Bina kilang Lynas di Australia sahajalah

By
Aspan Alias
 | February 27, 2012

The Malaysian Insider

27 FEB — Kerajaan patut membatalkan niat untuk meneruskan pembangunan pemprosesan nadir bumi oleh Lynas Corp, di Gebeng, Kuantan. Pemberhentian kerja pembinaan ini sepatutnya menjadi isu yang paling besar yang perlu diselesaikan secepat mungkin. Ini merupakan fokus rakyat dan secara keseluruhannya rakyat mahukan kilang pemprosesan nadir bumi di tutup serta merta.

Kerajaan patut merasakan denyut jantung rakyat dan tidak boleh mengambil ringan terhadap isu ini semata-mata kerana kepentingan beberapa orang yang berpengaruh di negara ini atau di Pahang khususnya.

Biarlah berpuluh billion pun pendapatan yang di katakan akan diperolehi oleh negara, tolaklah operasi kilang pemprosesan nadir bumi ini. Carilah jalan atau perniagaan yang lain untuk dibina di Pahang ini bagi membangunkan negeri itu. Biarlah pembangunan sesebuah negeri itu tidak di cemari dengan bahaya pencemaran yang sangat merbahaya ini.

Nadir bumi yang dibawa masuk dari Australia ini membawa banyak persoalan yang mudah mendapat jawapannya. Kita tidak tahu apa sebenarnya penyebab yang kerajaan berkeras untuk meneruskan usaha pembinaan kilang pemprosesan nadir bumi ini. Apabila nadir bumi dibawa masuk ke negara ini, sedangkan Australia yang mempunyai negara yang sangat besar itu mempunyai 2/3 keluasan bumi mereka yang tidak boleh didiami itu tidak mahu membina kilang pemprosesan nadir buminya sendiri.

Kalau Australia yang mengeluarkan nadir bumi itu tidak sanggup untuk membina kilang pemprosesan itu, kenapa negara kita yang sekecil ini sanggup menerima “export” barangan merbahaya ini ke negara kita?

Jika Lynas Australia mengatakan yang kilang itu selamat dan tidak akan mengeluarkan radiasi diudara kita, kenapa mereka mahukan dan berkeras untuk membinanya di Kuantan? Kenapa sanggup berbelanja berbillion-billion ringgit untuk mengeksportnya ke Kuantan dan menyebabkan rakyat kita keluh resah dengan kehadiran kilang ini di Gebeng?

Saya difahamkan yang tidak ada sebuah negara Afrika pun yang sanggup menerima nadir bumi dari Australia ini kerana mereka tahu dalam jangkamasa panjang ia akan merbahayakan kehidupan rakyat mereka. Dalam ratusan buah negara yang berkerajaan di dunia ini tidak ada negara yang mahukan kilang pemprosesan nadir bumi ini di bawa masuk ke negara mereka.

Kenapa pula kita yang bersedia menerimanya? Banyak pendapat yang saya dengar kenapa kerajaan kita sanggup menerima dan membina kilang pemprosesannya di sini. Diantaranya ada pihak yang telah menerima wang besar untuk memudahkan Lynas membina kilang ini.

Kalau ini sebabnya maka ia lagi satu bukti yang rasuah itu boleh menjadikan pemimpin kita hilang pertimbangan dan akan melakukan perkara-perkara yang tidak bermoral asalkan sahaja mendapat wang yang berkepul-kepul. Sekarang ini kita masih beruntung kerana ada pihak yang sedar dan insaf dan memberikan kesanggupan untuk mengadakan “rally” membantah pembinanaan kilang itu.

Ia menunjukkan aspirasi rakyat yang sebenarnya dan jika kilang ini masih juga di teruskan maka rakyatlah yang akan membuat perhitungan kali ini. Rakyat sedar mereka adalah dari gulungan bawahan dan tidak ada mana-mana lagi negara tempat mereka berlindung. Tidak seperti mereka yang telah menerima wang brkepul-kepul tadi, mereka boleh mencari negara dan tempat lain untuk hidup senang lenang pada masa-masa yang akan datang.

Kita berharap pemimpin-pemimpin yang berkuasa supaya berkorbanlah kali ini untuk rakyat. Jika ada yang telah menerima wang sogokan, pulangkanlah balik kepada empunyanya dan hentikanlah kilang ini. Janganlah berniaga di atas perasaan rakyat. Hormatilah pandangan rakyat kali ini. Kalau selama ini tidak ada perasaan terhadap keresahan rakyat, kali ini belajar-belajarlah untuk berbuat baik kepada rakyat yang sedang terhimpit dengan kos sara hidup yang tinggi ini.

Hormatilah semangat demokrasi kita. Hentikanlah sikap angkuh dan sombong itu sehinggakan tidak mempedulikan perasaan rakyat khususnya disekitar kilang serta daerah-daerah yang bersekitaran kilang ini.

Pergi tanya kepada mereka di Australia itu, jika benar kilang ini selamat kenapa tidak bina sahaja di negara mereka yang luas itu, yang siap dengan padang pasir yang hampir memakan keluasan 50 peratus dari keluasan negara itu? Kenapa pilih Gebeng? kenapa pilih Malaysia? Mentang-mentanglah di negara ini senang untuk berunding asalkan ada “fulus” janganlah ambil kesempatan di atas kelemahan pemimpin kami di sini.

Himpunan Hijau yang diadakan semalam di Kuantan itu merupakan kemuncak dari rungutan rakyat yang tidak diberikan perhatian oleh pemimpin dan parti yang memerintah. Sekalung tahniah kepada YB Fuziah Salleh, ahli parlimen Kuantan yang telah tidak berhenti-henti memperjuangkan nasib masa depan rakyat Kuantan dan sekitarnya sejak tindakan Lynas ini membina kilang pemprosesan nadir bumi ini diluluskan oleh kerajaan ini.

Semoga YB mendapat hidayah dan sentiasa berada didalam perlindungan Tuhan Maha Esa. YB mesti faham, diakhir zaman ini amat payah untuk memperjuangkan kebaikan. Laluilah kesusahan ini dengan tenang. Hanya kesabaran sahaja yang akan membuahkan kejayaan untuk mempastikan keselesaan dan kesihatan rakyat dan generasi yang akan datang tidak dikorbankan oleh gulungan kapitalis yang tidak berperikemanusiaan ini.

Jika rakyat tidak mahu generasi kita menghadapi risiko yang amat merbahaya ini, hanya satu jalan sahaja untuk mempastikan kilang pemprosesan nadir bumi ini dihentikan, iaitu dengan menolak parti yang menganjurkan projek ini pada pilihanraya yang akan datang. —
aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 28 February 2012, 12:08 pm and is filed under
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Dear PM, revamp MACC now!

By
Gomen Man
 | February 27, 2012

The Malaysian Insider

FEB 27 — Memo to the prime minister: There is no need to wait for the next general election to revamp the discredited Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

According to The Malaysian Insider’s report, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that if the Barisan Nasional wins two-thirds majority, his government would legislate the setting up of a service commission for the MACC so that it can have its own powers to hire and fire officers.

You don’t need to wait for the polls. If you are honest and sincere about change, I am sure you will have to support of the opposition to make the changes as early as next month when Parliament meets.

And I am not even sure you need a two-thirds majority because this is not some constitutional change. I can only assume that you threw the “two-thirds majority” line in as a carrot for the electorate.

And instead of setting up a service commission, my suggestion is to disband the MACC because its reputation cannot be salvaged after the deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbaini while in its care. The power to hire and fire is the least of its problems.

Only a smattering of people believe that the MACC is honest or serious about tackling corruption. I mean these guys have not charged any minister or government politician despite overwhelming physical evidence that many of them are living beyond their means.

Najib today said that the asset declarations from ministers and deputy ministers will now be made available to the MACC chief. And just what is the MACC chief going to do with it?

Charge a minister for having a stake in a billion-ringgit infrastructure project? Charge a minister for having a luxury apartment in London?

There is just too much hot air about fighting corruption in the higher reaches of government. And today we were treated to another chapter.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 28 February 2012, 12:06 pm and is filed under
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What every Malaysian needs to know about ‘race’ (Part 5): ‘Race’ and the reform of public language in Malaysia

By
Clive Kessler
 | February 28, 2012

The Malaysian Insider

FEB 28 — The term bangsa — so this extended commentary has argued from the outset — is sorely in need of clarification, “disaggregation” and so-called deconstruction.

Perhaps the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka will oblige.

The Dewan has done much — it has undertaken so many nationally significant projects of “linguistic engineering” and “semantic” or “lexical innovation” (the invention of new words, especially technical terms) — in the course of its long history of service to the nation.

Yet somehow it has overlooked this crucial and nationally fateful task of providing the lexical means — or “suite” of words — for differentiating among the various referents of the term bangsa, and in that way to make possible some necessary clarification of its several related yet distinctly different uses.

How could this omission or neglect ever have happened?

There are only two possibilities.

One is that it was a matter of choice, of officially decided political strategy and longstanding language policy.

The other is that this omission, the failure to address this essential task, has simply been a matter of momentary “oversight” and inattention.

Perhaps. But if so, it has been a constantly repeated “momentary inattention” that has now continued for half a century and more.

It’s still not too late to do what is necessary

Even so, and either way, it is still not too late for the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to address this central linguistic problem.

It must do so. Why? Because this is a fundamental political problem. It is the key component of the challenge of national cohesion, integration and solidarity.

Nothing less.

Not only is it still possible to face that task.

The interests of the Malaysian people and state, the future survivability of “the Malaysian project”, require and depend upon it.

They depend, centrally and fatefully, upon the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka responding to the evident need and resolving to do what it must, by adequately addressing this problem “for the sake of the nation itself”.

Yet the challenge is that not just that of the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka but of all Malaysia’s citizens.

It is yours, not mine.

Over to you all .. ..

And, in particular, to the Malaysian scholarly community, especially those in the several fields of study that touch upon these fundamentally important questions of “race”, ethnicity, nationhood and national identity.

