Month: October 2017

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ISA – Who Got To Play God

(This article appeared as a commentary on The Mole – 30 October 2017)

October 30, 2017

THIS would be my mellow version of the Ops Lalang.

The Internal Security Act, 1960 or the ISA, was probably the most draconian law to ever exist in Malaysia.  Prior to having the ISA, preventive detention was done through the Emergency Regulations Ordinance of 1948 aimed at combatting the communist threats.

With the end of the first Malayan Emergency in 1960, the Ordinance of 148 was done away with but was replaced with the ISA.  The mood of the period must be understood to see the reason for having such law.

Although the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) had lost the fight, the struggle was continued from across the Thai border by cadres, as well as their supporters (Min Yuen) in Malaya.  They penetrated unions, the press, as well as associations, causing occasional racial tensions in the country.

Pre-1970 Malaysia was not all dandy when it came to race relations.  The economic power was held by the Chinese since the days of the British administration while the Malays had been relegated to being farmers or lower ranking civil servants.

The Chinese immigrants first came to the Malay states in 1777, and first settled in the state of Perak in 1830 (Patrick Sullivan, 1982: 13). Within 44 years, they numbered 26,000 in Perak alone.  In 1921, the number of Chinese immigrants in the Malay states numbered 1,171,740.  Ten years later, it was 1,704,452. In 1941, it became 2,377,990 while the Malays were at 2,277,352 (Paul H Kratoska, 1997:318). The Malays remained as a minority until the census of 1970.

During the war, the Malays did not face much hardship as the Chinese did at the hands of the Japanese.

After the war, the CPM/MPAJA and their Chinese supporters took revenge on the Malays. In Batu Pahat, Muslims were forbidden from congregating at mosques or suraus to perform the Terawih prayers (Hairi Abdullah, 1974/5: 8-9).

The same occurred in Perak and some parts of Batu Pahat where Muslims were gunned down and burnt together with the mosque they were in during Friday prayers.

Mosques and suraus were often used as places of meeting for the Chinese community (WO 172/9773, No.30: 478) and were tainted by incidents such as slaughtering of pigs, and mosques’ compound was used to cook pork, where Malays were forced to join the larger Chinese groups. Pages were torn from the Quran to be used by the Chinese using these mosques as toilet paper.

Racial clashes had begun in September 1945 where Malays and Chinese clashed in Kota Bharu, Selama, Taiping, Sitiawan, Raub.

This culminated in the slaughter of Malays early one morning in a hamlet near Kuala Kangsar called Bekor where 57 men and women, and 24 children were killed by about 500 members of the CPM aided by 500 Chinese villagers from Kelian in March 1946 (CO 537/1580: 21 and Majlis, 24 Februari 1947:5).

All in all, 2,000 lives were lost.

Such was the mood and the ISA was introduced to also prevent further racial clashes by preventing instigators from achieving their objective whatever that may be.

Therefore, it was an Act of Parliament that was used to preserve public order and morals.  If one is to read the ISA thoroughly, then it would be easier to see that the Act was not just about detention without trial, but also as a weapon for the Royal Malaysian Police to nip any cancerous threat to public order and morals in the bud.

Datuk Seri (now Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister as well as Home Minister when Ops Lalang was executed on Oct 26 1987 (arrests were made in the early morning of Oct 27).

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was Umno Youth chief and also Education Minister in Dr Mahathir’s Third Cabinet.

Anwar had made several unpopular moves that earned the wrath of the MCA such as the removal of crucifixes from missionary schools, introduction of Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for Tamil and Chinese studies at the University of Malaya, as well as the introduction of non-Chinese educated senior assistants and supervisors to Chinese vernacular schools.

Deputy MCA president Datuk Seri (now Tan Sri) Lee Kim Sai who was also Selangor MCA chief, on the other hand, had also uttered words implying that the Malays were also immigrants.

A 2,000-strong gathering by the Dong Jiao Zong that was also attended by the DAP, MCA and Gerakan was held and a resolution was made to call a three-day boycott by Chinese schools.

Umno Youth responded with a 10,000-strong gathering at the TPCA Stadium in Kampung Baru.  It is said that Dr Mahathir then instructed Datuk Seri (Tan Sri) Sanusi Junid, who was Umno  secretary-general then, to organise a rally of 500,000 members in Kuala Lumpur.

I remember feeling the tension in the air, especially when an army personnel, Private Adam Jaafar, ran amok with his M-16 in Kampung Baru, adding more fuel to a potentially explosive situation.

The senior police management met in Fraser’s Hill to plan and then launched Ops Lalang to prevent bloodshed.

