Pakatan Rakyat Anti-GST Forums Kicks Off

Forum Awam: Implikasi Cukai GST Kepada Rakyat

Date: Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Time: 20:00 - 23:00
Location: Auditorium MBSA, Shah Alam

Panelis:

1. YAB Tan Sri Dato' Seri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Dato' Menteri Besar Selangor
2. YAB Lim Guan Eng, Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang
3. YB Dr. Dzulkifli Ahmad, Ahli Parlimen Kuala Selangor
4. YB Tony Pua, Ahli Parlimen Petaling Jaya Utara
5. Sdr Rafizi Ramli, Ketua Eksekutif Pejabat Penasihat Ekonomi Selangor

Forum Awam Bermula
Moderator: YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Setiausaha Politik kepada Dato' Menteri Besar Selangor

Masuk adalah percuma

Hubungi: 0355447017 / saifullahzulkifli@gmail.com untuk maklumat lanjut

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Parliamentary Questions 2010 (I)

Parliament's commencing again on the 15 March 2010, and as usual, here are my list of 15 questions posed to the government for concrete (hopefully) answers. Plenty of questions for the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister this time round. ;-)

Soalan Jawapan Lisan

1.Tony Pua meminta Perdana Menteri menyatakan prestasi dan kedudukan syarikat 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sejak ianya ditubuh, termasuklah pelaburan yang telah dibuat, dan nilai 'current assets', 'return on equity' dan 'total assets'.

2.Tony Pua meminta Perdana Menteri menyatakan sama ada kerajaan akan memerlukan kesemua Kementerian “mendedahkan butiran kontrak perolehan” dan penswastaan, misalnya pembinaan pusat pameran dan konvensyen Matrade yang baru, mengikut seksyen 7.3.2 pelan hala tuju Program Transformasi Kerajaan untuk “mengurangkan ketirisan dana dalam perolehan kerajaan”.

3.Tony Pua meminta Menteri Kewangan menyatakan sama ada kerajaan akan merombak semula kesemua perjanjian penjana kuasa bebas yang dijamin keuntungan yang lumayan sebelum kerajaan melaksanakan pengurangan subsidi elektrik kepada sektor komersil dan rakyat jelata.

4.Tony Pua meminta Perdana Menteri menyatakan sebab Tan Sri Hassan Marican telah diganti sebagai ketua eksekutif Petronas walaupun prestasinya adalah cemerlang sejak pelantikannya pada 1995. Apakah rasional Omar Mustapha dilantik sebagai pengarah Petronas, dan sebab perlantikan beliau ditolak oleh Tan Sri Hassan?

5.Tony Pua meminta Menteri Kewangan menyatakan secara terperinci syarat pinjaman RM320 juta kepada Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS) dan sebab-sebab kenapa sebuah syarikat swasta, diberikan pinjaman dengan syarat yang begitu istimewa seperti “grace period” 4 tahun, pinjaman tanpa faedah dan cagaran dan bayaran ansuran yang amat fleksibel.

6.Tony Pua meminta Menteri Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri menyatakan

(a)cara penilaian tanah yang ditawarkan kepada Naza TTDI sebagai bayaran pembinaan pusat pameran dan konvensyen Matrade, yang dimaklum Menteri bernilai RM197 juta

(b)sebab tawaran open tender atau auction tidak dilaksanakan untuk mendapatkan nilai tertinggi bagi tanah kerajaan.

7.Tony Pua meminta Perdana Menteri menyatakan sebab PLUS melaporkan wang pampasan yang diterima daripada kerajaan berjumlah lebih kurang RM700 juta setiap tahun yang lalu walaupun kerajaan hanya memperuntukan RM390 juta dalam belanjawan kerajaan.

8.Tony Pua meminta Perdana Menteri menyatakan langkah-langkah yang akan diambil ke atas suratkhabar seperti Utusan Malaysia yang sentiasa menerbitkan rencana yang mengapi-apikan sentimen perkauman dan agama yang jelas tidak memenuhi hasrat “Program Transformasi Kerajaan” seperti yang diulaskan dalam seksyen 4.5.7 Pelan Hala Tuju.

9.Tony Pua meminta Menteri Kewangan menyatakan bagaimana dana Equinas dapat meningkatkan penyertaan bumiputera dalam ekonomi sedangkan ia dibiayai oleh kerajaan dan bukan daripada pelabur bumiputera. Apakah perbezaan antara Equinas dengan dana pelaburan kerajaan seperti 1MDB, Khazanah dan lain-lain?

10.Tony Pua meminta Perdana Menteri menyatakan sama ada DEB yang diakui dalam pelan hala tuju Program Transformasi Kerajaan sebagai menyebabkan “rasa kehilangan hak, diskriminasi dan... rasa geram” oleh bukan Bumiputera, yang “mendorong ramai... golongan profesional , untuk bekerja dan tinggal diluar negeri”, akan dikekalkan.


