No more souvenirs for me, Azmin tells Selangor agencies
Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali has ordered all state government departments and agencies to stop giving him souvenirs during his grassroots visits.
The order was issued through a circular dated November 13 to all departments and agencies in Selangor and signed by state secretary Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi.
Instead of souvenirs, the order, which was seen by The Malaysian Insider, states that agencies or departments should only give the menteri besar reports of their activities or similar documents.
This development comes at a time when the state government’s spending is in the spotlight after it was found that it had paid RM2.6 million in compensation to eight former aides of former menteri besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
In a document sighted by The Malaysian Insider, RM2.6 million in compensation and RM376,000 in lieu of three months' notice were allegedly paid to Khalid's eight members of staff.
It is understood that the payments were approved by Khalid, who is a member of the state-owned Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) board, and his four-man PAS exco on September 22, in one of his last acts as MB.
The document showed that of the payments, the highest amount of RM695,400 was allegedly paid to Faekah Husin, former CEO of MBI.
She allegedly received RM581,400 in compensation and another RM114,000 in lieu of three months' notice.
Khalid's press secretary Arfa'eza Abdul Aziz was allegedly paid RM358,000 in compensation and another RM55,000 in lieu of three months' notice while his political secretary Mustapa Mohd Talib was allegedly paid RM265,000.
The rest were allegedly paid between RM97,000 and RM230,000 each in compensation, and between RM18,000 and RM69,000 in lieu of the three months' notice.
Faekah and Arfa'eza did not respond to calls and text messages from The Malaysian Insider while Khalid has denied any impropriety, saying he adhered to proper procedures.
On Sunday, Azmin had admitted that there were elements of impropriety in the payments and that MBI was scheduled to discuss the issue this week.
Since taking office on September 23, Azmin has said that his administration will feature more meet-the-people visits.
Besides promising to go down to the ground more often, it is learnt that Azmin wants to dress more casually so as to endear himself to ordinary folk.
This is seen in many of his previous excursions where he made spot checks at a waste disposal site in Sungai Kertas and stopped a lorry that had been illegally dumping rubbish.
Azmin also visited Bukit Beruntung, where a landslide had occurred last month, and announced an immediate allocation of RM500,000 for repair works and RM150,000 in cash aid for victims.
Earlier this month, Azmin made public his mobile phone number, inviting residents to send him an SMS to complain about uncollected rubbish.
Azmin has admitted that he was inspired by Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who is known for spending more time in meet-the-people visits than being in the office.
“I visited Jokowi last year and he told me that he spent only 20% of the time in the office. The rest was with the people.
“I admit I want to emulate him as I want to constantly to be in touch with the people to hear their concerns,” Azmin said in a meeting with civil servants in Sabak Bernam. – November 19, 2014
