Khalid's Ledger: How the Opposition Managed the Richest State

Khalid Ibrahim viewed a government the way one views a company.

He had managed massive assets at PNB and Guthrie. After stepping into the Menteri Besar's office, he still preferred to start with cash, debt, and balance sheets. Supporters called this discipline; some within the party later felt he held on to the money too tightly. ^1,2

The Water Taps Spoke First#

One of the new government's quickest fulfilled promises was subsidizing the first 20 cubic meters of water for domestic users starting in June 2008, equivalent to eleven ringgit and forty sen a month. ^3,2

The policy was easy to see: one less line of charges on the bill.

However, the coverage gap was equally real. The initial direct beneficiaries were residential users with individual water meters; many apartment residents sharing bulk meters did not automatically receive the subsidy in the same way. Whether a blanket free water policy gave more benefits to higher-income households that consumed more water was also debatable. ^3,2

More complex was the entire water supply system. Raw water and land fell under the state, regulation, financing, and mega-projects involved the federal government, and water supply was managed by private concessionaires. The prolonged deadlock between the state and the federal government over asset restructuring and the Langat 2 project could not honestly be blamed on a single party. ^4,2

Documents Could Finally Be Opened on Request#

Selangor passed a Freedom of Information enactment in 2011, a significant attempt at state-level transparency. Citizens could legally request state government department data, although exemptions, execution capacity, and federal secrecy laws still limited its actual scope. ^5,2

The Auditor-General's report also noted that the state's financial statements received an unqualified opinion, with the consolidated fund balance growing over several years. ^1,2

But the consolidated fund was not a bag of cash the Menteri Besar could spend at will; it included trust accounts and investments. The wealthy state inherently possessed advantages in industry, land, and tax revenue. Numbers could prove accounting trends, but could not alone prove that every public service had improved. ^1,2

Five years later, voters were given a second chance to test this government.

This time, Selangor's numbers went from thirty-six to forty-four. The numbers at the national level, however, were stranger: the opposition coalition won more votes, yet still could not enter Putrajaya.

Next: "2013 General Election: Winning More Votes, Yet Still Not Entering Putrajaya". Selangor gave Pakatan Rakyat a second term, but the votes and seats in the federal election went in two different directions.