What is involved here is not simply the production of a series of endorsed Daftar Istilah: of authorised and officially approved wordlists, especially in such fields as anthopology, sociology, social psychology, economics and management.

That has often been done in the past.

I have in my time acquired any number of such wordlists, all handsomely produced by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

The task is not just that of carefully coining precise new terms.

That is only the beginning.

With that the real task, the great challenge commences.

That is the task of getting people — first the experts and specialists, then the journalists and broadcasters, and eventually, following them, everybody else, including the politicians — to make those words, together with the distinctions that they make possible, part of their own innermost thinking and public speech habits.

On that basis they may yet become integral to public consciousness, to how people think, to functioning and operative everyday public “culture” and to the kinds of “mentality” (to use the French idea) that it sustains.

The challenge is there.

Addressing it squarely and with determination is long overdue.

The Malaysian scholarly community: “watchdogs” and “copy-editors”

The role in all this of experts from the scholarly community of Malaysian social scientists (including those from the National Professors’ Council, the Social Science Association and the various “purpose-built” institutes of ethnic studies and the like) is not simply to proffer their expertise to the Dewan, as specialist consultants, and then retreat into old patterns and habits of thought and action.

They must make it their business to practise what, as expert consultants, they recommend and preach; to “stay on the job” night and day; to provide good example and leadership concerning precise and responsible thinking  and use of language in this area.

The must be “watchdogs” of public discourse and debate.

They must become the insistent and adamant “copy-editors” of all public usage, official and unofficial, in this nationally fateful area of understanding — and all too frequent, often wilful, misunderstanding.

It is up to the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to provide those necessary conceptual “tools”, or words, for the long-overdue Malay “disaggregation” of bangsa and its various current meanings and uses.

Only then will those words and the necessary distinctions that they make possible become readily and widely understood.

They must.

But for that to happen, Malaysian historians and social scientists will have to do their part, even take the lead.

Only in that way, following their lead, will political and social commentators, both “official” and independent, also come to understand these matters and correct their ways.

Above all, all these prominent “standard-setting” Malaysian citizens must henceforth be fastidious in respecting the distinctions that, replacing the old all-purpose and multivocal term bangsa, the newly developed terminology — by “disaggregating” the various related and overlapping but distinctly different and divergent meanings of that familiar but all-too-vague and general term — will draw.

Hugely important things “hang upon” whether such a sustained and principled effort will succeed.

It is nothing less, in fact, than the choice between verbal clarity and national strife, even disintegration.

That is why all “leading Malaysians” will have to learn to be precise and clear in their thinking and speaking about all these matters of what is now termed bangsa.

Showing them the way, responsible scholars, in their contributions to the “national debate” or “conversation”, will have to be constantly mindful of, and unfailingly attentive to, all those important distinctions that must be terminologically and conceptually drawn, observed and respected in this fraught area.

The worst nightmare of “social contract theory”

If they are not, then Malaysia will be faced — not as some remote prospect, but as an ominously enclosing reality — with the terrible nightmare of the classical “contract theorists” and their long intellectual tradition.

That is the eruption of nothing other — once the basic or primary social contract that those theorists see lying at the heart of all modern forms of “political society” has collapsed — than a terrifying “war of all against all”, where life is “nasty, brutish and short”.

Where all social trust has collapsed, where people trust only in the weapons that they can wield, in the deviousness and treachery of which they may be capable, and in the naked force that they can deploy.

Where nobody, not even those who are well-armed, are safe, where not even the toughest may be confident of their personal security.

Between them, it is up to the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and the Malaysian national scholarly community, especially the historians and social scientists, to provide the means, and hope, that this will not happen.

It is, above all others, up to them to ensure in this way that the worst nightmare of the social contract theorists and their entire intellectual tradition — their envisioning of a grim, brutal and most “un-Malaysian-sounding” state of affairs — does not come to pass.

That it does not become the hope-destroying and life-consuming reality in Malaysia.

In sum

The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka must play its part with some urgently necessary “linguistic engineering”, in the form of fastidious terminological creativity, to provide and promote the use of the new repertoire of clear, precise terms that any such constructive “national conversation” will require.

And the Malaysian scholarly community will have to ensure that that kind of fruitful, nationally necessary conversation is generated and responsibly sustained — not just amongst themselves but by the Malaysian public at large and, crucially, by the nation’s politicians.

Should they fail to do so, Malaysia will continue to flounder, as it now does, in this sea of conceptual, intellectual, historical and political confusion — or far worse.

Malaysia deserves far better than that.

All of us who care about Malaysia, and have done so over the years, want to see that grim worst prospect avoided and the nation’s best hopes realised.

*
Clive Kessler is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

In this series :-

Part 1 – Words and the world, or ‘bangsa’ in question

Part 2 – Exploring and disaggregating ‘bangsa’

Part 2b – Exploring and disaggregating ‘bangsa’

Part 2c – Exploring and disaggregating ‘bangsa’

Part 3 – Distorted reasoning — or thinking ‘bamboozled’ by language

Part 4 – Race and history

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 28 February 2012, 12:01 pm and is filed under
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When Najib promises MACC more powers if BN wins 13GE with two-thirds majority, is it to carry out a more effective fight against corruption or to victimise PR leaders/activists like case of Teoh Beng Hock?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, made a most extraordinary election pledge yesterday when he promised more powers to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) if Barisan Nasional wins the next elections with two-thirds control of Parliament.

The question that immediately comes to mind is whether this pledge of more powers to MACC is to carry out a more effective fight against corruption or is it to enable the MACC to victimise Pakatan Rakyat leaders and activists as in the still unresolved case of the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock at the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009?

Such a pledge is extraordinary because any meaningful or serious proposal to give MACC more powers to carry out a more effective fight against corruption should not be contingent on a win by any party or coalition in the next general elections, let alone getting a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

On the specific proposal by the MACC advisory panel that an anti-corruption service commission be formed and be given powers to appoint and terminate MACC officers, which requires a constitutional amendment with two-thirds parliamentary vote, Pakatan Rakyat is prepared to support such a constitutional amendment in the meeting of Parliament next month if convinced that it is a step towards making the MACC more efficient, independent and professional.

The existence of separate commissions, for instance for the judicial and police services, have not been able to guarantee public confidence in the efficiency, independence, integrity and professionalism of the judicial and police services – evident from the establishment of the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission in 2004 whose 125 recommendations to ensure Malaysia has an efficient, incorrupt and professional world-class police service have still to be fully implemented after seven years and the continuing controversy over the series of judicial crisis of confidence starting with the 1988 sacking of the then Lord President, Tun Salleh Abas and two Supreme Court judges in the dark days of Mahathir premiership.

If Najib is serious about anti-corruption, he should have addressed the issue why Malaysia under his premiership is perceived, both nationally and internationally, as even more corrupt than under the previous five Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah.

Najib has yet to comment on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2011 released last December which showed that Malaysia has fallen to the lowest TI CPI ranking of No. 60 with the lowest CPI score of 4.3.

Based on the latest TI CPI 2011 ranking and score and available data going back to 1995, Malaysia under Najib is even more corrupt than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah.

Comparing Najib’s administration with those of the two previous Prime Ministers, Malaysia’s worst and best TI CPI ranking and score for each administration are:

Best ranking

Best score

Worst ranking

Worst score

Tun Mahathir

23(1995)

5.32 (1996)

37 (2003)

4.8 (2000)

Tun Abdullah

39(2004)

5.1 (2005/7/8)

47 (2008)

5.0 (2004/6)

DS Najib

56 (2009/10)

4.5 (2009)

60 (2011)

4.3 (2011)

What should concern Najib and all Malaysians is that from recent trends, Malaysia runs the risk of being overtaken by both Indonesia and China before 2020 in the annual TI CPI both in ranking and score unless Malaysia quickly bucks up and shows its seriousness on the anti-corruption front.

In the first TI CPI in 1995, Malaysia was ranked No. 23 out of 41 countries with a CPI score of 5.28.

Seventeen years later, after numerous anti-corruption campaigns, two major anti-corruption legislation, the “elevation” of the former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) into Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the National Integrity Plan, the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme with massive infusion of public funds and increase of staffing, Malaysia has now fallen to the lowest TI CPI ranking in 17 years, viz: No. 60 with the lowest CPI score of 4.3.

In comparison, Indonesia was ranked at the very bottom of No. 41 in 1995 with CPI score of 1.94 while China was ranked No. 40 with a CPI score of 2.16 in 1995. Now Indonesia is ranked No. 100 with a CPI score of 3.0 in 2011 while China is ranked No. 75 with a score of 3.6.

At the annual average rate of Indonesia and China’s improvement on TI CPI ranking and score in the past three years, compared with Malaysia’s regression in CPI score in the past three years, Malaysia will be left behind by both Indonesia and China well before 2020.

How are Malaysians going to hold their heads high when the world perceive Malaysia as being even more corrupt than Indonesia and China before the end of the decade?

Is this the fate awaiting Malaysia in the TI CPI ranking and score before 2020?

Two weeks ago, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono boasted at a special briefing of foreign envoys in Jakarta that his administration had conducted the “best” and “most aggressive” anti-corruption campaign in Indonesian history, imposing “decisive measures against corrupt state officials without exception”. As a result, “From ministers, governors, to regents and mayors, many have been tried for graft”.

Can Najib make the same boast as the Indonesian President of having conducted the “best” and “most aggressive” anti-corruption campaign in Malaysian history with “decisive measures without exception” against political and government leaders?

What has Najib got to show on the anti-corruption front in his three years as Prime Minister when only four politicians were nabbed by MACC in 2010? Can Najib disclose how many politicians were arrested by MACC in 2011?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 28 February 2012, 2:43 pm and is filed under
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A Critique of the ETP: Part 5 – Diversity – The ETP so far is just a handful of mega-projects

By
Dr. Ong Kian Ming BSc (LSE), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Duke)

Teh Chi-Chang, CFA, BSc (Warwick), MBA (Cantab)

Refsa

Just two mega-projects and Oil, Gas & Energy, really.
 Behind the apparently impressive RM176 billion of investments achieved in the ETP so far is a sobering picture. The MRT and Petronas’ RAPID mega-projects make up 55% of total investments in Entry Point Projects (EPPs).  Going by National Key Economic Area, 53% of investments were in just one NKEA – Oil, Gas & Energy.

