Selangor Sultan leaves for heart surgery in US - Sun

SHAH ALAM (Apr 29, 2009): The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, left for the United States yesterday to undergo heart mitral valve repair or replacement at Stanford University Medical Centre in Palo Alto,San Francisco.

The sultan will undergo the surgery on Saturday and would be under treatment at the hospital for three weeks, Selangor State Secretary Datuk Ramli Mahmud said.

The Sultan left for Singapore on Tuesday and flew to San Francisco from there this morning, Ramli told a news conference, attended by the sultan's private secretary, Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani.

He said cardiothoracic surgeon Prof Dr Alan Yeung and mitral valve specialist Prof Dr Craig Miller would attend to the sultan at Stanford University Medical Centre.

Ramli said the sultan had asked the people of Selangor not to be worried and to pray for a successful surgery.

"I have also asked the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department to seek the cooperation of the mosque and surau committees in the state for the reciting of the Yassin and doa selamat on Thursday (today) and to hold the solat hajat after the Friday prayers at all Selangor mosques during the treatment of the sultan," he said.

The sultan was accompanied by his younger brother, Tengku Ahmad Shah; medical specialist from Sime Darby Medical Centre in Subang Jaya Datuk Setia Dr Anuar Masduki; member of the Council of the Royal Court of Selangor Tan Sri Syed Mohd Yusof Tun Syed Nasir; Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja Datuk Zakaria Abd Rahman, and two friends

Pakatan alleges subversive BN plot to topple Selangor government - Malaysian Insider

By Neville Spykerman and Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

SHAH ALAM, March 13 — An emergency debate has been scheduled for the Selangor State Assembly at 2.30pm to discuss a purported move by the federal government to bring down Pakatan Rakyat.

The motion for the emergency debate was tabled by Kampung Tunku assemblyman Lau Weng San, who has received documents of a meeting called by the Pejabat Pembangunan Negeri Selangor (PPNS), which detail programmes and government agencies involved in the move.

The meeting, held on Feb 26, was entitled “Pelaksanaan Programme People Centric (sic) di Negeri Selangor” and involved the National Security Agency and Election Commission.

The objective of the programme, he claimed, was to discredit the Selangor state government to ensure Barisan Nasional regains both the state and a two-thirds majority in Parliament by the next general election.

At a press conference outside the assembly, Lau showed journalists documents which he had obtained of the Feb 26 meeting.

Lau said PPNS is a government agency under the Prime Minister's Department which was originally meant to act as a liaison between the federal and state governments.

He said the move by the federal government was subversive and undemocratic.

“The National Security Agency includes the police and army, and it’s shocking they are being used with other government agencies for this effort.”

Lau did not discount the possibility that similar programmes are being conducted in other PR states or if the programme was used to bring down the previous Perak government.

Unaccounted car downpayments and car used by KDEB chairman's wife - Sun

By Maria J. Dass and Karen Arukesamy

SHAH ALAM (March 12, 2009) : Two Mercedes Benz cars bought by Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB) prior to the 12th general election were never delivered while a Range Rover bought for site visits by the company’s subsidiary, was used by the KDEB chairman’s wife.

These were among the matters raised at the Selangor State Assembly by Saari Sungib (Pas-Hulu Kelang) during his debate on the royal address to highlight discrepancies in the dealings of state-owned companies.

He said the state should check on the purchase of the Mercedes S500 worth RM1.5 million for the then KDEB chairman, and a Mercedes S350 worth almost RM1 million for its executive president.

Saari said the total purchase was about RM2.5 million and a 40% downpayment or about RM1 million was paid to Cycle and Carriage.

“Then after the election, the scenario changed; Now we do not know where the RM1 million downpayment has gone and both cars were never delivered,” he said.

The Mentri Besar should check on this and find out what happened as it is the right of the rakyat to know, he said.

Saari also revealed that Cekal Tulen, a company dealing with land development which is also a subsidiary of KDEB (51% share), bought a Range Rover worth RM500,000 to be used for site visits.