Soalan Bertulis

11.Tony Pua meminta Menteri Kewangan menyatakan anggaran bayaran balik pinjaman kerajaan

(a)untuk hutang domestik bagi setiap tahun dari 2011 sehingga 2020

(b)untuk hutang antarabangsa bagi setiap tahun dari 2011 sehingga 2020

12.Tony Pua meminta Menteri Kewangan menyatakan senarai

(a)pembeli bon yang berkupon 5.75% penubuhan Dana 1MDB yang berjumlah RM5 bilion daripada kerajaan

(b)30 pemilik bon Dana 1MDB terkini yang terbesar

13.Tony Pua meminta Perdana Menteri menyatakan dengan jadual dan butiran terperinci kos yang diperlukan untuk mengekspropriasi setiap lebuhraya bertol yang dimaklum pada sesi parlimen yang lalu sebagai berjumlah RM231 bilion pada keseluruhannya.

14.Tony Pua meminta Menteri Pelajaran menyatakan dengan jadual secara terperinci markah yang diberikan mengikut kriteria yang ditetap untuk penentuan “High Performance School” (HPS) bagi 50 sekolah menengah dan 50 sekolah rendah yang terbaik. Apakah sebabnya sekolah rendah kebangsaan jenis Cina dan Tamil tidak termasuk dalam penentuan HPS?

15.Tony Pua meminta Menteri Dalam Negeri menyatakan dengan jadual terperinci mengenai indeks kadar jenayah:

(a)mengikut kawasan di negeri Selangor dan jenis jenayah dari 2005 ke 2009

(b)mengikut negeri di Malaysia dan jenis jenayah dari 2005 ke 2009

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Khazanah Responds On Oriental University Investment

The following is the response by Khazanah after I've raised questions with regards to its RM150 million investment in Oriental University City (OUC) investment in Hebei, China. You can read the Bernama report here or below.

Unfortunately, I'm still not at all convinced by the arguments put forward by Khazanah, and it fails to address some of the questions which I've raised in my earlier statement:

1. What exactly is Khazanah's fund management philosophy? If its a conservative strategic investor (e.g., Iskandar Malaysia, PLUS Expressways), then you don't invest in high risk ventures, or become a portfolio manager and vice-versa. You don't invest out-of-the-blue RM150 million all the way in Hebei, in a high risk education venture in which you have not an iota of experience in. The above applies even if OUC does indeed pose a valid investment thesis on its own.
   
   Another way of putting it is, if you are in the business of building cars, you do not suddenly take your profits and start investing in fisheries (or luxury fashion or education), even if the latter provides very attractive potential returns. You should instead focus on increasing the market reach of your cars and building even better cars.
   
   
2. For a price-earnings (PE) ratio of 58, and for it to list on a stock exchange in 2013, the earnings growth target will need to be fantastic in the next 2-3 years to lower the PE to an acceptable 12-20 times, even for a high growth stock. With all due respect to the investment team, but the forecast looks like "spreadsheet magic" to me. If I have that risk appetite, I'll take up stakes in Google, Apple or Amazon.com any time.
   
   
3. If OUC is indeed such a fantastic investment (as claimed in the latest statement, "discounted cash flow valuations and internal rate of return estimates that were significantly above the risk-adjusted investment hurdle rates"), then there will be plenty of high-risk capital and funds available in China to make the investment. Why do they need to come all the way to Malaysia for what is arguably only a mid-sized investment?

I don't want to sound like a wet blanket, but my position remains that Khazanah should remain a strategic investor focused on growing and catalysing Malaysian critical sectors, and based on current priorities, would be to make a success of the RM50 billion Iskandar Malaysia where Khazanah's expected invest up to RM8 billion, instead of gallivanting all over the world conducting piece-meal investments. Leave the high-risk, sectoral or country portfolio investments to the relevant specialist funds

Khazanah response is as follows:

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s RM150 million investment in China’s Oriental University City Ltd (OUCL) fulfills both its strategic objectives and financial returns requirement.

In a statement today, the government’s investment arm said the 10 per cent stake acquisition in OUCL from Singapore’s listed Raffles Education Corporation Ltd (REC) allowed it to tap into the expertise of Raffles and capitalise on the upside of China’s growing and underserved education sector which saw 26 million new students and was worth US$39 billion (RM132 billion) annually.

The detailed investment evaluation applied in the transaction as a matter of investment policy had looked significantly beyond the historical performance and valuation multiples for 2009 that was quoted in various reports, it said.

It also more than satisfied the stringent financial criteria that included discounted cash flow valuations and internal rate of return estimates that were significantly above the risk-adjusted investment hurdle rates, forward earnings multiples comparable to industry averages, and compared favourably against inherent growth rates expected in the education sector in China.

