Editor’s Note: Former Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad has postponed his retirement plans to take on caretaker Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz (UMNO-Barisan Nasional) as he defends his Kuala Selangor seat which he won under the PKR-Pakatan Harapan (PH) ticket in the previous national poll.
The duo will be engaged in a four-cornered fight at the forthcoming 15th General Election (GE15) against Ustaz Mohd Noor Mohd Sahar of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Pejuang’s Mohd Shaid Rosli.
In the previous national poll, Dr Dzulkefly, 66, defeated BN candidate Datuk Seri Irmohizam Ibrahim and PAS candidate Fakaruddin Ismail with a 8,498-vote majority.
Holding the eminent toxicologist in high regard, former Bersatu co-founder Datuk Dr Rais Hussin believes that by voting for Dr Dzulkefly, “Kuala Selangorians are showing to the world that they do want an eminent world class expert on public health in their midst”.
KUALA Selangor is more well-known than many people tend to give it credit for. It is barely one hour away from Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Sungai Buloh or Kajang. If the naval personnel in Lumut want to get their rest and recreation in Kuala Selangor, it is barely one-and-half-hour drive away.
In the 14th General Election (GE14), the people of Kuala Selangor wisely elected PKR-Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad as their MP. He will be facing caretaker finance minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz who has been parachuted to Kuala Selangor to enable a victory for UMNO.
There is nothing wrong with that except that Tengku Zafrul sees himself as a cut above all other races – even Malays – which is why he would have the mindset of what UMNO itself calls orang kayangan or someone whose feet are never on the ground.
Tengku Zafrul may still have access to all the funds as he so proudly claimed – 200 visits in the past six month and ever ready to dish out cash! But isn’t this a dereliction of his duty as a caretaker finance minister for all of Malaysia?
What about those who need simple infrastructure and clean water in Sabah or Sarawak or Kelantan?
Look at his budget prior to the dissolution of the parliament on October 7 2022. RM97 bil is dedicated to the operational expenditure of the civil service or those who had once worked in this sector. Once again there is nothing wrong with trying to reward the civil service.
They, too, are suffering from the ever escalating cost of living. But the increase must be realistic to prevent the world market from downgrading the ringgit further. Yet Tengku Zafrul increased the operational expenditure by a whopping 50%.
This is not only outlandish. Rather counter-productive in all sense of the word. Why? When the capital expenditure is increased by 50% despite the fact that between 2005 and 2018 the public sector had indeed taken up 70% of all the budget allocation of the Malaysian government, then what we have is a bloated budget.
Yet in an economy that is affected by the ramifications of COVID-19 where long COVID can imply anyone that has lingering symptoms of it two weeks after recovery, then Malaysia need the voters of Kuala Selangor to help Kuala Selangor and Malaysia writ large.
Dr Dzulkefly can address all these issues at the state and Federal level as he was once the chair of the COVID-19 Commission in Selangor, too. Unknown to many, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad is also an eminent authority on toxicology acknowledged by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Kuala Selangor is now a frontline state of not just Selangor but, God willing, with Pakatan Harapan (PH) as the prospective Federal government in Putrajaya. Kuala Selangorians can grow further with access that Dr Dzulkefly has with both the state and Putrajaya.
Even more critically, Digital National Bhd (DNB) which sought to be responsible for the roll out of all future 5G in Malaysia compelled all telecommunication companies to come on board.
While four of them were willing, Maxis and Axiata, refused. But even four joining DNB will cost the consumers billions of dollars in future – especially now and 2030 – as Tengku Zafrul has tried for free ride on this project without doing anything or paying anything with the exception of using the government authority of DNB to pressure others into accepting role as the first among equals.
This would raise the cost of 5G digital consumers and should the plan proceed as the essence of 5G is constant competition to broaden the bandwidth and speed with the attendant goal to make the cost of digital subscription hardly a burden at all.
Yet, Tengku Zafrul has flipped this principle completely in reverse. How can Kuala Selangorians or any Malaysians for that matter trust him? If anything, we should throw him and DNB project into the dust heap of another dubious and lack of transparent project.
After all, the DNB’s Single Wholesale Model (SWM) have been an abject failure everywhere and anywhere it was deployed. This project is worth billions of ringgit and will be once again people’s monies will be tapped either through guaranteed debt by the government or through tax revenues!
When it could have been all private sector initiatives – just like in all and every nation that have successfully deployed 5G.
Kuala Selangor can do a great national service by voting in Dr Dzulkefly who will work tirelessly with a great passion and heart for Kuala Selangor, for Malaysia and for the many Malaysians out there! – Nov 16, 2022
Dr Rais Hussin is the president and CEO of EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
