SHAH ALAM, Jan 23: Umno-BN is using the issue which it failed to solve since tens of years ago to attack Pakatan Rakyat (PR) for allegedly failing to uphold the rights of the Malays-Muslims living in Shah Alam, said Khalid Samad.
Elaborating, Khalid said, many of the hot issues raised in Shah Alam is proven to be unsolved by Umno-BN itself.
Instead, PR managed to resolve problems inherited from the administration of the party (BN), one of which is the controversial issue of the sale of liquor in Section 8 which has now been stopped.
“While the issue was during the BN era, although residents staged a protest, BN did not bother about it.
“If BN takes over Shah Alam, will they be able to stop the sale? They used the issue to attack PR while they are worse than that,” he said.
Khalid, who is also the Shah Alam Member of Parliament stressed that welfare policies which have been practiced all this while that is to localise the Selangor economy will be continued, and its implementation will be further improved.
“It’s all created by Umno-BN. Like the nightclub issue. The issue was simply something they spoke about. When proof was requested, all could not answer.
“The effectiveness of BN assemblymen in assembly sittings has also weakened, there is no strong argument.
“PR will overcome many problems more effectively if the Central Government is under PR, so I hope the people will understand that if they want a wide and comprehensive change,” he said.
He was responding to allegations of political analyst, Assoc Prof Dr Sivamurugan Pandian whose view is that Umno-BN is able to snatch seats in Shah Alam because he saw a lot of issues in favour of BN lately.
In addition, Khalid said that the increase in Islamic-oriented programmes in mosques and suraus by the State Government is also able to defend PR in Selangor.
He said, not only that, but turun padang (going to the ground to attend to people’s needs) programmes and the warmth shown by Assemblymen and Members of Parliament in solving the people’s problems allows people to assess the abilities of PR.
“People can evaluate PR’s leadership style as being much better and different from Umno-BN. We would also like to add to the Islamic educational programmes through mosques, suraus, or other channels.
“Citizens of Shah Alam and the whole state need to remember what happened back at the previous administration. For example, the issues raised were actually worse during the time of Umno-BN,” he said.