Khazanah said that the investment had a clear and liquid path for exit if so desired through a planned listing over the medium term.

“In the event that the planned listing does not occur, the conditional sale and purchase (S&P) agreement for the 10 per cent investment in OUC also comes with an inherent downside protection for Khazanah that will effectively protect Khazanah’s capital investment and adequately covers Khazanah’s cost of funds over the period,” it said.

Therefore, it said, the investment represented a strong combination of robust upside potential in a sector and geography with exceptional growth prospects and significant downside protection.

Beyond this investment, Khazanah and REC were committed through the conditional S&P agreement to jointly explore the viability of replicating such University City business models in Malaysia and other countries regionally.

It said this initiative would support the country’s human capital development objective by acquiring experience and expertise to address vocational skills shortage and improve employability of graduates. — Bernama

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Astro Awani In Frame: PAS-DAP Cooperation

This talk show programme was broadcast quite a few months back, during the height of the "crisis" in Selangor. Was the crisis real? Can PAS and DAP work together? Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad, MP for Kuala Selangor and myself "face-off" on "In Frame" hosted by Shamsul Akmal. Happy viewing! ;-)

Part I

Part II

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Does Khazanah Know What It Is Doing?

Khazanah's investment of RMB300 million in Oriental University City Limited (OUC) in Hebei Province, China raises more questions than confidence

What exactly is Khanazah's investment role, strategy and philosophy will be the biggest question raised with its recent acquisition of a 10% stake in OUC for RMB300 million or RM150 million.

Is Khazanah a strategic investor meant to play an active role to bring and develop key industries and technologies in Malaysia via mega developments such as the multi-billion Iskandar Malaysia project?

Or is it a strategic investor in Malaysian companies to help provide local firms with the necessary capital and financial backing for success, such as its holdings in PLUS Expressways, Malaysia Airlines Systems, Malaysia Airport Berhad, Silterra semiconductors as well as many prior failed projects such as the Langkawi prawn farming project?

Or has it now become Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund taking up portfolio investments in businesses overseas without a strategic role in them, such as the 10% OUC investment where Khazanah is neither experienced in the education sector, nor does it have the scale and leverage to manage its Chinese investments?

Khazanah Managing Director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar claimed that the latest investment is part of their China and education services strategy giving “exposure into the exponential growth potential of China's education services sector”. The pertinent question to ask then is “What is Khazanah's 'China and education services strategy'? How much funds has Khazanah allocated to its China or education services portfolio or is this investment more “opportunistic” in nature, and isn't really part of any strategy?

In fact, when reviewing the entire list of Khazanah's existing portfolio companies, there is not a single “education services” provider in sight, whether in or out of Malaysia ruling out any like synergies between its investee companies.

When reviewing the details of the acquisition, more questions arise, for not only has Khazanah turned itself into some form of portfolio investor, but it has also become a “pre-IPO” venture capitalist.

It's valuation of OUC at RMB 3 billion with its 2009 net profit of RMB 52 million meant that Khazanah paid an astronomical historical price-earnings (PE) ratio of 58 times for its purchase. In addition, the acquisition is valued at more than 8 times OUC's net book value. It is clearly a high-risk transaction for the investment is predicated on a stock exchange listing in 2013.

As a comparison, at today's prices for substantially lower risk, but equally exciting global growth prospects, Khazanah could have purchased Apple Inc for a PE of 24, Google Inc for a PE of 26 or even Amazon.com Inc at the same PE of 58. Why did Khazanah pick an investment in Hebei which is expensive, high-risk and illiquid?

Should Khazanah not be focusing its energies on ensuring the success of Iskandar Malaysia which is today threatened with not only declining investments but also investor withdrawals, to ensure that its RM7.6 billion investment in the project over 5 years will generate reasonable returns to the government and its rakyat?

Instead, it's out-of-the-blue investment in education services provider all the way in Hebei, China drains the confidence of Malaysians in Khazanah's ability to professionally manage the wealth of the nation.

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Zulkifli Nordin: Fitnah

As usual, renegade Pakatan Rakyat MP has gone on another rampage. This time, he is accusing various DAP leaders of various wrong-doings which justifies our being "chauvinist, racist and communist". I shall not comment on his accusations on other leaders, although as far as I'm concerned, they are equally baseless.

However, there's a specific accusation against me which I will show is a complete and baseless lie, or "fitnah". This Bandar Kulim Bahru MP accused me of:

...tindakan biadap YB Tony Pua yang mendesak YB Datuk Hasan Ali, Ahli Exco dan Pesuruhjaya PAS Selangor dipecat selepas pertikaian mengenai Selcat dan kebenaran penjualan arak di kedai serbanika di dalam negeri Selangor;

Let me categorically deny that I've ever mentioned, much less "mendesak" Datuk Hassan Ali be sacked from his office as the state executive councillor. This is despite the fact that many would then agree that such a call may actually be justifiable then.