Zero progress in Financial Services.
 Not a single EPP has been announced in this NKEA which is targeted to deliver up to 15% of the income boost envisaged in the ETP. The Kuala Lumpur International Financial District is not a Financial Services EPP and is not even mentioned in Bank Negara’s Financial Services Blueprint 2011 to 2020. Is PEMANDU in sync with the key financial regulators Bank Negara and the Securities Commission?

Broad-based investments are necessary to transform Malaysia.
 The RM800 billion of investments targeted by the ETP are spread across 131 EPPs in 12 NKEAs. This will deliver the broad-based growth that will turn Malaysia into the high-income nation that PEMANDU envisages.  But progress has been skewed towards just one NKEA and a few mega-projects. The ETP currently appears to be business-as-usual, government-linked mega-projects rather than private sector-led transformation.

By design or necessity?
 The initial focus on a few mega-projects and one NKEA might be a sensible strategy. Or it might have been forced by the lack of private sector interest in the ETP. PEMANDU will no doubt claim the former. We think it is the latter. Time will tell. We shall be monitoring.

Diversity of projects is as important as size of investment

The ETP
1
 team at PEMANDU
2
  has achieved nearly a quarter of its investment target in just over a year. RM176 billion of investments in EPPs (Entry Point Projects) have been announced
3
. This is equivalent to 22% of the cumulative RM800 billion investments targeted for the entire ETP until the year 2020.

That is indeed a remarkable achievement. However, the ETP is not just about large investment numbers. Those investments must ultimately transform Malaysia into a high-income nation.  To that end, the ETP Roadmap chose to prioritise 131 Entry Point Projects (EPPs) across 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs).

The 12 NKEAs are a broad mix, ranging from service-based economic activities such as Business and Financial Services to heavy engineering-oriented Oil, Gas and Energy projects
4
. The EPPs range in size from RM3 million to RM84 billion
5
.

Zero progress on financial services NKEA

We now focus on Diversity
6
 – the second ‘D’ in our DEEDS framework. We compare the composition of the EPPs heralded in the eight ETP updates with the spread envisioned in the ETP Roadmap Report.

How spread out are the 114 EPPs and RM176 billion of committed investments achieved so far? A diverse distribution of project sizes across the twelve NKEAs indicates a healthy and balanced progress. Conversely, a narrow distribution raises questions about the lack of broad progress and concerns about the overall viability of the ETP.

The prognosis is poor:

Mega-projects dominate. Just two projects – the MRT and RAPID by Petronas – account for 55% of the investments so far.

Just one NKEA accounts for the majority of investments. The Oil, Gas & Energy NKEA contributed 53% of the investments so far. In fact, six of the top 10 investments so far are in this NKEA.

Of greater concern is that there is no EPP in the Financial Services NKEA.

Chart 1: The single largest NKEA is supposed to account for only 22% of total EPP investments …

Sources: ETP Roadmap and Ong Kian Ming’s analysis

A more detailed breakdown is set out in Appendix 1.

Important clarification on RM800 billion of EPP investments vs RM1.4 trillion ETP total

The RM1.4 trillion total investments that PEMANDU prefers to highlight comprises RM800 billion of investments in EPPs and RM600 billion in 60 business opportunities identified in the ETP Roadmap Report
7
. Business opportunities ‘capture the potential of the sector to grow organically. Some business opportunities will be triggered by the successful execution of EPPs’
8
.

Source: REFSA

Chart 2: … but so far, just two EPPs account for 55% of total investments in the ETP …

As the ETP Updates cover only EPPs, we consider RM800 billion the appropriate investment benchmark.

Sources: ETP Updates and Ong Kian Ming’s analysis

Chart 3: … and one NKEA accounts for 53% of total investments.

Sources:  ETP Updates and Ong Kian Ming’s analysis

Is PEMANDU in sync with Bank Negara and the Securities Commission?

Financial Services is mainly under the purview of Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission – key policy “enablers”, in PEMANDU’s parlance. Bank Negara recently released its Financial Services Blueprint 2011 to 2020
9
.

Nearly all of the EPPs under the Financial Services NKEA
10
 can be found in the Blueprint. However, the similarity ends there. The language and thrust of the Blueprint differ markedly from that of the ETP Roadmap and the ETP updates. We found only one mention of the ETP and no reference whatsoever to the other metrics that PEMANDU emphasises – EPPs, incremental GNI contribution and amount of public and private sector investments.

The Financial Services NKEA is important to the ETP. PEMANDU anticipates it will contribute RM121 billion or 15% of the incremental GNI (gross national income) targeted
11
. It is imperative that progress within this very important NKEA be tracked. It would be most helpful if PEMANDU, together with the two other main stakeholders – Bank Negara and the Securities Commission – would issue a joint communiqué clarifying the likely investments, jobs and incremental GNI contribution from this NKEA in the short, medium and long term.

KL Intl Financial District is not a Financial Services EPP

The proposed Kuala Lumpur International Financial District (KLIFD) by 1MDB was initially listed as a common enabler under the Financial Services NKEA. KLIFD was subsequently elevated to EPP status, but reclassified under the Greater KL / Klang Valley NKEA
12
. The reclassification is puzzling. The scant details are worrying
13
. The fact that KLIFD is not mentioned at all in Bank Negara’s Financial Services Blueprint 2011 to 2020 is alarming.

The ETP Roadmap Report says, “The Kuala Lumpur International Financial District … will allow Kuala Lumpur to attract higher calibre financial human talent to together help promote a vibrant financial services industry. This will also raise Malaysia’s profile in the international arena and support the country’s brand
14
.”

But buildings alone cannot make a financial centre. What is more important is the soft infrastructure – the rules and regulations and general environment – fostered by Bank Negara as the primary regulator. The Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC) is mentioned 25 times in Bank Negara’s Blueprint. KLIFD is conspicuous in its omission.

The absence of clear support from Bank Negara and its reclassification into the Greater KL/Klang Valley NKEA suggests that the Kuala Lumpur International Financial District is another massive construction project rather than an important foundation of efforts to develop the financial services sector. This view is given credence by the various tax incentives granted to KLIFD in the 2012 Budget announced by Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.

The inducement for more new office space is puzzling.  International real estate service firm CB Richard Ellis Malaysia points out that projects such as the KLIFD would exacerbate the oversupply in Kuala Lumpur
15
. In this environment, it is even more crucial that policy enablers such as Bank Negara are fully on board to help create new opportunities and demand to fill the fresh supply of office space.

Progress so far is just mega-projects and one NKEA

Leaving aside Financial Services, the diversity of EPPs still leaves much to be desired. The EPPs are heavily skewed towards a handful of mega-projects and one NKEA in particular:

Firstly, just two mega-EPPs – the RAPID project by Petronas and the MRT – contribute 55% or RM97 billion of the announced RM176 billion investments
16
.

Secondly, investments in EPPs in the Oil, Gas and Energy NKEA dominate. Oil, Gas and Energy EPPs make up 53% or RM94 billion
17
 of the announced investments.

From another perspective, 6 of the top 10 EPPs are in this NKEA.

Table 1: 6 of the Top 10 EPPs by Investment Value are in one NKEA – Oil, Gas and Energy

EPP

Source of Investment

NKEA

Update No

Investment (RM million)

Refinery and Petrochemical Integration Development (RAPID)

GLC

Oil, Gas & Energy

6

60,000

Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)

Government

GKL/KV

3

36,600

ExxonMobil Investments to rejuvenate existing oil fields

Private

Oil, Gas & Energy

3

10,000

Karambunai Integrated Resort City

Private

Tourism

5

9,600

Small Retailer Transformation Programme (TUKAR)

Private

W&R

4

5,430

Infrastructure investment from SHELL

Private

Oil, Gas & Energy

3

5,100

Independent deepwater petroleum terminal from Dialog Group

Private

Oil, Gas & Energy

3

5,000

Infrastructure development from TNB

GLC

Oil, Gas & Energy

2

4,000

Tanjung Agas Oil & Gas Logistics  & Industrial Park

GLC

Oil, Gas & Energy

2

3,000

Mines Wellness City

Private

W&R

3

3,000

Total

141,730

Sources: ETP Updates by PEMANDU and Ong Kian Ming’s analysis

The reliance on just two projects and the slant towards the Oil, Gas & Energy NKEA would be even more pronounced if:

The now much higher cost of the MRT is used. The RM36.6 billion investment value still being officially cited is a 2009 estimate subject to inflation. Also, the cost of land acquisition and rolling stock is not included
18
. Some reports suggest the cost is now in the region of twice as much;

Investment numbers for the intensification of exploration activities by Petronas and the formation of the Malaysian Nuclear Power Corporation announced in Updates 5 and 6 respectively are included
19
. The investment figures for these two very large EPPS were surprisingly not given by PEMANDU when they were announced during the updates.

Based on the Roadmap, the nuclear power plant (EPP 11) is expected to generate RM21.3 billion of investments while the Petronas activities (EPP 3) will contribute RM18.4 billion. Including these numbers, Oil, Gas and Energy NKEA would have accounted for even more of the total investments in EPPs announced so far
20
.

3 mega-projects make up nearly ⅔ of non-Oil, Gas & Energy NKEAs

It might be argued that PEMANDU is a victim of its own success in stimulating EPPs within the Oil, Gas & Energy NKEA. The RM94 billion of investments committed to this NKEA so far is already 83% of the RM113 billion envisaged throughout the entire ETP period.