Whether or not Dr Mahathir disagreed with the police for Ops Lalang to be launched, it must be remembered that even if the police had wanted to launch the operations unilaterally, Section 8(1) of the ISA specifically mentions that it is the Home Minister who, upon being satisfied that the detention of any person is necessary, may make an order for the person to be detained for a period of not more than two years.

According to Section 73 of the Act, the police were not given the power to detain a person for more than 30 days unless the Inspector-General of Police had reported of the detention and its reason to the Home Minister.

Nowhere does the Act mention that the Home Minister SHALL or MUST act as advised by the police.  The police provided the names in a list, with reasons why they should be or were detained, but only the Minister could sign the detention order.

Dr Mahathir may now claim that Ops Lalang was the police’s idea, which may be true.  But as mentioned at the beginning of this article that the ISA is an Act of Parliament giving powers to the police to diffuse potentially explosive situations and also to protect and preserve public safety and morals.

The police used the ISA during Ops Lalang as it was intended to be used (there were also detainees from Umno during the sweep), but the Home Minister was the one who played God, and decided whom to be released before the 60 days was up, and whom to hold up to two years.

And that Home Minister is the same unrepentant person now touted to become the next PM by the DAP.

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Kemarau Perniagaan Di Malaysia?

Kedai-kedai runcit lama banyak yang tutup sekitar tahun 1980an disebabkan pertumbuhan pesat kompleks membeli-belah dan pasaraya-pasaraya (Gambar ehsan PL1M)

Sehari dua ini kita disajikan dengn berita bahawa lima cawangan pasaraya Giant bakal ditutup dan dikhabarkan bahawa ini petanda ekonomi negara kita sebenarnya meruncing dan bukannya mengembang sepertimana yang diwar-warkan oleh kerajaan.  Berita penutupan cawangan-cawangan pasaraya Giant ini juga disebarkan melalui aplikasi WhatsApp.

Pagi ini juga saya melihat status seorang pengguna Facebook yang juga memberi khabar muram mengenai penutupan beberapa buah perniagaan besar di Malaysia.

Rangkaian Pasaraya Giant mengumumkan penutupan lima buah cawangan di seluruh negara.  Ia merupakan penutupan lima cawangan lama yang mana premisnya akan tamat tempoh pajakan dari sejumlah 122 cawangan di seluruh negara.

Cawangan-cawangan tersebut adalah di Seri Manjung, SACC Mall Shah Alam, Selayang Lama, Sibu dan Sungai Petani.

Walaupun keseluruhan daerah Manjung mempunyai 233,000 penduduk, Lumut hanya mempunyai kurang dari 33,000 orang penduduk dan sebahagian besarnya adalah merupakan warga Tentera Laut DiRaja Malaysia.  Giant perlu bersaing dengan dua buah pasaraya besar yang lain iaitu TESCO dan AEON Mall.

Sibu mempunyai 163,000 penduduk dan selain mempunyai dua cawangan Giant, ia juga mempunyai pusat-pusat membeli-belah seperti Sanyan Mall, Delta Mall, Star Mega Mall dan Medan Mall.

Sebuah Giant Hypermarket yang jauh lebih besar juga wujud berhampiran Giant Selayang Lama iaitu di Batu Caves, sementara cawangan di Selayang Lama terpaksa bersaing dengan pasaraya NSK Selayang yang menawarkan barangan runcit dengan harga yang lebih murah.

SACC Mall di Shah Alam itu sendiri tidak menarik ramai pengunjung.  Selain Giant, banyak premis perniagaan di situ telah ditutup dan berpindah terutamanya syarikat-syarikat yang mendaftarkan perniagaan yang telah menarik ramai pengunjung.  Di Shah Alam sendiri terdapat empat cawangan Giant yang berhampiran iaitu di Seksyen 9, Seksyen 13, Seksyen 18 dan juga Kota Kemuning.

Sungai Petani, walaupun mempunyai lebih kurang 280,000 orang penduduk, mempunyai dua buah cawangan Giant, iaitu Giant Hypermarket dan Giant Supermarket.  Saya yakin yang ditutup ialah Giant Supermarket.  Sungai Petani juga memberi saingan lain kepada Giant Supermarket dalam bentuk Pasaraya Econsave, Tesco, SP Plaza, Petani Parade, Central Square dan Amanjaya Mall.

Nampak gayanya penutupan lima cawangan tersebut merupakan langkah penyatuan atau konsolidasi dan bukannya disebabkan keadaan ekonomi yang muram.  Pengenalan sistem GST juga tidak memberi kesan yang besar kepada para peniaga kerana rata-rata pusat membeli-belah masih dikunjungi ramai orang.

Namun tidak dinafikan peranan yang dimainkan oleh online shopping ada memberi kesan terhadap para peniaga.  Ini adalah kerana ada masanya harga barangan yang dijual secara online adalah jauh lebih murah dari apa yang ditawarkan oleh para peniaga runcit.

