Khir appoints four new faces in Selangor exco

BY FREDERICK FERNANDEZ

SHAH ALAM: Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo has appointed four new faces in his state executive council line-up and set up a monitoring group to check on the state government. 

The new faces are Datuk Abdul Rahman Palil (Sementa assemblyman), Datin Paduka Seripah Noli Syed Hussin (Seri Setia), Datuk Ahmad Nawawi Mohd Zin (Kota Anggerik) and Datuk Dr Lim Thuang Seng (Bukit Gasing). 

He reappointed six exco members, namely Datuk Tang See Hang (Rawang), Datuk Abdul Fatah Iskandar (Sijangkang), Datuk K. Sivalingam (Ijok), Datuk Ch'ng Toh Eng (Kuala Kubu Baharu), Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Ahmad Dahlan (Kota Damansara) and Datuk Raja Ideris Raja Ahmad (Sabak). 

Dr Khir, when announcing the changes and additions to the new exco line-up at a press conference at his office, said an assistant would be appointed for each exco member.  

NEW FACES: The four new exco members (from left) Seripah Noli, Abdul Rahman, Dr Lim and Ahmad Nawawi sharing a light moment at Dr Khir's office in Shah Alam Wednesday.

The assistants would be paid a special allowance and allotted a room within the office of their respective exco members, he said.  

Dr Khir said the exco would focus on policy-making decisions while the assistants would assess feedback at the implementation stage. 

“This is important as in the past, due to tight work schedule the exco members found it difficult to check the situation on the ground, whether decisions by the state government were being implemented,” he said. 

Dr Khir also has announced that 23 Barisan Nasional assemblymen would act as a monitoring group in the Selangor state assembly, who would be part of an “inner opposition” team tasked to criticise and provide constructive feedback to the state government. 

“They would be given a free hand to assess problems and issues faced by Selangor and if necessary they would be given allocations to carry out research and obtain feedback from the various agencies and organisations,” said Dr Khir. 

On the exco line-up, Dr Khir said he would take over the problematic local government and land administration portfolios apart from finance.  

He said state secretary Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof would also serve as assistant to him.  

His additional responsibility will include gazetting of land, approval of building plans and certificate of fitness, enforcement of local by-laws, privatisation, research and development and improving delivery system. 

Dr Khir said a significant change in the portfolios was local government which would be under him as he wanted to see better results in the delivery system.  

“I took over the local government portfolio as I view it as a major problem in Selangor. 

“I want to see improvement in local councils particularly in the quality of services and handling of public complaints,” he said.