Tee Yong: Khalid must address public concerns over issues

Sunday September 23, 2012

LABIS: Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has a duty to explain issues of public interest, particularly the Talamgate controversy, because he is Mentri Besar by virtue of the Selangor people's support, said MCA Young Professionals Bureau chief Datuk Chua Tee Yong.

Accusing Khalid of having forgotten the ketuanan rakyat concept he used to talk about, Chua said the Mentri Besar now declined to speak up about Talam Corporation Bhd's debt deals.

“Now he is saying that it is too expensive to comment on Talam. He (Khalid) is no longer in the corporate world and he is there as Mentri Besar because of the rakyat's support.

“Therefore, he has a duty to explain the issues at hand,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Questioning Khalid's refusal for a debate with him, Chua said: “If he is of such high standards, and I am very easy to be defeated, then why is he so afraid to debate with me?

“My question is about the policy of the state government, in terms of land valuation.

“The valuation of the two pieces of land that the state government received through the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) is RM113mil.

“But how could the state government accept and acquire them at RM345mil?” he asked, adding that the Talam issue was very serious as the public was concerned about it.

The Mentri Besar, said Chua, should also reveal the cost of KPMG's report on Talam as this, too, involved public funds.

Khalid had also failed to keep his promises to table a White Paper report on the Talam debt recovery exercise and provide an explanation at the state assembly, Chua said.

Besides threatening to sue MCA over the queries on Talam, Chua said Khalid had also asked him to apologise.

“Talam is not my issue. The public is questioning the deals,” he said, adding that Khalid's ability to administer Selangor would be questioned if he could not provide answers to the issue despite being the Mentri Besar.

In July, Chua had questioned how an exercise to recover a RM392mil debt owed by Talam to state-linked companies ended up in questionable deals worth over RM1bil.

The RM1bil deals include Talam assets acquired by the Selangor government at RM676mil to offset the debt and a RM392mil grant obtained by the Mentri Besar Incorporated to facilitate the debt recovery exercise.