In fact, it was Datuk Hasan Ali who had publicly called for his Pakatan colleague, Ronnie Liu's position to be reviewed.

My statement which is available on DAP's website here, and widely reported in Bernama and The Malaysian Insider, focused strictly on the fact that Datuk Hasan Ali needs to follow "due process".

Similarly, I've posted a statement with regards to the Selcat controversy involving Datuk Hasan Ali, and again, I've asked that he "must start behaving like he is part of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition."

I had also an earlier statement that said that Datuk Hasan Ali needs to learn how to be a coalition partner, and for PAS Selangor under his leadership to better understand multi-racial politics.

There was absolutely no mention of any request for Datuk Hassan Ali to be sacked in any of the above statements and reports. Unlike Zulkifli Nordin, I don't shoot of my hip without using my head.

His statement is clearly defamatory in nature, and he had repeated the same on his TV3 interview a few nights ago.

Should I sue him? No-lah, that'll make him "important". At the moment, I just can't wait for him to leave Pakatan and join UMNO where he belongs.

As far as I'm concerned, he needs to answer to his Allah, for I'm certain that "fitnah" is a major sin.

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Petronas Change of Guard

Here's another take on the change of guard at Petronas, by The Financial Times, UK. Concerns are being expressed everywhere internationally on this issue as the Government desperately seeks to gain easier access to the cash pile within our national oil company.

Malaysia on Tuesday ended the 15-year tenure of the executive who transformed its state-owned energy company from a natural gas exporter into one of the very few sophisticated state-owned oil and gas companies with a broad international presence.
Uncertain circumstances surrounding the replacement of Hassan Marican as chief executive of Petronas have intensified concern that one of the world’s only successful state-owned energy groups – or national oil companies (NOCs) – will suffer at the hands of its own government.

“NOCs survive or thrive on whether they are left alone,” said an oil executive, adding that the issue of autonomy was part of the reason for Mr Marican’s departure. He noted that Statoil of Norway was the only other national oil company of a resource-rich state that has become an international player.

Mr Marican, who was fiercely protective of Petronas’s autonomy, had opposed the board appointment of an important ally of Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister. Mr Marican’s internationalisation of Petronas has resulted in the company sourcing more than a third of its oil and gas from outside Malaysia, whose own production is falling.

Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of Total, which has several partnerships with Petronas, called Mr Marican “an excellent leader,” while Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive of Russia’s Gazprom, said he was sad to see such a “high-level executive” leave.

In the dysfunctional world of state-owned oil companies there are very few “excellent” or “high-level” leaders. That lack of leadership has prompted the International Energy Agency, the rich countries’ watchdog, to warn of another possible supply crunch by mid-decade.

Mr Marican contributed to reduce the risk of such a shortage by his relentless search for oil development deals overseas until the final weeks of his tenure.
Late last year Mr Marican struck three deals to tap some of Iraq’s biggest oil fields, adding up to 800,000 barrels of potential production to Petronas’s portfolio.
Petronas has also done well in trickier places – such as Iran and Sudan – where international oil companies fear to tread.

He persuaded Tiaa-Cref, the large US asset manager, to keep its stake in Petronas in spite of misgivings about the company’s impact in Sudan, where the government has been condemned for human rights abuses. Three Chinese companies and an Indian company also involved in Sudan were unwilling or unable to assuage Tiaa-Cref’s concerns and lost its investments.

Petronas’s ability to invest in oil and gas could be curtailed if the Malaysian government were to decide to take a more hands -on approach, analysts and government officials said.

Tony Pua, an MP for the opposition Democratic Action party, said: “The fear is that the wealth of Petronas is now at risk of further plunder by the government.” Petronas amassed a $30bn cash pile in the past decade.

The balance sheet of Malaysia’s finance ministry is not so healthy. The country’s budget deficit reached a 20-year high of 7.4 per cent of gross domestic product in 2009 after the government introduced two fiscal stimulus programmes.

There was no direct government reply to Mr Pua but many Malaysians saw the appointment of Shamsul Azhar Abbas to succeed Mr Marican as chief as a sign that Petronas would remain relatively free of government interference.

Mr Shamsul was previously chief executive of Misc, Petronas’s shipping subsidiary. Robin West, an industry consultant, said changing the policy of allowing Petronas to make decisions with minimal interference would be a disaster. Mr West, chairman of PFC Energy, said Mr Shamsul was capable and experienced. But much of his success will depend on whether he is forced to compete with Malaysia’s prime minister for control of Petronas.

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Government to raid Petronas?

I've written a few times over the past few months that the Government is bleeding Petronas dry. For example, despite Petronas profits before tax dipping 50.7% for its first half of the financial year ending September 2009, Petronas will still maintain its record dividend payout of RM20 billion to the Federal Government this year.

