Temple demolition and governance

The demolition of the Hindu temple in Ampang raises a serious issue that all Pakatan state governments need to be vigilant about. This is the issue of loyalty and sabotage.

The Pakatan-led state government of Selangor has been exemplary in its beneficence towards the state civil service who has been loyal to the BN coalition all this while. But has this beneficence been reciprocated by the civil service? Generally, the answer would be a qualified "yes". But, there are pockets of UMNO loyalists within the ranks of state civil servants that are up to no good.

Kapar Member of Parliament S. Manickavasagam's threat to quit as the Selangor PKR liaison committee deputy chairman if no action is taken against the council officers involved in the demolition of a Hindu temple is a gross over-reaction. It doesn't reflect well on the Pakatan alliance. Their leaders tend to resort to melodramatics and bouts of self-righteousness on issues that require level-headed temperance.

On the other hand, maybe they are far more savvy in the dark arts of politics. Maybe they were fully aware that the temple demolition was a premeditated dastardly act by the BN saboteurs within the state civil service and, instead of being the same old boring BN-type leader that dishes out lame explanations, the Pakatan leaders pre-empted MIC by expressing greater outrage than MIC. This is high-level political wizardry.

Whatever the case, my point is that the Pakatan state governments need to accelerate their governance of key organs like the local councils.

It is one thing to be magnanimous in victory. But, it is quite another matter in being lackadaisical and naive about the deep-seated loyalties to UMNO and BN among certain state civil servants. These guys have to be weeded out. The sooner the better. At the level of the state civil service no politicking should be tolerated, especially the type of politicking that is calculated to cause social unrest and, damage the policies of the state government.

The sooner that Tan Sri Khalid and EXCO members like Ronnie Liu focus on this, the better things will be. Multiracial Selangor is shaping up to be a key battle-ground for many issues involving race and religion. Khir Toyo and Muhammad Taib have big war-chests and a lot of rewards to sustain a trench warfare against the Pakatan state government.

Tan Sri Khalid and his EXCO need to ramp up their political profile. For instance, the Selangor State Official Website could do with a face-lift and be made more user-friendly. It is bad enough that the mainstream media is waiting to pounce on any mistakes the Pakatan state government makes. But the Official Website should be regularly updated so that everyone, especially Selangorians are informed about the position of the state government on any issues arising..

Such political savvy is also part of good governance. It falls under the category of state communications. To ignore the importance of speedy and efficient dissemination of official communication is political naivette.