Khir Toyo receives RM100k from PKNS.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo has confirmed receiving RM100,000 from the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS), describing the payment as halal (legitimate) income. [The Star, 31/10/08]

Selangor state executive councillor Ronnie Liu announced that the Pakatan-led state government would start a probe into alleged discrepancies by the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS). It was understood that PKNS had handed a bonus of RM100,000 to former Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Khir Toyo (image) when he was the chairman of the state-owned agency. However, he shrugged off the allegations that the payout was a form a corruption.

PKNS is currently embroiled in a standoff between the state government and UMNO who protested against the appoinment of a non-bumiputra, Low Siew Moi at the helm. Read "Pas joins UMNO in racist notion against PKR" for more details.

"I insisted that I would only accept payment if PKNS made a profit. For 2007, PKNS made a RM500mil profit. All board members were given certain sums of allowances. The staff received five months of bonus as well. So it is halal (legitimate) income,” he said when contacted by reporters. [The Star, 31/10/08]

Khir Toyo assured that the money he received was recorded in the account books which were checked and audited by the State Treasury. He also said he would welcome any investigation into the matter, including one by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in order to clear his name of the bad press.

“They have accused me of so many things, including losing billions of ringgit over lop-sided deals. Prove it. I suggest they get an impartial party, such as the Auditor-General, to go through the books,” he challenged his accusers. [The Star, 31/10/08]

Khir Toyo also rebuked Liu's comments that the PKNS was establish for the betterment of the poor and needy (irregardless of race) and it was wrong for the former Chief Minister to accept such lucrative payments. Khir Toyo said Liu should first get his facts straight as the PKNS was formed solely for the development of the Malays.

“PKNS is a corporation set up to create new opportunities for Malays to own houses and to train Malay developers. It is among the handful of profitable state economic development corporations in the country. It is not a corporation purely to serve the needy,” Khir Toyo explained. [The Star, 31/08/08]

First of all, there seemed to be a linguistic mix-up of terminologies used by the Khir Toyo and his lot. Selangor UMNO Youth and PAS had protested against the appointment of a non-Malay to lead the agency; saying it would undermine the agency's purpose of developing the bumiputras. Khir Toyo himself said that the PKNS is a 'corporation set up to create new opportunities for Malays to own houses and to train Malay developers.' (Excerpts of such comments can be found in the article, "Pas joins UMNO in racist notion against PKR".)

Truth to be told, Khir Toyo was half right. One of PKNS's mission statements and vision was to encourage and create opportunities for bumiputra entrepreneurship and industry. However, UMNO and PAS must also understand that not all bumiputras are Malays. What Khir Toyo, UMNO and PAS were championing for when they cried foul over Low's appointment as PKNS general manager was nothing more but a selfish move to propogate their racist ideology of the ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy); leaving the other bumiputra groups out of their "struggle".

Even if the PKNS was made to benefit only the Malays, how does fattening the pockets of a handful of board members contribute to the development of the entire community? Nonetheless, when Khir Toyo said that the PKNS was 'not a corporation purely to serve the needy', that certainly explained a lot of things.