Now we fear worse is to come with the unwelcome change at the helm of Petronas. Below is my comments to AFP on the change of guards.

Malaysia's opposition Friday accused the government of meddling in cash-rich energy giant Petronas after a new chief executive was named for the state-owned company.

The government announced on Wednesday that Shamsul Azhar Abbas, 57, would replace Hassan Merican, who has led the company since 1995. In a statement, it noted that Hassan's contract expires next Tuesday but gave no more explanation.

Analysts have lauded Hassan for his independence. Petronas -- Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company -- contributes almost half the country's budget revenues.

Its cash is all the more valuable after Malaysia last year ran up its highest budget deficit in 20 years, at 7.4 percent of gross domestic product, during the global financial crisis.

"The fear is that the wealth of Petronas is now at risk of further plunder by the government," opposition parliamentarian Tony Pua told AFP.

"There is fear that (Prime Minister) Najib Razak will arm-twist Petronas into providing more funds than Petronas can afford into funding the federal government," said Pua, who is from the Democratic Action Party.

The prime minister's office declined to comment to AFP.

But analysts at AmResearch said the company was in safe hands under Shamsul, formerly the chief executive of shipping giant and Petronas subsidiary MISC.

"We are positive on this development as Shamsul's extensive experience with Petronas should ensure that the group's strategies, direction and policies remain intact," AmResearch said in a report.

"This is vital given the group's thrust in further developing deep-water and overseas projects such as the four recent oil well concessions in Iraq," it added.

Petronas is part of a consortium led by PetroChina that has formally signed a 20-year deal with Iraq to develop the Halfaya oil field, which has proven reserves of about 4.1 billion barrels.

Petronas is also helping to develop offshore gas resources from the vast Sunrise field off East Timor.

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"Please Sack Me!!"

That's what they are really saying. Each of these MPs, Zahrain Hashim, Zulkifli Nordin and Tan Tee Beng who are publicly saying that they are not planning to quit are indeed telling the truth.

Instead of quitting and be accused of "jumping ship", they want to be sacked so that they can go out in a blaze of "glory" and accuse their party of betraying them instead, "forcing" them to join a BN-aligned political party.

Til today, despite calling Lim Guan Eng a "dictator", "chauvinist", and a "communist", none of them have been able to furnish an iota of evidence as to what exactly and specifically Lim Guan Eng has done which justifies the fantastic labels.

The only element of dictatorship which I see, is that he was completely and utterly uncompromising in creating a clean and crony-free government. In fact one of the first "law" "dictated" by Guan Eng after becoming Penang's Chief Minister was to ban the application of land by our MPs and ADUNs to prevent abuses and corruption. Obviously, the result was unending frustration by the 2 Penang-based MPs.

Zahrain who wanted an inexperienced RM2 company awarded a management contract for Penang Island's only golf club was "over-ruled", and a subsequent "real" open tender attracted 7 bids from established companies.

Tan Tee Beng sought to gain favour by attempting to secure properties from Penang Development Corporation at a discount for his relative and was unsuccessful in lobbying for the position of chairman of Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang.

Instead, Tan Tee Beng could only point to the fact that Penang MPs do not get financial allocations from the state government to "service" their constituents.

My colleague couldn't have put it any better by calling these two "jokers"

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng called his fellow PKR MPs “jokers” for their demands, and made references to veteran DAP lawmakers like Kepong’s Dr Tan Seng Giaw who served as MP for seven terms despite no financial assistance.

“These people are just a bunch of jokers. I think they should just shut up. Look at Dr Tan and other veteran DAP MPs in KL,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

“They have no assistance at all from the Barisan Nasional (BN)-led Federal government at all but they have managed to serve their constituencies very well,” he said.

The role of an MP is not to give money away and execute small projects like repairing drains or upgrading fields. That's the job of the local council. The job of the MP is to be the voice of the people, fighting for their interests and rights, especially in parliament. Which begs the question, I haven't heard Tan Tee Beng speak a word in Parliament for the past year (or more)!!!

For the above, these renegades want Guan Eng sacked. Thankfully, our partners in Pakatan Rakyat are made of people with better integrity and intelligence, such as Dr Syed Hussein Ali and Dr Mansor Othman, who are more than happy to kick out the bad apples from the party.

I can't want for them to leave or be kicked out of Pakatan Rakyat. They are nobodies who were failing their KPIs, and nobody will miss them, not a bit. Plus, they are more than likely to make more money from BN anyway.

Read more!

Who Says Malays Can't Compete?

The truth cannot be better illustrated by the results of the open tender processes which has been implemented in Penang for the state owned agencies.