However, the car was then given to the KDEB chairman’s wife for her personal use.

“How could this happen? What kind of corporate governance is this?” Saari asked.

He also touched on the Al-Maruwah tower apartment dealings in Makkah, questioning the process of dealings pertaining to the purchase of two units of the apartment by KDEB.

He said the apartment was bought and a down payment of RM800,000 paid for by an individual before a circular was issued to approve the purchase.

Saari also alleged that the state water restructuring efforts are being sabotaged from within the concession companies in which some Umno leaders held shares.

Citing an instance, he said Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor holds 55% of the shares in one of the companies while Koperasi Murni owns 45%.

“The minority shareholder is becoming stronger and we found out why they do not want to help Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor to accept the state government’s offer to buy the water assets,” Saari said.

“We found out that Senator Datuk Ikhwan Salim Sujak, the head of the PJ Utara Umno branch and Subahan Ismail, also a branch leader, both have shares in Koperasi Murni and this shows there are efforts to sabotage the state’s water restructuring efforts,” he said, referring to the plans by Selangor to acquire the water entities in the state to slash tariffs.

Saari said the Mentri Besar should look into these cases and ensure good governance and transparency is practised by all state-held companies in the future.

Khir denies wife used Rover - Malaysian Insider

By Neville Spykerman

SHAH ALAM, March 12 — Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, today denied that his wife had been given the use of a Range Rover by a state subsidiary while he was Menteri Besar.

He also called the Ulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungib a coward, for bringing it up, in the State Assembly this morning.

He said the allegation were “110 per cent” false and said that Saari should not have attacked his wife.

Dr Mohd Khir, who was still upset about the incident when he was contacted by phone, said he confronted Saari outside the assembly and told him to get his facts right.

“I told him he was old and he should not have lied,”

Earlier while debating the Royal Address, Shaari alleged that the luxury four wheel drive vehicle was purchased by development company Syarikat Cekal Tulen, a subsidiary of Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad (KDEB).

The company had claimed that they needed a robust vehicle for executives to make site visits, but the car was handed over to the wife of the KDEB chairman to use.

However Khir said he only entered the car once to make a site visit.

Khir also denied knowledge of a KDEB attempt to buy two Mercedes Benz cars at a cost of RM2.5 million prior to March 8 last year.

“The decision to purchase the cars were made by KDEB’s management Committee.”

Earlier Saari disclosed that one of the cars was a Mercedes S500, worth RM1.5 million meant for the KDEB chairman while the other was a Mercedes S350, which cost almost RM1 million for the KDEB president.

Saari also claimed that RM1 million or 40 per cent of the price was paid to a salesman from Cycle and Carriage as down payment, but the cars were never delivered after March 8, when Selangor fell to Pakatan Rakyat while the money was also never returned.

Selangor MB slams ex-MB for blowing up - Malaysian Insider

By Asrul Hadi Abdulah Sani

SHAH ALAM, March 12 — Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim today condemned Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo for losing his cool with a fellow assemblyman.

Threats and curses were allegedly uttered at the lobby of the State Assembly by Khir Toyo against Ulu Kelang Assemblyman Saari Sungib. This was after it was disclosed during proceedings that his wife had been given a RM500,000 Range Rover by a state subsidiary during his administration.

Khir allegedly told Saari to “watch out” as they were leaving the assembly to break for lunch.

Khalid told reporters that the action conducted by the former Menteri Besar was inappropriate. He should have taken his time to answer the allegations in the assembly.

“Today there was a discussion in the State assembly by an assemblyman to give information. It was up to other assemblyman to say whether or not the matter was true or false. Because it is important that all the issues regarding the people and administration are brought up in the assembly and through that that people will be able to know the truth,” he explained.

Khalid believes that the assembly is an important arena for the issues regarding the people and the state’s administration to be discussed. Only through the discussion can the people know the truth.