The massive investments here would naturally dwarf the other NKEAs.  However, leaving aside the heavy reliance on Oil, Gas & Energy, the same diversity issues afflict the other 11 NKEAs:

The slant towards mega-projects is even more pronounced. Just three mega-projects – the MRT, TUKAR and Karambunai Integrated Resort
21
 – account for RM52 billion or nearly  ⅔
22
 of non-Oil, Gas & Energy EPPS;

Just one NKEA – Greater KL/Klang Valley – accounts for RM40 billion or nearly half
23
 of investments within the non-Oil, Gas & Energy NKEAs. The Palm Oil, Agriculture and Business Services NKEAs languish at the bottom. And recall that there are no Financial Services sector EPPs.

Chart 4: Just three mega-projects account for nearly 2/3 of non-Oil, Gas & Energy EPPs

Sources: ETP Updates and Ong Kian Ming’s analysis

Chart 5: Greater KL/KV took nearly half of all non-Oil, Gas & Energy investments

Note that there are zero Financial Services EPPs so far.

The slant towards Greater KL/Klang Valley would be even worse if numbers for the Kuala Lumpur International Financial District and the increased cost estimate for the MRT are included.

Sources:  ETP Updates and Ong Kian Ming’s analysis

Excluding the 3 mega-projects, just RM30 billion of investments was generated across the 11 non-Oil, Gas & Energy NKEAs last year.  To meet its ETP target, PEMANDU must generate RM67 billion per year of investments for the remaining period of the ETP. Can it pick up the pace?

The ETP Roadmap does outline some other ambitious projects. But these are also projects we are dubious about. Our scepticism is further fuelled by PEMANDU not mentioning the investment numbers when it announced these EPPs in its updates. Two examples are:

The Unified Malaysia Sale (EPP 11) under the Wholesale and Retail NKEA. In the Roadmap, the EPP is supposed to generate RM4.7 billion of investments. We think RM4.7 billion is a massive amount merely to organise a sale; and we noticed hardly any publicity from May to August last year when the sale supposedly took place. No figures were given when this EPP was announced in Update 6; and

The Invest KL EPP under the Greater KL/Klang Valley NKEA. Attracting 100 of the World’s Most Dynamic Firms within Priority Sectors (EPP1) is supposed to require funding of RM82.2 billion. Invest KL was announced as an EPP in Update 7, without numbers. We think RM82.2 billion to attract 100 firms is very expensive – it works out to RM820 million per firm. For example, the global financial hub of oil services giant Schlumberger announced so far is expected to need only RM268 million of investment.

Grade ‘C’ for diversity

Nevertheless, in keeping with our commitment to evaluating PEMANDU on its own terms, we shall not pass judgment on these projects at this juncture. However, we would also remind readers that private investments are running at only about half the target rate, which we covered in Part 4 – Private Enterprises are Rejecting the ETP.

PEMANDU now has the dual task of catching up on EPPs in NKEAs besides Oil, Gas & Energy and stimulating private investments. For now, we grade PEMANDU ‘C’ for Diversity – its ability to deliver a variety of EPPs across a broad swathe of sectors.

The jury is still out on whether the focus on a few mega-projects and one NKEA is driven by design or necessity. On the one hand, it is sensible to prioritise the large-ticket items. On the other hand, the focus on government-linked mega-projects might have been forced by the tepid private sector response to the ETP. Time will tell. We shall be monitoring.

Appendix 1: Breakdown of Projected Investments by NKEA, EPPs and Business Opportunities

The RM1.4 trillion total investments that PEMANDU prefers to highlight comprises RM800 billion of investments in EPPs and RM600 billion in 60 business opportunities identified in the ETP Roadmap Report
24
.

Business opportunities ‘capture the potential of the sector to grow organically. Some business opportunities will be triggered by the successful execution of EPPs’
25
.

Table 2: Breakdown of investments by NKEA, EPPs and Business Opportunities

Projected Investment

EPPs (RM million)

Biz Opportunities  (RM million)

EPPs + Business Opportunities (RM million)

Source

NKEA

Public

Private

Total

%

Total

%

Grand Total

Grand Total %

Wholesale & Retail

0.4

66.7

67.1

8.4%

187.6

30.3%

254.7

18.0%

Exhibit 8-2, pg 275

Oil, Gas and Energy

0.6

112.7

113.3

14.3%

104.2

16.8%

217.5

15.4%

Exhibit 6-19, pg 202

Financial Services

0.6

64.6

65.2

8.2%

145.8

23.6%

211.0

14.9%

Exhibit 7-10, pg 247

Tourism

4.6

132.0

136.6

17.2%

67.3

10.9%

203.9

14.4%

Exhibit 10-10, pg 349

Greater KL / KV

57.8

114.1

171.9

21.6%

0.0

0.0%

171.9

12.2%

Exhibit 5-16, pg 156

Palm Oil

2.9

56.8

59.7

7.5%

64.5

10.4%

124.2

8.8%

Exhibit 9-10, pg 306

Electronics and Electrical

8.5

58.2

66.7

8.4%

11.7

1.9%

78.4

5.5%

Exhibit 11-6, pg 394

Communications Content & Infrastructure

1.0

29.3

30.3

3.8%

21.2

3.4%

51.5

3.6%

Exhibit 13-17, pg 468

Business Services

3.1

30.0

33.1

4.2%

8.1

1.3%

41.2

2.9%

Exhibit 12-13, pg 429

Education

10.3

9.6

19.9

2.5%

0.1

0.0%

19.9

1.4%

Exhibit 14-11, pg 506

Agriculture

8.2

10.7

18.9

2.4%

2.9

0.5%

21.8

1.5%

Exhibit 15-8, pg 546

Healthcare

0.3

11.6

11.9

1.5%

5.3

0.9%

17.2

1.2%

Exhibit 16-16, pg 583

Total

98.3

696.3

794.6

100.0%

618.7

100.0%

1,413.2

100.0%

Sources: ETP Roadmap Report and Ong Kian Ming’s analysis

In its ETP Updates, PEMANDU furnishes information only on EPPs. Business Opportunities are not covered in the ETP Updates. As such, we consider RM800 billion the appropriate investment benchmark when evaluating PEMANDU’s progress so far on generating investments.

Appendix 2: The gap between progress on number of EPPs announced and investment values

Astute readers will wonder at the gap between the number of EPPs announced and the total investments so far.  87% or 114 out of a total 131 EPPs have been announced. However, the RM176 billion of investments announced lags far behind at just 22% of the total expected.

Using a simple ratio suggests that announced investments should be RM696 billion
26
. Why the large gap? There are two main reasons:

PEMANDU omits investment numbers for some announced EPPs. The nuclear power plant, Petronas intensification activities, Unified Malaysia Sale and Invest KL mentioned in this Focus Paper are examples of EPPs which have been announced but for which investment figures were not disclosed;

Not all the investment value in each EPP is realised when it is announced. For example, RM39 billion is the figure given for EPP 12 – Improving Rates, Mix and Quality of Hotels in Malaysia
27
. However, the projects announced so far – Majestic (Update 2), Datai (Update 3) and Pulau Gaya (Update 3) – total less than RM3 billion in committed investments.

Whether the total investment expected in this and other similar EPPs is realistic or can ultimately be realised, we leave to the judgment of our readers and the good hands of the ETP team at PEMANDU.

________

1
 The ETP calls for 131 entry point projects (EPPs) within 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs), which will pour RM1.4 trillion worth of investment into the economy and create 3.3 million new jobs by 2020.

2
 The acronym that the Performance Management and Delivery Unit within the prime minister’s department is better known by. PEMANDU is the government agency that created and is now steering the ETP.

3
 These were announced in the 8 ETP Updates so far following the launch of the ETP. The updates are available at http://etp.pemandu.gov.my/Progress_Update-@-Progress_Update.aspx. Retrieved on 29 Dec 2011.

4
 The 12 NKEAs are: Agriculture; Business Services; Education, Electronics and Electrical; Financial Services; Healthcare; Greater KL/Klang Valley; Oil, Gas and Energy; Palm Oil; Communications, Content and Infrastructure; Tourism; and Wholesale and Retail.

5
 Pages 340 and 429 of the ETP Roadmap Report. RM3m is to strengthen the accounting sector within the Business Services NKEA. RM84 billion is to enhance connectivity to priority medium haul markets under the Tourism NKEA.

6
 We had initially named this metric ‘Distribution’. We now consider ‘Diversity’ the more appropriate term.

7
 The exact projected investments are RM795 billion in EPPs and RM619 billion in business opportunities, giving a total of RM1,414 billion.

8
 Pg.11, Executive Summary, ETP Roadmap Report.

9
 A copy can be downloaded at http://www.bnm.gov.my/files/publication/fsbp/en/BNM_FSBP_FULL_en.pdf. Retrieved 29 Dec 2011.

10
 For example, Bank Negara’s efforts to turn Malaysia into a global hub for Islamic finance and to create an integrated payment eco-system are cited by PEMANDU as two EPPs which are expected to generate significant incremental GNI and create high-income jobs.

11
 It is also expected to account for RM65 billion of investments in EPPs, equivalent to 8% of the total.

12
 http://etp.pemandu.gov.my/Progress_Update-@-1Malaysia_Development_Berhad.aspx. Retrieved 17 Feb

13
 Do peruse the 1MDB website www.1mdb.com.my/klifd1/global-financial-city to evaluate for yourself. We checked on 17 Feb 2012.

14
 Pg. 246, ETP Roadmap Report.

15
 KL faces property glut as economy bites. Lee Wei Lian, Malaysian Insider, 31 Oct 2011. Available at www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/kl-faces-property-glut-as-economy-bites/. Retrieved 20 Feb 2012.

16
 RM60 bil0lion Refinery and Petroleum Integrated Development (RAPID) project by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and the RM37 billion MRT project under the Greater KL/KV NKEA. Note that the cost estimate for the MRT has since been revised upwards. PEMANDU has yet to formally announce the new number but it has been speculated to be in the region of RM70 billion.