Some 70 per cent of two state firm’s open tenders have been won by Malay contractors, showing the community to be as competitive as others... Malay contractors won 16 out of 23 tender awards, or 70 per cent, from the Penang Development Corporation(PDC) and 44 out of 66 or 67 per cent of contracts issued by the Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang(PBAPP) in open tenders since Pakatan Rakyat took over Penang in March 2008.

“The performance by Malay contractors in an open tender system with non-Malays proves that Malay contractors can compete with others and win tender awards on their own merit,” [Lim Guan Eng] said in a statement...

And the conclusions are clear as day. Malays can compete under an open tender system and they have been winning contracts, despite so-called criticisms that Penang has "marginalised" the Malays.

What the Penang government has marginalised are not Malay contractors. Instead we have marginalised the crony-based contractors who are unable to compete and relies instead on political cables to secure jobs with the Government. These crony-based contractors will either be unable to competently deliver the goods or, will as per Malaysian culture, sub-contract these jobs to other parties, be they Malay or non-Malay contractors.

What we have in effect done is to cut out the middlemen "contractors" whose only role is to skim off easy profits from the contracts awarded and leave the scraps for other honest contractors to carry out the actual works. In such a system, it'll also encourage corruption between the middlemen and the government contracting agencies.

And the result?

The Penang state government has been able to turn a projected deficit of RM35 million in 2008 budget to a record surplus of RM88 million. And in 2009, a projected deficit of RM40 million has been turned around to record a surplus of RM77 million.

The proof is in the pudding.

Read more!

All About A RM2 Company

Dropped Penang PKR Chief and MP for Bayan Baru, Zahrain Hashim dropped a bombshell a few days back by giving The Star an exclusive, calling Penang Chief Minister, a "dictator", a "chauvinist" and a "communist". Where, most will ask, did that come from?

Short of Zahrain telling you the "why" himself, or anyone who can read his mind, we can only speculate on the reasons for his incredible outburst.

Penang DAP has provided some plausible reason for this. Firstly, could Zahrain be a closet racist, and after being dropped by PKR as the Penang chief become politically frustrated?

[Chow Kon Yeow, Penang DAP Chief] also rapped Zahrain for questioning why a third of Lim’s speech during the first Pakatan Rakyat National convention last Dec 19 was in Mandarin.

“Clearly Zahrain was absent as Lim had spoken 85 per cent in Bahasa Malaysia with the remainder 15 per cent in English and Mandarin. But even if one third of Lim’s speech had been in Mandarin, is it a crime to speak in one own’s mother tongue? This extremist approach befits a typical Penang Umno leader and not a PKR or Pakatan Rakyat leader,” Chow added, saying Zahrain appeared politically frustrated over his removal as Penang PKR chairman.

Or could it be because of a RM2 company?

“Further, Lim had informed me [Chow] of Zahrain frustrations with Lim for refusing to endorse Zahrain’s decision last year as Chairman of Island Golf Properties in awarding a tender for the privatised management of the Bukit Jambul Golf Club to a RM2 company.

“As Chairman of PDC, Lim had recommended that the Board of Directors over-rule the award of tender and called for a fresh retender... The Board of Directors of PDC had accepted Lim’s recommendation that to give the tender of running the only golf club in Penang worth tens of millions of ringgit to a RM2 company would not comply with Penang’s CAT governance of Competency, Accountability and Transparency. Giving contracts to a RM 2 company would make a mockery of change that Penangnites voted for in the 2008 elections and make Penang Pakatan Rakyat no different from BN,” he added.

Chow said by holding firm to CAT, the Penang state government has been able to turn a projected deficit of RM35 million in 2008 budget to a record surplus of RM 88million.

The next question is, is this true? Or did we make the story up to cover up for Guan Eng's "dictatorship"?

Zahrain did not refute the claim that he wanted to award the contract to a RM2 company. He only offered lame excuses as to why he did so:

Kata beliau, apabila tender pengurusan kelab itu dibuka hanya sebuah syarikat yang membuat bidaan.

“Oleh kerana hanya satu syarikat mengemukakan bidaan, maka lembaga kelab memutuskan agar syarikat berkenaan menaikkan modal berbayar dan diberikan tawaran projek pengurusan.

“Ini keputusan lembaga, bukan keputusan saya seorang selaku pengerusi kelab... ini keputusan bersama lembaga,” kata beliau.

So first, he claimed that only ONE company made an offer to manage the Golf club, the only one on Penang Island. Secondly, it was the Board's decision and nothing to do with him.

I can only say that it is laughable that in an "open" tender (if it was ever an "open" tender) to manage Penang Island's sole golf club which is owned by Penang Development Corporation, only ONE company, and only a RM2 company without any track record of managing golf clubs was interested in submitting a bid to manage the club.

And even if there was only 1 bid by such a RM2 company, then it will then be reasonable to expect the tender to be called off, and a re-tender exercise be carried out so that more qualified firms will bid to manage the club.