“This is why the State assembly is protected by law and this gives freedom to any parties to discuss without fear,” he added.

He also stressed that no one has the right to stop any assemblymen from entering the state assembly and expressing their views. If an assemblyman is unhappy over a statement made in the assembly, the person can ask the perpetrator to make the statement outside, he said.

Khir Toyo grilled over protest against Sultans - Sun

SHAH ALAM (March 11, 2009) : Selangor opposition leader Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo(pic) was grilled by Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen over the protest by Umno against the Sultans in Kedah and Terengganu over the choice of Mentri Besar after the 12th general election when he brought up the issue of disrespect for the Sultan of Perak’s decision not to dissolve the state assembly.

"We fought at first but then we obeyed, we have had differences with the Sultans but we learned from history and are obedient now," he said.

Complaining about the time when he was questioned by the Anti Corruption Agency (now the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) for 10 hours over allegations of abuse regarding the transfer of funds from Balkis to its federal equivalent Bakti, he said, "I have been cleared, I’m not afraid of anything but I will not forgive some people for creating this perception."

Ng Suee Lim (DAP-Sekinchan) meanwhile called on the MACC to investigate the abuse of power pertaining a contract to manage a multi level car park in Kota Kemuning which was given to Sani Tanjung Bunga Sdn Bhd by the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA).

Ng also mentioned three projects which were possibly given out without open tender by MBSA on Dec 15, 2008 to three different companies.

He said the contracts should be terminated if there is proof of abuse.

RM1.2 million expenses by Balkis members questioned - Sun

by Karen Arukesamy

SHAH ALAM (March 11, 2009) : Permodalan Negri Selangor Berhad (PNSB) records show the company spent RM1.2 million in travelling expenses for members of Wives of Selangor Assemblymen and MPs Welfare and Charity Organisation (Balkis) throughout 2007.

“There was a ‘technical’ visit to Disneyland, Tokyo by the members of the Balkis. What kind of ‘technical’ visit is this?” asked Azmin Ali (PKR-Bukit Antarabangsa) during his debate on the Sultan’s address at the Selagor state legislative assembly today.

“This ‘technical’ visit did not end at Disneyland, because Mickey Mouse had ran away, so they had another two ‘technical’ visits -- Hongkong and Korea,” said Azmin who called for an explanation of the visit and a report on the outcome, if it brought any benefit to the state.

“Maybe (they) want to bring Disneyland to Sg Panjang (former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo’s constituency). I do not know; please explain,” he said, gesturing towards the opposition bench.

Deputy Speaker Aniza Talha remarked that they (opposition assemblymen) are not Balkis members, to which Azmin retorted: “They are not Balkis members but they sleep with Balkis (members).”

Azmin also revealed that Balkis had received a large contribution/allocation, supposedly for welfare, but according to the information received, it was used by the members for their clothing and accessories.

“We cannot allow such robbers to roam in Selangor anymore and they use institutions like the attorney general’s office, the police and Election Commission (EC) to continue threatening us,” he said.

Azmin also revealed how the tax payers’ money was misused by “irresponsible” officers in what is now called Selangor State Development Office (previously Unit Perancang Ekonomi Negri Selangor) which had held discussions on how to overthrow the present Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state administration and return power to the Barisan Nasional (BN).

He said on Feb 6, 2009, the first task on the list at the Jawatankuasa Kerja Tindakan Persekutuan Negri’s meeting discussed how BN could wrest the state back from PR at the next general election.
Second on the agenda was how to sustain the reign of the BN federal government.

“This proves how desperate the federal government is to bring down the PR government,” he said.

“People of Selangor pay tax for the development of the state and not for Umno and BN,” he added.

He also questioned the presence of members irrelevant to the development of the state like National Security Council (NSC) and the EC.

“What is the connection between NSC and EC and the state’s development?” he said.

“We have exposed many things yet all they can see are the ‘cows’. Why should we feel ashamed of meeting under the tree when they are not ashamed of robbing the people of their rights?” Azmin said.