Selangor MB, state firms to spend weekend abroad for board meetings

Two Selangor state-owned companies are flying their directors and top executives to Perth, Australia next month to attend a four-day "retreat" that comes with an all-expense paid sightseeing tour and plenty of "free and easy" time, MalaysiaNow has learnt.

The board members and top management of Kumpulan Hartanah Selangor Berhad and Central Spectrum (M) Sdn Bhd will also be accompanied by Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari during the overseas trip, a departure from past practises where their board meetings were held in the country.

"I am not in a position to say why they decided to hold the meeting abroad this time. Could it be because the weather in Perth is cooler at this time of the year?" a source at Menteri Besar Selangor Inc told MalaysiaNow.

According to the itinerary seen by MalaysiaNow, the participants will be flying on two separate Malaysia Airlines flights on Aug 23.

Members of the secretariat will depart in the morning, while the "VIPs, board members and management team" will take another flight in the evening.

Both organisations will hold their board meetings separately on the first day.

Nothing is planned for the second day, a Sunday, except for a dinner to be attended by Amirudin and senior officials from Selangor.

The following day, participants will be invited to a "site visit" as part of a "proposed technical visit" before visiting Fremantle, a tourist attraction in Western Australia.

They will depart for Kuala Lumpur the next day.

It is not clear how many people will attend the four-day retreat, but a quick check on the websites of both organisations shows that at least 25 people make up the boards and management teams, excluding Amirudin and the trip's secretariat.

Among them are Pakatan Harapan assemblymen Rajiv Rishyakaran (DAP) and Azmizam Zaman Huri (PKR), Amirudin's private secretary Mohd Hidayat Mohd Sauffi and PKR politicians Saipolyazan Mat Yusop, Kamarul Baharin Abbas and Yahya Mat Sahri.

Rajiv, Azmizam and Yahya did not respond to MalaysiaNow's enquiries about the trip.

Efforts to get Amirudin or his press secretary for a response were also in vain.