But no, Zahrain had wanted the RM2 company to be awarded the contract to manage the multi-million ringgit golf club where he was appointed the chairman by the Penang State Government.

And guess what, with the re-tender exercise, it had no problems attracting proven and successful golf club management companies to take part in the tender exercise.

So Zahrain, was the Chief Minister not right to cancel the initial award? Were you upset because you were not "consulted" or because the RM2 company was not successful in the bid? Why don't you explain further who are the owners of this RM2 company, what is their background and track record?

The Pakatan Rakyat government has no time for the practise of selective favouritism in the management of the government affairs. We are serious about implementing a competent, accountable and transparent government. Anybody who doesn't share these goals can go join UMNO where crony contracts, for the moment anyway, are still aplenty and awarded without even the need of a tender, open or closed.

And Zahrain has the cheek to claim that "Saya seorang (pemimpin) yang ada prinsip. Jangan perlekehkan saya.” What a joke!

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MPs Jumping Ship? Good Riddance!

Zulkifli Noordin, MP for Bandar Baru Kulim came out all guns firing against his Pakatan Rakyat "partners" over issues relating to his hardline views of Malay dominance and religious dominance.

Zahrain Hashim, MP for Bayan Baru came out no holds barred calling Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng a "dictator, chauvinist and communist" because he was unable to secure contracts for his RM2.00 crony company for a project in Penang. (Or was it due to him failing his party's KPIs?)

Unsurprisingly, the rumour mill went wild with news of possible defections of 10 MPs led by Zahrain, which will give Barisan Nasional a 2/3 majority in Parliament. WIth the 2/3 majority, Barisan Nasional will have the ability to amend the constitution at its whims and fancies, including a likely re-delineation of parliamentary and state seats expected next year.

With such an achievement, it will ensure Zahrain a Ministership post in Najib's cabinet. It is of note that Zahrain has to date only politely dismissed inferences that he will join UMNO, but had not denied the likely possibility that he'll join the newly formed "Parti Cinta Malaysia" based in Penang.

Other MPs have denied outright speculations that they will join Barisan Nasional, including MP for Indera Mahkota (whom I have respect for), Azan Ismail and MP for Merbok Datuk Rashid Din.

The question then is who else will join the Zahrain and Zulkifli bandwagon (Z2)? There's a possible hint here when MP for Balik Pulau, Yusmadi Yusof gave a rather peculiar answer when asked if he was jumping ship by The Malaysian Insider:

Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusof said he has to study the media reports before giving a response, adding he was feeling unwell after returning from a conference in Manila.

Honestly, what is there to "study"?

There are also rumours that another anti-Lim Guan Eng cum anti-DAP Chinese MP will also make the jump.

Will they or will they not? Regardless, I'll bet my bottom dollar that Z2 does not have any where near the 10 MPs to cross over to Barisan Nasional. I do hope however, that Z2 and the less than handful of the other recalcitrant MPs will quickly jump ship so that we can rejoice at the good riddance of bad rubbish.

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High Speed Train to Kuantan?

Dodgy companies selling fancy rail projects to the Federal Government? Below is a letter from TRANSIT questioning this particular high-speed train project which will apparently cut short the travel between Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur to just a mere 45 minutes. It appears that this train project is even more ludicrous than the abandoned one proposed by YTL to connect Malaysia and Singapore earlier.

RE: Article - Traveling time 45 minutes - Site to be based in Pekan. KL - Kuantan High Speed Railroad to start in May

The members of the Association for the Improvement of Mass-Transit wish to express their concerns at the information in the article Traveling time 45 minutes - Site to be based in Pekan. KL - Kuantan High Speed Railroad to start in May. We are concerned with the information in the article, which suggests that construction for this project is set to begin in May 2010. If this were to happen it would be quite illegal.

The Railways Act 1991 makes it very clear that a Railways Scheme cannot start construction until a feasibility study has been completed and a copy of the Railway route has been sent to the Director General of the Department of Railways for conditional approval.

Once conditional approval has been granted by the Director General of the Department of Railways, then a 3 month public display period must take place. After the 3 months of public display, objections must be heard. If everything goes well, the Director General of the Department of Railways can recommend that the Minister of Transport approve the project.

So far there has been no conditional approval and no 3-month public display. So how can the project start construction in May 2010?

Another concern is the misleading claims about the feasibility of the project, the actual cost of the project, the time it will take to construct the line, and the length of time for the trip between KL and Kuantan.

The proposal is to link KL and Kuantan using High Speed Rail. However, the Titiwangsa range which is just north and east of KL would present a formidable barrier for the construction of this line. Anyone who has traveled along the KL-Karak highway knows that the Titiwangsa range is substantial. Building a highspeed rail line across the range would require very precise and detailed engineering, cost a lot of money and take a lot of time.

Yet Mr. Jayakumar of MRails International claims the project can be completed in 3-5 years.