17
 The total announced in the ETP updates so far is RM94,448 million, which we round down to RM94 billion.

18
 MRT may cost more than RM36 billion. Malaysiakini, 11 Jan 2011. Available at http://etp.pemandu.gov.my/News_-%E2%97%98-_Events-@-
[email protected]
. Retrieved on 20 Feb 2012.

19
 http://etp.pemandu.gov.my/Progress_Update-@-Malaysia_Nuclear_Power_Corporation.aspx and http://etp.pemandu.gov.my/Progress_Update-@-Intensifying_Exploration_Activites.aspx. Retrieved 17 Feb, 2012.

20
 Taking them at their Roadmap Values, the total investments in the Oil, Gas & Energy NKEA would rise to RM133 billion, and it would account for 62% of total investments announced so far.

21
 MRT RM37 billion and TUKAR RM5 billion by the government/GLCs and RM10 billion Karambunai Integrated Resort (Karambunai IR) by the private sector. Note that we are dubious about Karambunai IR, where the investment cost tripled to nearly RM10 billion from RM3 billion in 6 short months from its first mention to its announcement in the 5th ETP Update. We estimate Karambunai IR needs 2.8 million visitors per year just to break even, if the investment is RM10 billion. This is more than all the passengers arriving at Kota Kinabalu airport! Details in Part 3 (iii) – Execution: Doubtful EPPs, doubtful achievements and due diligence. Available at www.refsa.org.

22
 63.4% to be more accurate. RM52 billion, as a percentage of total RM82 billion.

23
 48.8% to be more accurate. RM40 billion, as a percentage of total RM82 billion.

24
 The exact projected investments are RM795 billion in EPPs and RM619 billion in business opportunities, giving a total of RM1,414 billion.

25
 Pg.11, Executive Summary, ETP Roadmap Report.

26
 87% of RM800 billion total investments in EPPs expected throughout the ETP = RM696 billion.

27
 Pg. 340, ETP Roadmap Report.

*******

The story so far

Part 1,
Let’s evaluate PEMANDU on its DEEDS
, introduced our evaluation framework.

Part 2,
We won’t really be twice as rich in 2020
, found us declaring “It does not compute!” PEMANDU’s  target is to double nominal income per capita to RM48,000 by 2020. But using its forecasts for income and population growth, and inflation, the target should be RM54,145, not RM48,000. Can this ‘roadmap to transformation’ be trusted when the highly-paid PEMANDU team and its costly consultants cannot even get the basic math right?

Part 3(i),
PEMANDU strengthens the ‘know-who’ cancer
, focuses on the practice of taking credit for pre-existing projects and PEMANDU’s role in cutting red tape.  PEMANDU is institutionalising the role of middleman if it cuts red tape only for EPPs. If long-term policy changes are not made, Malaysian innovation, creativity and productivity will continue to lag. It does not matter how good your product or idea is, or how efficiently you can make it, it depends on who you know to get it through the system.

Part 3(ii),
The hothouse labs probably killed innovation
 highlights that the tight timeframe of the lab process incentivised lab participants to favour incumbent companies with pre-existing business plans rather than start-ups with genuinely transformative ideas. Also, the labs would be dominated by incumbents striving to maintain their dominance. Start-ups would not have been able to afford to release staff just to attend the labs for 8 weeks.

Part 3 (iii),
Doubtful EPPs; doubtful achievements and due diligence
 concludes our assessment of PEMANDU’s Execution. The selection of possible ‘dud’ projects – projects with very little hope of success – as EPPs raises serious doubts about the due diligence process at PEMANDU. The RM10 billion Karambunai Integrated Resort needs 2.8 million visitors per year to break-even – more than all the travellers arriving at Kota Kinabalu airport! The multi-billion ringgit plan to transform Tanjong Agas in Pekan from a fishing village to a petrochemical hub has REFSA aghast. It creates redundant infrastructure, and goes against the government’s own master plan identifying the already established Kertih and Gebeng as the focus areas for oil, gas and petrochemical clusters in the Eastern Corridor Economic Region (ECER).

Enterprise is severely lacking so far.
Part 4, Private enterprises are rejecting the ETP
 highlights that the private sector makes up only 35% of the total investments in EPPs, far below the 60% that PEMANDU says is required to take Malaysia to high-income status by 2020. It is understandable that priority is given to government-led, big-ticket infrastructure project in the early days of the ETP. However, PEMANDU’s attempt to paint a rosier picture by citing figures excluding large public sector projects like the MRT draws suspicion that something is amiss. REFSA debunks PEMANDU’s selective figures with a simple cake analogy and some telling numbers.

Note on PEMANDU’s response

Upon hearing that we were writing an evaluation of the ETP, the communications team at PEMANDU kindly arranged interviews with a Director from the Minister’s Office who is also the Director of the Oil, Gas and Energy & Financial Services NKEAs, the Director of the Wholesale and Retail (W&R) NKEA and the Assistant Director of the Tourism NKEA. We are grateful for these interviews and will include clarification points from these interviews in our evaluation. These interviews were recorded by the ETP communications team and we hope that they would be made available online for public access.

About the authors

Visiting contributor Dr Ong Kian Ming holds a PhD in Political Science from Duke University and Economics degrees from the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics. He is attached to UCSI University, which has been named as the project owner of two Entry Point Projects (EPPs). To avoid any potential conflict of interest, he will not make references to or analyse these two EPPs. He can be reached at
[email protected]
.

REFSA (Research for Social Advancement) Executive Director Teh Chi-Chang holds a first class degree in Accounting & Financial Analysis from the University of Warwick, an MBA from the University of Cambridge and the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charter. Prior to joining REFSA, he headed highly-regarded investment research teams covering Malaysia, and was himself highly-ranked as an analyst. He can be reached at
[email protected]
.

Help REFSA do more!

REFSA is a not-for-profit research institute that provides relevant and reliable information on social, economic and political issues affecting Malaysians. We aim to promote open and constructive discussions that result in effective policies to address these issues.

REFSA depends primarily on donations to fund its operations. Research such as this consumes much time, expertise and effort. Please contribute if you share our vision for a better Malaysia and support our commitment to impartial, constructive analysis. Donations can be:

Made on-line via our website at
www.refsa.org
.

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 for receipts.

Credit

REFSA allows authorship of derivative works and other transformations of this publication for personal, non-profit/non-commercial use, subject to the inclusion of proper and appropriate credit to “REFSA – Research for Social Advancement”. REFSA expressly prohibits the use of the whole or any part of this publication for defamatory or criminal purposes.

Other Information

The information in this report has been obtained from and is based upon sources that are believed to be reliable but no guarantee is made as to accuracy and completeness.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 1:05 pm and is filed under
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Does Mahathir also want a RCI into the losses from the financial scandals during Tun Abdullah’s five year premiership?

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahahtir Mohamad seems to have given a “positive” response to my proposal for a full audit and accounting into the RM100 billion “black hole” caused by the losses of the financial scandals his his 22-year premiership.

I had said on Saturday that the time has come to revisit the RM100 billion “losses” suffered by the country during his 22-year premiership, especially if the present generation of Malaysians are still to pay for the “sins of Mahathir’s past premiership”.

This came about as a result of the RM580 million write-off by the Malaysian government with the “out-of-court” settlement between Danaharta and Tajudin Ramli on Feb. 14, the terms of which remain confidential between the two parties, where all suits pertaining to the court judgement of RM589.14 million that Tajudin was ordered to pay to Danaharta in 2009 would be dropped and Tajudin agreed to withdraw claims totally RM13.46 billion, involved in 27 appeals, 11 against Danaharta.

Core to Tajudin’s case is his affidavit that he was directed by former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainudin in 1994 to buy a controlling stake in MAS to bail out the government – a “national service” to help bail out Bank Negara after the central bank suffered massive foreign exchange losses due partly to speculation in foreign currency markets with an “Overriding Agreement” to indemnify him against any losses suffered.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM100 billion “black hole” caused by the losses of the financial scandals during Mahathir’s 22-year premiership will seek the the truth whether the MAS “double bail-outs” were triggered by the RM30 billion 1992/3 Bank Negara forex scandal as well as the truth about the rest of the catalogue of financial scandals in the Mahathir era, “a few were of an order of magnitude that could have bankrupted most developing countries”.

However Mahathir wants “all Tuns” and “their sons and grandsons as well” to be investigated. I will endorse Mahathir’s further defining the scope and extent of the investigation into the RM100 billion losses caused by the financial scandals when he was Prime Minister.

The other Tun I can think of is Tun Daim Zainuddin, who was Mahathir’s Finance Minister twice and played key role in many of the financial scandals in the Mahathir era.

Are there any other Tuns who should be investigated in the full audit and accounting into the losses caused by the financial scandals in Mahathir’s era?

From media reports, it would appear that one other Tun that Mahathir is referring to who should be investigated is his successor, Tun Abdullah.

It is for Mahathir to make clear whether he also wants a full audit and accounting into the losses caused by the financial losses which occur during Abdullah’s five-year premiership.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 3:11 pm and is filed under
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MAS losses soar to RM2.5b

By Lee Wei Lian

The Malaysian Insider

Feb 29, 2012

PETALING JAYA, Feb 29 — Malaysia Airlines recorded a stunning net loss of RM2.52 billion for 2011 and the company is now in “crisis”, the national flag carrier said today.

The carrier also confirmed that the losses for the 2011 financial year were the largest in its history.

The airline reported a massive net loss of RM1.28 billion in the fourth quarter, which was about as much as the first three quarters combined.

“The company is in crisis,” said Malaysia Airlines (MAS) CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya in a statement.

Ahmad said that the losses were due to higher expenses including a 25 per cent increase in fuel expenses and a 50 per cent increase in non-fuel expenses.

The company’s cash reserves more than halved to RM1 billion at the end of last year from RM2.1 billion at the end of 2010 and net assets plunged from RM3.5 billion to RM1.1 billion.

Jauhari said that the company would now focus on executing the business turnaround plan that was announced in December.

The business turnaround plan projects the airline to improve its performance in 2012 to somewhere between breakeven and a net loss of RM165 million.

