!

    (Unless being in Federal opposition until now was really never part of their plan right from the beginning...)

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  2. There is such a thing as milage claim in the General Orders. If you use your personal car for official purpose you claim milage. The maintanence of the car and petrol comes from that milage claim.

    About the 'kerbau', as an individual you are expected to make the 'korban' either within or beneath your means.There is no punishment if you choose either. It is treated as 'korban' and the powers that may be up there welcome it in that spirit.Ramlax

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  3. What if Khalid owns a Rolls Royce and uses it ? Wouldn't that be great ? A first for a Menteri Besar !

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  4. kt,

    when teresa kok sue toyo, she was ISAed for her own good.
    when Ronnie liu sued Toyo, he was charged by the police.
    when khalid sued Toyo, he now faces corruption charges over cars and cows.

    Who is this Toyo by the way?

    Eli Wong has revealed that 3 parcels of lands in Bandar Utama meant for public amenities were hijacked by Gerakan, MIC (or Samy Vellu) and a crony of UMNO. She has promised the residents to fight tooth and nail to reclaim the lands. Is she paying the price for that?

    And where is the super-efficient MACC?

    Kt, we are all for elimination of corruption which is one of the platforms of PR. But, we are surely against using insitutions such as MACC for political ends. I am sure you agree wholeheartedly on this.

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  5. chaptokam ejaculates...
    What if Khalid owns a Rolls Royce and uses it ? Wouldn't that be great ? A first for a Menteri Besar !


    As usual, Chaptokam does not know his facts before shooting his mouth off. Doesn't the massively corrupt Menteri Besar of Sarawak, Taib Mahmud, own a cream-coloured Rolls Royce?

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