LETTER | PN stimulus package helpful for needy Selangor folks

LETTER | The RM2 billion Perikatan Nasional stimulus package for Selangor has drawn unprecedented support from the people of the state.

Selangorians have long been accustomed to the stingy and miserly state government spendings despite Selangor being the richest state in Malaysia.

Surely, the state can afford to be generous with allocations for much needed purposes.

Fortunately, Selangor PN and former menteri besar Azmin Ali have sensed the hardship and predicament of the people during the present times and have decided on the stimulus package of RM2 billon.

When Khalid Ibrahim took over Selangor in 2008, he started building reserves as the coffers were depleted by the previous BN administration.

His effort could be excused as reserves needed to be built up despite criticisms that more funds should be spent on urgent programmes in Selangor.

When Azmin took over, it was followed by increasing expenditure for various programmes to benefit the people.

Since Amirudin Shari took over, there has been little spending on crucial needs.

The administration stinges on a wide variety of allocations, one of which is the pittance it pays to non-Muslim houses of worship in the annual state budget.

The Pakatan Harapan Selangor government prides itself as being multi-racial and multi-religious but, despite getting so much of electoral support from the voters, pays back little or nothing to them. This is fake and false multi-racialism!

Selangor, which once boasted of good roads, is mostly patching up potholes! During the BN days, even roads were re-paved during the elections season, and people liked it as roads became safer and better to ride or drive on.

The Amirudin government has been more interested in opening up forest reserves and quarries instead of helping the people who have been suffering so much due to the lockdowns and the post-pandemic period.

A lot of the poor in Selangor are having only one meal a day and this is happening in the nation’s richest state, which was also declared a developed state in 2005.

A lot of fertile agricultural land is available in the outlying districts of Selangor which can be opened up for vegetable, fruit, livestock farming, and for rearing fish in ponds. All these will lead to lowering the cost of living for the B40.

However, does the state think or care about this? The state needs a holistic food security programme that benefits the poor.

Local councils

Municipal services have gone down the drain especially in the urban local authorities that are in the constituencies of the indifferent DAP and PKR assemblypersons who are more interested in not rocking the boat rather than bringing in necessary and radical changes for the ratepayers.

This has led to the urban local authorities banking their reserves rather than spending it on essential local needs.

This has also been compounded by the poor choice of appointed councillors who are mostly party supporters. The same can be said about the JKKK members, some of whom have not been replaced since 2008.

All local authorities should be made to compulsorily publish annual reports of their income and detailed expenditure and the money kept as reserve as their duty to the ratepayers.

Some parts of Selangor now resemble third world scenarios with unkempt surroundings and filthy conditions.

The less said about local government incompetency and inefficiency the better. So much money allocated for municipal expenditure goes to waste due to poor choice of contractors, lack of supervision, and corruption.

The PN stimulus package is most welcome as it will surely address the needs of the state as well as the people especially the B40 and even the M40.

In the last 15 years, the Selangor government has never come up with such a massive stimulus programme to address the various shortcomings statewide.

To criticise the package as impractical is not knowing the potential of Selangor and the assistance schemes it can offer its own people. There is so much good the government can do for the people with wise and competent management of state funds.

The Bantuan Prihatin Keluarga Selangor scheme will benefit 65,000 of the state’s B40 with a contribution of RM400 monthly. A lot of other benefits and hand-outs could be coming with a PN victory in Selangor.

Harapan has been resting on their laurels and did not expect such a massive challenge to their domination after having vanquished BN in 2008.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.