Heads must roll after town hall fiasco

SEPT 8, 2009 – Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was given a rude awakening when the meeting that was meant to discuss the relocation of a 150-year old temple turned to chaos and almost a ruckus.
Khalid called for a residents’ meeting following the highly charged protest on the relocation of the temple made infamous by the stamping of a severed cow’s head in front of the Selangor state secretariat building.
The Selangor MB felt that he had to take matters into his own hand after experiencing first hand how the issue deteriorated turning into a very sensitive one with negative political consequences.
While it is too obvious that Umno has played an active role in riling up the local Malay residents of Section 23, Shah Alam; it also reflects the weakness of the Pakatan Rakyat local machinery so much so that it was unable to counter the propaganda that Umno has been feeding into the minds of the local Malays.
Pakatan Rakyat state representatives were unable to ride on their position, influence and most importantly their newly found authority and power to dispel or stem the flowing tide of divisive elements from Umno.
They had also underestimated the nature of the resistance against the state government reflected by the emotional and surreal cow-head protest.
Everyone except the local Pakatan Rakyat machinery and some state government officials expected Umno, through its agents, to subvert the meeting. Hence, it was very naïve of the organisers to expect the meeting to be held in a cosy and warm atmosphere.
The rest, as they say, is history and Khalid, of all people, should not have received the level of abuse that was directed at him.
This issue, if nipped in the bud, would not have deteriorated into a situation that reflected a loss of control for the state government.
Khalid also had to personally see into this matter and even went around the residential area in search of a new proposed location for the temple. In short, Khalid has had to troubleshoot this politically sensitive issue when it ought to be handled by more junior officers and legislators.
It also goes to show that Khalid has under him some civil servants, local councillors, state reps and even exco members that are unable, or unwilling, to carry out his aspirations for the people.
The relocation of the temple has been an issue for more than two decades and has been an issue to both sets of the communities for some time. The failure of the local machinery to undertake proactive measures as well as their inability to communicate more effectively with the local residents should not be allowed to go unpunished.
It would not escape the attention of Khalid that these passengers under him ought to be replaced by qualified, competent and more committed leaders to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat is seen as being proactive in their efforts to provide service for the people.
The current public relations failure on this issue is reminiscent of Pakatan’s problem on a national level, especially in dealing with the Malay-Muslim issue that seems to be the only trump card that Umno is able to hold.
If Pakatan especially PKR and Pas intends to breach the stranglehold that Umno has over the lay Malays, it has to find a more effective means of communicating to the Malay community as compared to the typical ceramah or sermons or the like.
Considering the hold that Umno has over Utusan Malaysia and TV3, the change among the Malays’ psyche towards Umno will definitely not happen in the nearest future. Paradigm shift among the general Malays must take place to ensure Pakatan’s continuity of administering the state and takeover federal on a national level.
Only then would the people of Selangor and the country be convinced to allow Pakatan Rakyat another chance to continue leading the state and realise the dream of leading the nation.

- published in The Malaysian Insider : Sept 8, 2009