PUTRAJAYA: "It must be hard for my brother."
Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad had this to say about the rise of his political fortune and the decline of Tan Sri Shahrir Samad’s.
Khalid said this when asked if his brother was proud of him for making it as a minister after Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) historic win in the 14th General Election (GE14) where it crushed Barisan Nasional’s (BN) six-decade monopoly over the federal government.
“(Laughing) I have no idea, you have to ask him. I suppose it is awkward for him, I have been in the opposition and suddenly it's in reverse. So it’s not easy...but I suppose it's not easy for all Umno MPs. They were in the government but now they are in the opposition.”
“And to be fair, it is not easy for us as well, it’s a new role for everyone,” he said in an exclusive interview with the New Straits Times at the ministry’s headquarters, here, recently.
Khalid said that he and his brother were not really close given their age gap of eight years, adding that they did not grow up together.
He however stressed that no matter what, they were brothers.
“We meet and we share the same interest in terms of our family and our parents though we don’t share our political views.
“Yes, in a way I do miss seeing him in Parliament.”
He also did seek out Shahrir’s advise when he was appointed as minister. Shahrir was formerly the Federal Territories Minister in 1987.
Asked how he was adjusting to his role especially with his detractors falling back on the fact that he was not a Kuala Lumpur MP to attack him, Khalid said if that was the case there would never be federal ministers.
“The fact that you are from a particular constituency does not mean that you can’t undertake the responsibilities at a national level.”
He also said that the FT ministry was more national that it appears.
Khalid said that besides the three federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan, it was also in charge of Plan Malaysia which was the planning department for rural and urban development and the National Landscape Department.
Asked whether it was lonely for him as a Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) Minister to be among KL MPs who were mainly from DAP and PKR, Khalid said that he had a lot of friends.
He also said that he looked forward to arguments and debates.
“The fact that I am not from Kuala Lumpur means that my responsibilities do not stop in KL. The issues that have been raised which I have been handling would not have been looked at differently if I were an MP from any of the KL constituencies. I am looking at it from a purely professional angle.
“Say the Rimba Kiara issue if you cancel the development, we have to pay the developer compensations, why should we pay money? I would have handled the issue similarly even if I was a KL MP. I have to do my job as minister."
Meanwhile on his mission to redevelop Kampung Baru which his detractors have been saying was headed for failure, Khalid dismissed it by saying that he has fulfilled his responsibility by giving Kampung Baru landowners an offer.
He said the redevelopment plan was long overdue and he was just putting in the last mile by making an official offer.
“I hope it will be good enough to see some change, I have ideas on how to try to achieve it. It's not something I am doing to leave a legacy or become popular or whatever."
He earlier said that he was offering the landowners a way out but it was up to them if they wanted to live in the current situation.
“They want to be millionaires on paper but some of them are in dire need of money but they can’t sell.”