Selangor PAS has defended its boss Dr Hasan Ali who has again come under fire from his Pakatan Rakyat colleagues.

It's secretary Mohd Khairuddin Othman said Selangor PAS is also willing to 'study' the calls asking it to review its position in the coalition.

"If there are elected reps who suggest that PAS should review its position, we are ready to study this in detail," he added in a press statement today.

hassan ali and selangor people Contacted later, Khairuddin said he was responding to PAS Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and DAP’s Klang MP Charles Santiago who were quoted by the New Straits Times urging Hasan to leave Pakatan if he cannot cooperate.

The Umno-linked English daily ran the report on its front page.

Hasan has been drawing brickbats from his Pakatan colleagues after he criticised the Selangor Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat).

The inquiry is probing how Barisan Nasional state reps used up RM500,000 annual state allocations in two months before the March general election last year.

According to Hasan, the manner in which the probe was conducted had embarrassed district officers who were called in to testify. He said the district officers also claimed that they were treated like schoolchildren.

During the Selcat inquiry, several district officers admitted that they rubber stamped approvals for state allocations during the period in question to help BN for political purposes.

Haul up BN reps first

hassan ali pc 051208 03 Commenting on this, Khairuddin said Hasan ( right ) was right in wanting the district officers to be quizzed behind closed doors in order to safeguard the integrity of the civil service.

"We do not dispute Selcat's authority to ask the district officers just about anything, but the manner the hearing is conducted - in public and streamed live on the internet - is of concern to us.

"We fear this incident may be similar to how (former menteri besar Dr Mohd) Khir Toyo embarrassed the Hulu Selangor Municipal Council with the 'broom award' which had a negative impact on the (then) state government," he added.

Khairuddin said it was important for the state government to maintain the morale of civil servants and the inquiry should be conducted behind closed doors.

He stressed that Selcat should have called in the former BN state reps first before grilling the district officers.

"The district officers were merely carrying out instructions at the time... To us, it is best for Selcat to call in the former assemblypersons first. Establish the facts, then go into the procedures," he added.

During the 2004-2008 BN administration, each BN-controlled state constituency was allocated RM500,000 to be disbursed by the respective state reps, and is subject to scrutiny by the district officers.

However, after taking over the state following last year's March general election, Pakatan state reps found the coffers in their constituencies almost depleted during the first two months of the year.

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