The current high cost of oil, however, could throw a spanner in the works as the turnaround plan had assumed fuel costs of US$130 per barrel and MAS said that prices for fuel had already hit US$138.

The airline said that fuels costs had increased by 25 per cent last year to RM305 million.

Other major expenditure that MAS said contributed to the loss included provisions for the redelivery of aircraft (RM602 million), impairment of freighters (RM314 million) and stock obsolescence (RM179 million).

Revenue, meanwhile, was up marginally from RM13.5 billion in 2010 to RM13.9 billion in 2011.

MAS reported a net profit of RM234 million in 2010.

It noted today that it paid US$95 per barrel of oil (ex-hedging) in 2010 as compared with US$133 per barrel in 2011.

“Obviously, this was a large loss,” said Ahmad referring to the 2011 results.

He said that the outlook for 2012 was challenging with passenger and cargo segments expected to remain weak.

Ahmad said that immediate action plans include strengthening the airline’s balance sheet, winning back customers by introducing branded customer experiences and more aggressive marketing, relentless cost focus and launching its new regional airline by the middle of the year.

MAS has had a turbulent past decade after the government bought back the airline from former corporate high-flyer Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli at RM8 per share or about double the market price at the time.

The airline was at the time saddled with a debt that was reported to be as high as RM9.5 billion.

It then had its books cleaned up in 2002 under the wide asset unbundling (WAU) exercise that was engineered by the BinaFikir consultancy, then led by Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar.

The state-owned airline had two rights issues since the WAU, raking in RM1.6 billion in 2007 and RM2.67 billion in 2010 to fund its operations and fleet purchases.

It was also lacklustre financially, shocking the market with huge losses last year even while rivals such as Singapore Airlines reported profits, albeit reduced.

The national carrier also suffered the indignity of having its market capitalisation surpassed by younger upstart AirAsia after its share price fell to record lows.

Under the share swap unveiled on August 9, AirAsia’s main shareholder Tune Air Sdn Bhd swapped a 10 per cent stake in the budget carrier for a 20.5 per cent share of MAS in a move that appeared to be aimed at helping turnaround the national carrier.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 11:14 pm and is filed under
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Reforming MACC: Tickled by PM’s two-thirds poser

— Aliran

The Malaysian Insider

Feb 29, 2012

FEB 29 — Aliran is tickled by the prime minister’s so-called pledge that he would give more bite to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) if voters hand the Barisan Nasional (BN) its coveted two-thirds parliamentary majority in the coming general election.

We are bemused because the federal government does not need a two-thirds majority to give teeth to the MACC as it does not require a constitutional amendment. What it does need, though, is political will and commitment from the federal government to ensure that the MACC is fully and fiercely independent.

A truly independent anti-corruption watchdog would not only catch “ikan bilis” but also the elusive “sharks”, many of whom have connections with people in high places. This also means that the MACC would be empowered to catch people at, for instance, ministerial level, if need be, without fear or favour.

Additionally, the “pledge” appears to be a thinly-veiled threat to voters, thereby making it sound more like a bargaining chip.

Anyway, even if the BN proposal to make the MACC truly independent requires that the existing law pertaining to the MACC be amended, we are confident that Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians, who have been clamouring for an independent watchdog all along, would fully support the amendment.

Indeed, the rakyat as a whole would give their wholehearted support to this noble endeavour to put a stop to taxpayers’ money being abused by certain individuals for their narrow interests.

We therefore call upon the prime minister to take immediate steps to unleash the MACC before the next general election. — aliran.com

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 8:37 am and is filed under
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Selangor MB accuses Putrajaya of nepotism over KJ’s appointment

By Yow Hong Chieh

The Malaysian Insider

Feb 29, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 29 — Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin’s expected appointment to a key government agency shows Putrajaya still values political links above professionalism, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said today.

The Selangor mentri besar said Khairy’s appointment as Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd (PUNB) chairman will benefit Umno rather than Malays, and would be a step back for the Bumiputera community.

“While the Bumiputera have been encouraged to pursue the standard professionalism on par with the world’s best, the appointment clearly shows that political affiliation, and not capability and experience, makes the cut for top positions in government-linked corporations.

“As one of the founders of PUNB, I take great pride in the fact that it has thus far been led by professionals free from political interest. While there were politicians at the policy-making level, they did not interfere with the operations of the company,” he said in a statement.

The prime minister should not “demean” the efforts of the Bumiputera professionals who have made PUNB what it is today by picking Khairy, who has not shown he can run a successful corporation, Khalid added.

The Business Times reported yesterday that Khairy has been tapped to head PUNB, which sources told The Malaysian Insider was a move to ensure the Umno Youth chief has better standing ahead of elections.

A source said Khairy, who is good with youths but has no official post outside the Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin, needs a government post to reinforce his position ahead of polls, which must be called by April 2013.

Putrajaya routinely appoints lawmakers to lead government agencies, which are seen as a training ground for their eventual appointment to Cabinet.

Khalid helped found PUNB in July 1991 to assist the development of Bumiputera entrepreneurial capacity by providing financial and corporate support to Bumiputera businessmen.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 5:18 pm and is filed under
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Standing up against political gangsterism

By
Othman Wahab
 | February 29, 2012

The Malaysian Insider

FEB 29 — What would you do if a group of individuals constantly threatened you, used thuggish language and behaviour to intimidate you and your family, friends and neighbours?

How would you react if your legitimate right to express your opinion or gather as a peaceful assembly to express an opinion on a matter close to your heart, is challenged by gangsters and politicians behaving in such manner?

What would you say if your brother or sister attending a political gathering was assaulted by thugs who are acting with the support of the government?

Would it be acceptable to you if your elected representatives are being threatened with bodily harm, abused with racist epithets and prevented from speaking to Felda settlers by thugs?

Is it alright that journalists or social activists are being threatened by these gangsters and that the police watch like uninterested spectators?

What do we make of police inaction after 10 men were arrested for putting up posters defaming Ambiga Sreenivasan and A. Samad Said of Bersih?

I believe that these are questions we need to answer, because in recent weeks, Mohamed Sabu, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Lim Guan Eng, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and other Opposition members have been threatened by Perkasa and Umno Youth members. Two Chinese newspaper journalists were assaulted.

Mind you, we are not talking about “kongsi gelap” (triads) but state-sponsored intimidation and violence.

One last question: Would you stand idly and give in to this gangsterism by Umno/Perkasa?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 1:16 pm and is filed under
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The Superhumans of Malaysia

— Sakmongkol AK47

The Malaysian Insider

Feb 29, 2012

FEB 29 — We have two super humans in Malaysia. Each is said to be able to give guarantees. In the case of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he guaranteed the loan given to Tajudin Ramli to acquire 32 per cent share of MAS in 1992. The guarantee was in the form of an overriding indemnity provision to Tajudin Ramli protecting him from losses should he mess up the acquisition.

Now, that is the type of captain needed by Dr Mahathir to drive his NEP.

The current prime minister can also give guarantees. He can guarantee that when FGVH lists, the returns to Felda settlers will be assured. That means, while Dr Mahathir can walk on water, the current PM is given the attribute of someone who can control the free market.

Adam Smith, the man accepted by many as the Father of the science of Economics wrote about the invisible hand that regulates free enterprise. He got the name wrong. The invisible hand is Najib Razak. That superhuman attribute was given to Najib Razak by Felda chairman Isa Samad.

Let’s talk about the first, first.

He is a former PM of Malaysia who can walk on water. That’s a description of his ability of doing the unthinkable, not of saintly qualities. He has come up with conflicting advice on many occasions recently. He once suggested that Umno is rotten the core. And of late he has been singing praises about Umno.

Is he an Umno member? Has his membership been approved? If it has, it’s bewildering the MSM did not carry the story. Didn’t he leave Umno during the tenure of Pak Lah, and later applied to rejoin the party?

What many people fail to realise is that Dr Mahathir is a despotic ruler. He eschews democracy. He uses democracy to achieve the position of power. Once ensconced in power, Dr Mahathir pursued only one aim — conferment of privileges unto himself. His remarks about the futility of questioning what happened to MAS in the 1990s, is symptomatic of the man pursuing only one goal in his life — the entrenchment of privileges.

Privilege itself is anathema to democracy, which is essentially about egalitarianism. Dr Mahathir doesn’t want anything egalitarian. He wants privileges in the form of selected captains of industry, in the form of protection of his children and friends doing business and so forth. The most damaging to us is his insistence now to perpetuate the rule of a corrupt and deceitful government lead by a corrupt Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Look, MCA is said to be worth RM4 billion. How on earth can a political party be worth RM4 billion? It can only be that if it has tentacles in business. Political parties don’t do business.

My point then is if MCA — which is a just a sidekick to Umno — is worth RM4 billion, Umno must be worth five times that. Let’s say RM20 billion. How does it become that? Just like MCA, it must have achieved that financial clout by having businesses that it acquired by using powers given to it by the rakyat.

What do you call that? It’s called abuse of power, simpliciter. Naked abuse of power.

In one luncheon with ex-ministers, Dr Mahathir declared the government is corrupt from top to bottom. When he spoke of that kind of corruption, he included the current PM. Now he says good things about the government, which is corrupt from top to bottom.

At other times, he suggested that voters elect on the basis of candidates’ personal qualities. Reject the party, he says. That is essentially correct when you have characterised the ruling party as full of corrupt people. Then he did a series of volte face; he declared people must vote for the party irrespective of the quality of people who make it up.

How can a party not be corrupt if the people in it are corrupt? Just why should we support a government that is corrupt from top to bottom?

So if you ask me whether Najib Razak can reform Umno, the answer is no. How can he dismantle a system on which Umno survives? That will be the end of Umno civilization. Umno’s civilization lives on a system of tender-preneurship. Every level of Umno leadership looks up at the party being able to give out tenders so that Umno is worth at least five times the worth of MCA. If MCA is rotten, Umno should also be five times as rotten.

