(Petaling Jaya, Monday): It has been reported that Dr. Mohamad Khir Toyo is expected to reshuffle the Selangor state exco by Thursday, the day he is due to be sworn in as the new Selangor Mentri Besar.
He has refused to say if any exco member would be dropped, saying that he would get the feedback from party leaders, heads of departments and senior officers on the performance of the 10 exco members.
Mohamad Khir should realise that the people have very much higher expectations on the state government than before and they would not want UMNO leaders to be in the Exco who have recently been found wanting by the top UMNO leadership.
Mohamad Khir should be very sure as to why the eleven more senior UMNO leaders, including the Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Dr. Zainal Abidin Ahmad and senior Exco members have been rejected by the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as qualified candidates to be the Selangor Mentri Besar, and why the reasons for their unsuitability to be made Mentri Besar do not now equally apply as to their unsuitability to be appointed to the new State Exco.
However, the important focus now is not so much on the other 11 UMNO leaders who have been rejected by Mahathir for selection as Mentri Besar but on Mohamad Khir himself, as to whether he sees himself as the head of a state government for all people of Selangor, regardless of race, or only for Malays who voted for UMNO in the last general election.
Would Mohamad Khir be a suitable candidate to be selected to be Selangor Mentri Besar if he had a reputation of irresponsible and racist politicking, which can only divide rather than unite the people in Selangor?
Mohamad Khir shocked Malaysians when in his first press conference on Saturday, totally without cause or provocation, the new Selangor Mentri Besar went chest-thumping and sabre-rattling, talking about UMNO�s preparedness to "make any sacrifice, even bloodshed" to protect Malay special rights.
Does Mohamad Khir want to emulate a former Selangor Mentri Besar and build a political reputation on his talk about Malay kris and bloodshed? Does Mohamad Khir want to be a Mentri Besar of peace, harmony and development or a Mentri Besar for confrontation, violence and bloodshed?
Mohamad Khir should withdraw and apologise for his "bloodshed" statement to show that he is humble and capable of admitting his mistakes.
If Mohamad Khir is not prepared to withdraw and apologise for his "bloodshed" statement on Saturday, then all right-thinking Selangor Assemblymen, whether Barisan Nasional or Barisan Alternative, should unite to censure the new Selangor Mentri Besar for setting a bad example - especially during the 34th Merdeka Month celebrations to foster �togetherness" instead of engendering racial animosities with baseless talk about "bloodshed".
If Mohamad Khir is not prepared to withdraw and apologise for his "bloodshed"
statement, I hope the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad or
the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Abdullah Badawi would direct him to do
so, as otherwise, he is getting off with the worst possible start for any
new Mentri Besar or Chief Minister as a person not qualified to unite all
races in Selangor and Malaysia.
(21/8/2000)