SHAH ALAM, 8 April 2009: Selangor today asked the Federal Government to consider setting up a special fund for by-elections as practiced in many developed countries.
Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said this would ensure transparency and accountability in the spending without risking the efficiency of the electoral process in Malaysia.
Speaking to the press after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting here, Abdul Khalid also said the Selangor government believed the Federal Government should review the total cost spent in running by-elections.
This is because huge resources were utilised and the tax payers must be aware how their contributions were used during the election process.
Touching on the by-elections yesterday, Abdul Khalid congratulated the winners in the three by-elections which saw PAS win the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat and Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional the Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai state seats respectively.
He said the results in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau reflected the maturity of the Malaysian voters in exercising their constitutional rights they placed emphasis on the reliability of the individual fielded and the party they represented.
On another issue, he said the state government had appointed the law firm of Messrs Fernandez and Selvarajah to handle the case of the dissolution of Balkis (a welfare society run by the wives of Selangor elected representatives) and recover RM9.9 million of the society’s funds now reported to be held by the Malaysian Insolvency Department. — Bernama