Why is Dr Mahathir still at it? It’s as though he is the parallel PM running this country. The fact that he does what he does quite consistently suggests the current PM, despite his savvy for popularity, requires hand-holding to lead this nation.

That suggests that, despite the external popularity of Najib, he lacks substance to run this country. And according to the Oracle of Syed Putera, Najib is lost on how to run the country. He is long in form, but very short in substance. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 8:11 pm and is filed under
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Ex-CCID chief blasts Gani for ‘fixing’ him

Hafiz Yatim
 Mar 1, 2012

Malaysiakini

Former Commercial Crimes Investigation Department chief Ramli Yusuff described in detail yesterday how he and his men had been fixed by the attorney-general since 2007, and how they were vindicated by the courts in being acquitted of the charges.

He also described how the AG, Abdul Gani Patail, used the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against him and his men.

Celebrating his birthday again on a leap year yesterday, Ramli said in a speech that it all began when his officers were entrusted with taking action against a syndicate member who was sent to Jeli, in Kelantan to serve restricted residence (RR) order.

The man had been accused of being involved in organised crime, including loan sharking, running an illegal lottery syndicate, prostitution and drug pushing in Johor.

“This information was given by the then deputy home minister (Johari Baharom), and the matter was considered a ‘top secret’ and highly confidential case. Later, I was told to report to him directly after the file was completed.

“Accordingly, I instructed my officers to put up the case against the syndicate member, which was subsequently submitted to the deputy minister for committal under the RR order. However, upon the advice of the AG, the syndicate member was subsequently released, unconditionally,” Ramli said.

“Instead, my officers were charged with taking down false and fabricated statements that implicated the then inspector-general of police (Musa Hassan).

“That’s when AG Gani Patail called the original case file, which was classified as highly confidential, and passed it to the MACC to harass the witnesses,” Ramli said.

Pay tribute to fearless officers

Ramli said this in his speech on his 60th birthday – his 15th birthday celebration since he was born on Feb 29 – held at the Sime Darby Convention Centre last night.

It was attended by many well-wishers, among them former Sabah chief minister Chong Kah Kiat, deputy inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, former Home Ministry secretary-general Aseh Che Mat and other senior police officers.

Ramli said he was thankful that the people who served under him were acquitted and discharged without their defence being called.

“There was no basis whatsoever for the prosecution to appeal. All of them have been reinstated.

“Tonight, I pay tribute to these fearless officers. All of them have been reinstated and promoted. To IGP Ismail Omar, I say thank you for recognising that they have been victimised and for giving them back their dignity and honour. I am glad that the (police) force has not forsaken them.”

Ramli noted that Khalid had also investigated the same syndicate member and that the officers involved in that investigation were transferred out, including Khalid.

He  noted these officers were acquitted and discharged without their defence being called and were also reinstated.

His lawyer also harassed

Ramli said a month before he was charged, his lawyer and one time university mate, Rosli Dahlan,was arrested in “a most humiliating manner” by the MACC and held overnight, and charged a day before Hari Raya that same year.

“They falsely accused Rosli (right) of failure to declare his assets. Their objective was to implicate him for representing me, after they found that all the sensational stories spread by them through the mainstream media about me being the RM27 million cop were nothing but blatant lies.”

The former top cop said the MACC was unhappy with Rosli because he helped us (Ramli and Johari) to prepare affidavits that were supposed to be prepared by a senior federal counsel with the Home Ministry.

“The AG (Gani) was angry with Rosli for pointing out that the refusal by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to prepare these affidavits (to challenge the release of the syndicate member) amounted to an abdication of his constitutional duties under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution.

“Because they were out to get me, and get me good, they pursued all avenues within their powers, regardless of the consequences on innocent parties like Rosli. This unconscionable conduct alarmed me as a law enforcment officer,” Ramli said.

Having served the police force with great pride for 38 years, he said, all that came to an abrupt halt on Nov 1, 2007, when, three months shy of his retirement, he was charged in court.

“On that fateful day, life was no longer as I knew it. Overnight, my career was destroyed, my reputation tarnished and the privileges accorded to me stripped away.

Vindicated, with God’s grace

“Like living in a nightmare, I found myself being singled out as a corrupt officer and the full strength of multiple bodies in power at that period of time had their crosshairs on me.

“With God’s grace, I have now been vindicated of all the charges because they are nothing more than falsehood. Although there were many efforts made to condemn me in the public eye, I had decided after being a civil servant, the only way to proceed was to prove my innocence…”

Ramli said that though “the powers that be” were determined to use all possible means to see him be convicted, he was not called to make his defence on any of the five charges levelled against him.

“I am well on the way to complete exoneration. As they say, you can’t keep a good man down.  However, as of today, I am patiently awaiting one more appeal by the AG pertaining to a summons case, the most minor of the charges.

“I am, however, sad to point out that my pension and gratuity have been withheld since 2008,  as I am said to be not yet fully cleared of all charges against me. That to me explained why the AG Chambers have kept this appeal suspended to this day.”

He ended his speech by saying that he could not, and would not, allow such abuses to take place again and that he would not sit idly by letting such incidents to be repeated.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 March 2012, 10:26 pm and is filed under
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Political violence threatens elections in Malaysia

 — Bersih 2.0

The Malaysian Insider

Feb 29, 2012

FEB 29 — Bersih 2.0 urges Prime Minister Najib Razak to immediately stop the serial political violence inflicted on opposition politicians and civil society activists by thugs reportedly related to Umno and Perkasa, while police often just looked on and no one has been charged so far.

Bersih 2.0 warns that such impunity on political violence, if it continues, leaves no room for clean elections in Malaysia. If political activisms are met with physical assaults even before elections, could the safety of opposition leaders and campaigners be guaranteed come the next election?

Bersih 2.0 wants Najib to order an immediate investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the two latest incidents of political assault on February 26.

At Speakers’ Corner, George Town, Pulau Pinang, a group of thugs identified as Umno Youth and Perkasa members attacked the anti-Lynas protesters and eventually injured two reporters. Most shockingly, the police personnel looked on and did not do anything. Later, the Chief Police Officer (CPO) of Pulau Pinang Ayub Yaakob blamed it on the organisers for not informing the police of their event.

At Felda Lepar Hilir 1, Gambang, Pahang, YB Nurul Izzah Anwar, PKR MP for Lembah Pantai, was assaulted by Asrullah Affendi Abdullah, an assistant of Umno Lepar state assemblyperson Mohd Shohaimi Jusoh.

These are not isolated cases. Forums by student activists and the Anything But Umno (ABU) Movement have experienced similar attacks and no one has yet been charged in court.

If PM Najib Razak refuses to take action to end such political violence, to have the assailants p
rosecuted and to punish those police personnel who shirked their responsibility, Malaysia may be pushed to the edge of chaos and unrest by electoral violence.

In this alarming development, BERSIH 2.0 calls upon Malaysians and the international community to establish a Election Observation Mission to mitigate such a threat.

* The Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0 comprises: Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (Co-Chairperson), Datuk A. Samad Said (Co-Chairperson), Ahmad Shukri Abdul Razab, Andrew Khoo, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Dr Farouk Musa, Liau Kok Fah, Maria Chin Abdullah, Richard Y W Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 March 2012, 8:52 am and is filed under
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The future of FELDA after the listing

By
Sakmongkol AK47
 | March 01, 2012

The Malaysian Insider

MARCH 1 — The question we should ask all thought leaders of FELDA is this. Why should a loss-making business entity, be allowed to do a reverse takeover of FELDA holdings? FGV owns 49 per cent of FELDA Holdings which has been making money all the time. FGV hasn’t got a track record and has no standing at all to come out with this proposal in the first place.

FGV is the business unit formed while Datuk Bakee (who is now Sime Darby CEO) was in FELDA. The idea of forming FGV to carry out international businesses was proposed by Ethos Consulting group. That adds some flavour to the meal.

Can FELDA tell everyone, how much did FGV lose really? We were only told of losses amounting to RM500 million. One thing we do know is, FGV is consistent. It has CONSISTENTLY lost money for five consecutive years. Perhaps Datuk Sabri Ahmad can disclose fully and honestly, how much FGV lost during those five years. Maybe he has gone to the PM and reported everything is OK sir. Najib is pleased to hear that kind of story.

If FGV lost money over five consecutive years that would strongly suggest that it is incompetent. Two, it would also suggest, just as in most GLCs’ subsidiary companies, some people got very rich while the companies they helmed suffered financial haemorrhage. Before FGV comes along and wishes to take FELDA Holdings, it must come clean about itself.

The next big question is what is the purpose of this listing? Is it an attempt to save a losing business concern (FGV) itself? Is it done to raise money for FELDA? FELDA has a lot of money. It has the mother lode of financial resource which is provided by the palm oil plantations. Unless you are a super moron, all plantations make money.

Everyone is talking about the good things that come along with the heist-ing listing. Because everyone can cook up a good story. MAS was making money and doing fine when suddenly some smart alec suggested that it was good to privatise MAS. So Tajudin Ramli, in the name of service to the nation, agreed to take 32 per cent of MAS provided he was given a guarantee over his purchase of the share. Mahathir gave him that because he considers Tajudin a captain who can pilot the NEP objectives.

Likewise, you can see the chicken shit analyses over the benefits of the FELDA listing. Good analyses are a dime a dozen. That fat slob with the lard-layered brain can always do that for a fee. So, can we ask FELDA how much it paid Ethos to come out with the listing proposal?

So, we ask Datuk Sabri, how much did FELDA pay Ethos?

Up to this point, we have asked him two questions. (1) How much did FGV lose really and (2) how much did FELDA pay Ethos?

This loss-making business entity promises the moon and stars to FELDA settlers. What is the basis of its promises? It is run by incompetents which is the only thing that can explain why it’s making losses over five years. It simply doesn’t have the wherewithal to bring the listed and enlarged FGV to new heights. So how can it makes promises?

Because the PM guarantees it, says chairman Isa. Coming from someone who has made a mess of Negri Sembilan — now that’s something. Isa is the man of Mahathir’s heart. The captain of the NEP.

