Khalid is a seasoned giant-killer steeled for tough challenges. — File pic
From Day One, Selangor's 14th — and first from the opposition — mentri besar has been beset by shocks and scandals — from protests against a pig farm project approved by his predecessor to a Malay mob publicly stomping on a severed cow's head in August to protest against the presence of a Hindu temple in their neighbourhood.
Many of his colleagues in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition have also suffered body blows — from being detained under the Internal Security Act to having their sexual trysts filmed. Recently, an aide to one opposition figure died suddenly after being interrogated by a federal government agency.
But then Khalid, 62, is a seasoned giant-killer steeled for tough challenges, on and off the political scene. In September 1981, the then-CEO of the government's investment vehicle Permodalan Nasional pulled off an infamous dawn raid on the London Stock Exchange by taking over Britain's Guthrie Corporation within two hours.
An economist by training, Khalid has since tried to show Selangor folk that they “own the state economy”. He has, among other things, given each family some free water monthly, set up an education trust fund for all born last year in the state as well as harnessed the state's riverine resources by treating river water for sale and building along riverbanks.
While he despairs of the state's 6,000 or so civil servants who prefer, as he puts it, “coordinating things to being proactive”, the married father of four sees hope in his four grown-up children. His three daughters are, respectively, a computer engineer, a cat surgeon and an animator while his investment banker son represents Bank Negara in New York.
On a recent trip to Singapore to meet investors and investment advisers from DBS and Nomura as well as support the Selangor football team in a match against Singapore — Singapore won 3-0 — he told The Straits Times how being mentri besar has changed his life:
What's it like to be Malaysia's most embattled opposition mentri besar?
I'm resigned to the fact that I'm going to have as much political support as political resistance. I'm resigned to the fact that politics does not give you a level-playing field. I'm resigned to the fact that I'm going to have to go through rough patches to achieve the ultimate objective. If I accept all that, I will not be frustrated by sudden noises or the cow's head problem.
It's not just noise, surely, not when your Pakatan partner PAS starts wooing Umno again.
The vision of socialistic thinking versus the vision of the Holy Book may be different. We have to adapt to move forward, rather than discuss how to change all these thinking processes. In this, I'm not going to have a common means to an end.
But even the ends are not common, surely. PAS wants an Islamic state, the rest of Pakatan doesn't.
Helping the helpless is the same to those who have democratic as well as religious thinking. That's what we call the ends. The Pakatan parties are now stumbling onto various platforms where we feel we don't understand each other, even though we may be in the same team. But you cannot just throw away the ball in your hands and you cannot tackle your team-mate. It's better to tackle the other party for us to win.
But how can you win when PAS in Selangor is wooing Umno?
I'm not sure if that is true or not.
Selangor PAS leaders such as Datuk Hasan Ali have reportedly done so.
First, Umno may not want him and he may not want Umno too. If they had gone merry-making, as they are said to have done, they would have been partners years ago. I do not think that the intelligent people in PAS would have gone and joined. Only those who are desperate, maybe 10 per cent of PAS, may want join (with Umno).
You say it's been painful for Umno after March 8, 2008. But hasn't it been very painful for you too?
Oh, yes! But government servants will have to understand that, before, you had to kowtow to one BN government in order to be assured of reasonable promotion and so on. But today, you have two sets of governments (one federal and one state) and adapting to that is painful.
Many see you as a bitter, ex-Umno man with a big chip on your shoulder. What say you?
During my student days, maybe I was not yet mature, I would say the government was quite stupid in doing all the things they were doing. But then I joined an institution that helps the Bumiputeras at large, and Umno invited me to give them advice. I readily gave it because I thought it would add value to the society I'm helping. So of course Umno felt that I'm part of them. But I'm part of Malay society, not part of them.
How can you help your Malay brethren most effectively?
Through education and skill-building. There is no other option. You have to earn your keep. That means it will take years. Education is not a rushed job; you've got to build the capacity (of the Malays) to understand. What's happened in the last 30 to 40 years is that we've tried to short-change ourselves. We want good Malays but we don't train them well. In the end, they get through some education (programme, but) without basic capabilities — and fail.
What else should they have?
They must be very patient. You can't become an entrepreneur and a millionaire overnight. Until we can say “Yes, this is the way our society should go”, we'll have to go through change.
How long will this take?
At least another generation. — Straits Times
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