Mr Jayakumar also claims that the project will cost RM1 billion. However in a later paragraph he says the 3 High Speed Railroad and Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) projects will cost RM1 billion together. To give you a comparison, the double-tracking & electriication of the existing conventional KTM railway between Rawang and Ipoh cost RM1.14 billon. The extension from Ipoh to Padang Besar is projected to cost at least RM12billion. The 17.7km extension of the Kelana Jaya LRT line (which uses a special Linear Induction Motor) will cost nearly RM4 billion.

Thus it does not seem possible that a high-speed rail link can be built across the Titiwangsa range, linking KL-Kuantan, for less than RM1billion within 5 years.

TRANSIT also questions the 'track record' of Mr. Jayakumar and his MRails International company. We note that Mr. Jayakumar has appeared out of nowhere in recent months and none of our contacts in the railway industry are familiar with him.

TRANSIT is deeply concerned that the public, the media and members of the civil service have been fooled by the actions of salesmen who have managed to convince state governments to take a look at their 'interesting' railway projects. These high speed rail proposals from MRails will join a long list of other unsuccessful railway proposals that have been 'sold' to state governments, such as the Aerorail in Melaka, the Aerobus in Penang, and the Johor Baru Maglev elevated monorail. A Malaysian company (Pembinaan Aktif Gemilang) is also involved in a very strange "Hydrogen High Speed Superhighway" that has been sold to the state government of Central Java.

People involved in these proposals usually focus on using high-pressure sales tactics to convince politicians to look at their proposals. They take money for the 'studies' , make attempts to get the attention of the media, and ultimately, waste people's time and make them look foolish. In Penang, the state government has already had to defend itself for granting the free use of state land to two companies for their 'test tracks' and approving a feasibility study for Aerobus. And we can only wonder how the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Menteri Besar of Pahang will extract themselves from this High Speed Railroad and Magnetic Levitation railway project.

Anyone who visits Jakarta, Indonesia can see the pillars of the proposed monorail line which was never built. Malaysian cities are littered with enough abandoned housing and commercial projects. We do not need to add a few incomplete railway lines to the existing mess.

Sincerely

Moaz Yusuf Ahmad
on behalf of TRANSIT

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Disappointed Doctor

The following is a letter I've received from a Doctor who has just returned to our shores. Bureaucratic clumsiness?


I am a medical doctor who was educated overseas and worked in Australia for several years and recently decided to return to Malaysia to serve the country.

As a professional working overseas I heard about the 'Program bagi mengalakkan warganegara Malaysia yang berpakaran yang bekerja di luar negara pulang ke Malaysia' and therefore applied for it. I was very disappointed when they rejected my application on the grounds that it was sent after I returned to Malaysia. Apparently it was meant to be sent whilst I was still in Australia.

I find this a very poor excuse given the fact that Malaysia is trying to lure back its citizens to work for them. It discourages professionals such as me from having to bear the burden to return but not have any perks or encouraging incentives. Furthermore, my parents bore my exorbitant medical tuition fees and I did not receive any governmental loans whatsoever. The “least” is something anyone would expect.

Besides that, it took me a great deal of an effort to locate the abovementioned application form which was hidden in the catacombic archives of one of the governmental websites. Talk about purposeful inconvenience or perhaps voluntary neglect.

I can see why many of my colleagues are hesitant to return and serve the government given the unimpressive, unattractive attitude and to top it off the obvious suboptimal remuneration and working conditions. Now, thankfully I still have the option to return to Australia and am reconsidering my intentions to continue here thanks to the above. Job well done in luring professionals back.


Disappointed DR.

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Call For Emergency Parliamentary Session to Condemn Attacks

DAP condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent acts of defiling the places of Muslim worship

This morning, two mosques along Jalan Klang Lama were found desecrated with pig heads being found in their compounds.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms such despicable acts which are not only insensitive to our Muslim brothers, but is clearly an act to incite racial hatred and sentiments in our multi-racial and multi-religious society.

Ordinary Malaysians of all faiths and creed must not be entrapped by these acts which motives are clearly to enrage Malaysians into conducting similar tit-for-tat acts to create destroy the peace and tolerance in the country.

We will like to repeat our call upon the Government to convene an all-parties meeting, including all political parties, religious bodies and civil society organisations to unite as one to condemn such attempts to sabotage the future and unity of Malaysians.

We also call upon the Prime Minister to convene an emergency Parliamentary meeting for all Parliamentarians from across the divide to condemn without reservation the increasing incidence of arson, vandalism and desecration at all places of religious worship including mosques, suraus, churches and temples.

The Government must no longer dismiss these incidents as “minor aberrations” or “minor damage” for they have much broader implications to our nation-building. We must nip the increasing religious militancy in the country in the bud, before it escalates to a point of no return where properties are destroyed and lives are lost.

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