The government is bent in seeing the listing. Why the insistence? Ahmad Maslan said the listing exercise will raise RM21 billion.

How much will FELDA get?

I was told that Datuk Sabri told the PM the bulk of the money raised will be channelled to the PM’s Department. The PM is elated at the prospect of getting RM13 billion or so. He can go back to Pekan and replace all the dilapidated houses of the rakyat in Pekan. His generosity will be ululated by the ladies and wanita of Pekan Umno for generations to come.

As to FELDA, FELDA will probably get RM8 billion. That will mean the PM’s Department will get around RM13 billion to allow the PM to play Santa Claus for a long time like in the above example we gave.

What will FELDA do with the RM8 billion? Since it has borrowed money from EPF, it must now pay EPF. The outstanding is about RM3 billion. If FELDA pays RM3 billion, it is left with RM5 billion. From this RM5 billion, it must pay the windfall to FELDA settlers — 112,000 of them. That will probably mean another RM2 billion gone.

Yes, my FELDA brothers. It’s not FGV or the government that will pay the windfall. That money comes from FELDA itself out of the profit share it gets from the listing. The biggest beneficiary is the PM’s Department which will get some RM13 billion from the listing exercise. That is why the PM supports the listing of an otherwise loss-making concern.

With RM3 billion left, Felda can operate at its current level of providing benefits to the 112,000 settlers in the various FLEDA schemes for only one year. After that, it will be reduced to a beggar.

We come now to the biggest question about FELDA itself. With the listing, what will the settlers lose? It will lose the bulk of revenue. How come? It will immediately lose the 350,000 hectares of oil palm plantations managed by FELDA Plantations. The 350,000 hectares of land will be leased to FGV for 99 years.

How much does FELDA need to run its operations? By operations I mean to take care of its operational staff and to carry out much social work in FELDA schemes. FELDA needs around RM3 billion each year. From its plantation business, it gets about RM2 billion a year and the balance it gets from its other investments. With the cessation of 350,000 hectares, FELDA is left with about RM400 million a year.

With the RM400 million, how will FELDA provide welfare to the 112,000 FELDA settlers and to FELDA schemes? Perhaps Isa Samad will say the government will guarantee this. Why should the government spend over RM3 billion a year on FELDA when all this time FELDA has been self-financing? Why should the government be forced to fork out more money simply because the FELDA board and its executives wanted to go for listing?

That will be a severe financial drain on the government. Unless of course, it will use the money the PM’s Department gets to make up for the loss of revenue. That will allow the PM to play Santa Claus for another 3 -4 years. But the PM will not use the RM13 billion on FELDA alone. He needs to take care of the people first and the people are not made up of only FELDA settlers. He needs money to pay Umno division heads. He needs money to pay dropped candidates who will otherwise go on the rampage. Where will the government get money to give FELDA the finances to carry out its social obligations at the same level it’s now providing?

Has anyone thought about the future of FELDA and FELDA settlers?

What about the terms of the lease? We have not seen the terms of the 99-year lease. How will FELDA get paid? It’s said that FELDA will get paid every quarter? Why every quarter when FGV makes monthly profits? If you lease a house or office building, revision of the rentals or lease is done on, say, a five-year basis. Why is the lease to FGV revisable only at 20-year intervals? How can the FELDA board and those who manage FELDA agree to this scorched-earth deal?

Again Sabri Ahmad and Isa Samad must come out with full disclosure about the listing. —
sakmongkol.blogspot.com

*
Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 March 2012, 2:49 pm and is filed under
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Will Mahathir propose Chua Soi Lek as UMNO President?

It has been suggested that the response to Tun Dr. Mahathir’s “tongue-in-cheek” proposal that I be made PAS President is to ask whether Mahathir would  propose Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek as UMNO President!

However, I think it is more productive to focus on Mahathir’s other “tongue-in-cheek” statement that all the Tuns and “their sons and grandsons too” should all be investigated in response to my call for a full audit and accounting into the RM100 billion losses from the financial scandals during Mahathir’s 22-year premiership.

Another bad news about Malaysian Airlines recording a whopping net loss of RM2.52 billion for 2011 despite round-after-round of billion-ringgit bailouts in the past two decades  is salutary reminder that the root cause why the  once national premier airline is reduced to such a parlous crisis stage today must be traced to Mahathir’s 1994 decision to use Bank Negara’s MAS shares to bail out Bank Negara from its RM30 billion foreign exchange losses.

Malaysians today are still paying for those financial scandals, none of which have ever been fully accounted for, as for instance in the recent RM580 million write-off by the Malaysian government with the “out-of-court” settlement between Danaharta and other GLCs with Tajudin Ramli on Feb. 14 with regard to all suits pending between them.

When Mahathir said he is prepared to be investigated for the RM100 billion losses from financial scandals during his premiership provided “all the Tuns and their sons and grandsons too” are also investigated, is he just doing a Shahrizat?

Isn’t he just rephrasing what the Women, Family and Community Development Minister had said: “Tell me, which UMNO leader does not have problem?” when confronted about the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre “cow condo” scandal?

Is Mahathir so confident that he will enjoy both immunity and impunity for the RM100 billion losses suffered by the country as a result of the financial scandals during his 22-year premiership as the other “Tuns and their sons and grandsons” would never agree to any full investigation, even to clear their names?

Let the Tuns from the Mahathir era, whether  Tun Abdullah, Tun Musa Hitam, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tun Ling Liong Sik or Tun Lim Keng Yaik speak up whether they are prepared to  support a full audit and investigation into the RM100 billion losses suffered by the country as a result of the financial scandals in the 22-year Mahathir premiership.

It would appear that Mahathir was also referring to past Tuns and Prime Ministers when he said: “But all Tuns must be audited. The sons and grandsons of Tuns as well.”

Is Mahathir also supremely confident that the “sons and grandsons” of previous Prime Ministers, i.e. Tun Razak and Tun Hussein, would not agree to a full audit and investigation into the RM100 billion financial “blackhole” in the Mahathir era?

Let the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, the leading scions of the second and third Prime Minister respectively, speak up.

Let us also hear from the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyidin Yasin, every Cabinet Minister and all the Barisan Nasional component parties their respective position whether they would support a full audit and investigation into the RM100 billion “blackhole” caused by the losses of the financial scandals during the 22-year Mahathir premiership.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 March 2012, 12:03 pm and is filed under
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Can Malaysia’s leaders emulate Myanmar’s political reform?

— Koon Yew Yin

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 02, 2012

MARCH 2 — One of the leading papers in the region, The Nation, recently conducted an interview with Myanmar President Thein Sein’s chief political adviser, Ko Ko Hlaing. In that exclusive interview, Ko Ko Hlaing told the Bangkok paper that Myanmar’s political reform is “irreversible” because of the president’s strong will.

He stressed that the specific constitutional provision towards democracy, the Myanmar people’s taste of newfound freedom, and the need for the country to follow the international trend ensured that the reforms would have to proceed.

In the interview, he also gave an insider’s glimpse into the thinking and philosophy of the former strongman who ran of Myanmar for close to 20 years. According to him, Senior General Than Shwe, following his resignation as head of state in 2011, was not running the country from behind the scenes as commonly alleged and would not be making a comeback.

“As a Buddhist, you can understand the mentality of an elderly Buddhist. You should understand also the mind of an old soldier — which is always the desire to accomplish his mission. After the mission is accomplished, he can take a rest.

“[Than Shwe] had undertaken the responsibilities of the state for a long time, and there were many hardships, pressures and difficulties… He also laid down the conditions of democratic reform — the seven-step roadmap. He is now enjoying his retirement with his grandchildren.”

What was also striking to me was the way that Ko Ko Hlaing responded to the question of whether the military strongman was afraid to be taken to trial by a civilian government.

Ko Ko Hlaing said: “This is a Buddhist country. Forgiveness is our principle. Also, Aung San Suu Kyi and the other opposition leaders, young and old, have talked about forgiving and forgetting the past, and trying to do the best for the nation.”

It may be necessary for me to explain why I am focusing on the subject of Myanmar’s political reform road map. In a few weeks, on April 1, my own road map for Malaysia contained in my book “Malaysia: Road Map for Achieving Vision 2020” will be launched in Ipoh. The book details can be viewed at the publisher’s website shortly.

At the time that I wrote my book I did not refer to it as the Myanmar reform process was still evolving. I also did not understand the situation in Myanmar as I was an outsider with little contact with its system of government.

During the last few months, that situation has changed dramatically for me. Arising from several visits to the country and my involvement in a development-cum-philanthropic undertaking I am pursuing there, I have been in personal contact with some of Myanmar’s top leaders and have been impressed by the remarkable progress of their political reform process compared with Malaysia’s.

Now that I also have the benefit of this remarkable interview to draw upon in addition to my own personal experience in interacting with Myanmar’s leaders, I would encourage all Malaysians, especially our political leaders, including Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister Najib Razak and the opposition leaders to read carefully the interview and distil from it the lessons that are necessary for our own political reform process to have any chance of success.

To sum up, some of the lessons from Myanmar for us to follow are:

● Reform must come from both a top-down as well as a bottom-up process.

● Old leaders should give up trying to retain power or maintain influence after leaving office.

● The ruling party must abide by and not undermine the constitutional provisions to a democracy

● Media freedom and the end to censorship need to be placed in the forefront of the political reform agenda.

● Lastly and most importantly, the nation’s interests should come ahead of individual or group interest.

In Buddhist philosophy, the feeling of a separate “I” which we call ego consciousness is directly related to the strength of ignorance, greed, and hatred.

The deepest meaning of ignorance is the believing in, identifying with and clinging to the ego, which is nothing but an illusionary mental phenomenon. But because of this strong clinging to ego-consciousness, attachment/desire, anger/hatred arise and repeatedly gain strength.

This ego and self-interest manifested in the material greed and weakness of leaders needs to be conquered if our country is to survive well.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 March 2012, 3:47 pm and is filed under
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