Selangor Menteri Besar Office's strategic communications director Yin Shao Loong was wrong with his statement reportedly claiming that BN had become irrelevant, even distasteful, to the voters of Selangor because the people were fed up with decades of corruption, wastage and mismanagement.

Selangor has already become the most developed, prosperous and richest state in Malaysia long before Pakatan Rakyat took over in 2008. It was decades of efforts and commitment from BN that propelled Selangor as the Golden State of Malaysia and the economic powerhouse of the nation. It did not happen in the 9 years of Pakatan’s rule.

Yin must not be biased by dismissing all of BN contributions in the previous administration. When the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat took over Selangor in 2008, the PKR-led state government was able to ride on the success, thanks to decades of solid growth under the good hands of BN.

BN’s loss in Selangor heralded the arrival of new politics and spelled public’s demand for political renewal and the real prospect of a two-party system. It was part of the democratic practice which does not equal to irrelevance or rejection of BN as simply claimed by Yin.

Contrary, Yin should not be oblivion on how the PKR-led Selangor state government has made Selangorians suffered under its poor governance. It was evidenced in a series of high-profile scandals, gross mismanagements, and negligence and self-orchestrated political crises.

It remains deeply etched in the minds of Selangorians on how the prolonged MB crisis in 2014 due to PKR infighting, the self-orchestrated Kajang by-election and the most farcical Kajang Move that only brought inconvenience to the Selangorians.

Representative democracy was eroded during Pakatan’s rule in Selangor. The state was plagued with a series of political crises within Pakatan derailing socioeconomic development and repelling investment, local governments were seriously underperformed, public welfare and basic facilities were neglected.

Even the Kajang constituency represented by PKR president Wan Azizah was full of problems and complaints from local constituents, from potholes, dysfunctional street lights to floods. It is the strongest evidence on how the PKR-led Selangor state government has failed the people.

What has Pakatan done for Selangorians that truly has its own distinctive merits and credentials without ‘hijacking’ previous achievements by BN? We have none to recall but a handful of examples of its poor governance throughout its 9 years in power. For example, the complicated ties between PKR-DAP-PAS, the DEIG scandal, controversial houses of worship guidelines, questionable SPLASH acquisition, unpopular SUKE, EKVE and DASH highways, MPK fireworks fiasco, highest number of dengue cases, Paya Indah Wetlands issue, recurring water shortages and many more.

Could these issues which indicate the PKR-led Selangor state government is a failure and does not prioritise the people, will they be enough to suggest that Pakatan would lose popularity and support in Selangor? Yin should find answers for those lingering problems affecting the credibility of Pakatan before he attempts to surmise on others’ experience.

CHAI KO THING is Gerakan Youth legal bureau chair cum Bukit Gasing state seat coordinator.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.