Menurut PwC dalam laporan Bancian Runcit Keseluruhan 2016 yang dikeluarkannya baru-baru ini, 3/5 responden dari Malaysia telah mula membeli barangan secara online sejak tiga tahun yang lalu dan angka ini masih mengembang.

Di Amerika Syarikat, di mana GST Malaysia tidak memberi kesan, banyak pasaraya berjenama besar kini menutup beratus-ratus cawangan di seluruh negara kerana kalah kepada jualan online oleh Amazon.

Aéropostale, sebuah syarikat yang menjual pakaian golongan belasan tahun telah membuat permohonan untuk dibankrapkan.  JC Penney telah menutup 40 cawangannya selain membekukan tuntutan elaun lebih masa dan memotong gaji para pekerja.  Sears telah menutup lebih 200 cawangannya.  Macy’s telah menutup 136 cawangan yang menyebabkan 4,500 orang pekerja hilang pekerjaan. American Eagle telah menutup 150 cawangannya manakala Sports Authority telah menutup kesemua 450 cawangannya.  Office Depot telah menutup 749 cawangan, The Children’s Place telah menutup 271 cawangan, manakala Walgreens telah menutup lebih 1,000 cawangan.

Pasaraya terkemuka Walmart telah menutup 269 cawangannya, manakala pendapatan pengasas Amazon yang juga CEOnya, Jeff Bezos, telah meningkat  sebanyak USD6 billion dalam masa beberapa jam sahaja dalam bulan April 2016.  Banyak syarikat perniagaan runcit besaran di Amerika Syarikat terpaksa menutup cawangan, membuang para pekerja dan bergabung dengan syarikat-syarikat lain untuk terus hidup disebabkan persaingan yang diberikan oleh Amazon.

Trend yang sama kini dilihat di Malaysia. Pada bulan April 2017, syarikat gerbang pembayaran online Malaysia iPay88 yang menguasai 70 peratus pembayaran online di Malaysia mengumumkan bahawa angka pembelian online di Malaysia meningkat 161 peratus pada tahun 2016 berbanding tahun sebelumnya, iaitu 38.2 juta transaksi pada tahun 2016 berbanding 14.6 juta pada tahun 2015.

Menurut iPay88 lagi, barangan yang lazim dibeli oleh rakyat Malaysia termasuk pakaian, kasut, barangan kemas, barangan elektronik dan peralatan sukan.

Oleh kerana iPay88 hanya mempunyai 70 peratus penguasaan, ini bermakna jumlah transaksi pembelian online di Malaysia adalah jauh lebih tinggi dari apa yang dilaporkan oleh iPay88.  Angka ini tidak melibatkan pembelian online secara Cash-On-Delivery.

Lazada kini mengalami masalah untuk melayan nafsu serakah rakyat Malaysia yang gemarkan online shopping

Transaksi online, termasuk perbankan digital, adalah sebab bank-bank di Malaysia menutup 63 cawangan setakat April 2017.  HSBC telah menutup lebih 50 peratus cawangannya di UK iaitu sebanyak 62 cawangan. ING di Netherlands telah menutup beberapa cawangannya menyebabkan 1,000 pekerja bank kehilangan pekerjaan.

Citigroup telah menutup sekitar 9 peratus cawangan-cawangannya di seluruh dunia manakala Bank of America pula menutup 206 cawangannya.  Kedua-dua syarikat ini juga beralih kepada perbankan digital.

Pembelian peribadi meningkan kepada 6.6 peratus pada suku pertama tahun 2017 menurut Persatuan Peruncit Malaysia.  Rakyat Malaysia kini lebih banyak berbelanja untuk pembelian barangan secara online dan menjamu selera di luar daripada makan di rumah.  Indeks Sentimen Pengguna yang dikumpul oleh MIER juga menunjukkan peningkatan iaitu pada kadar 76.6 peratus.  Jumlah pembelian kenderaan peribadi bagi tahun 2017 juga adalah 425,711 buah setakat 30 September 2017 berbanding 418,277 buah dalam tempoh yang sama tahun lepas.

Adakah ekonomi Malaysia menghadapi kemarau seperti yang didakwa?  Anda putuskan sendiri.

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Pantywaist

Pakatan Cry Babies
Barely a few hours after Najib Razak’s announcing of the budget for 2018, the DAP came up with the above graphic to inform the people that (as usual) Najib Razak’s budget is a copycat budget.

But is it?

It must be remembered that the budget announced by Najib Razak will be implemented nationwide whereas the “Pakatan budget” mentioned in the graphic above is a pick-and-choose budget that only one has been implemented in just one state administered by Pakatan, and not a nationwide solution.

Abolish All Tolls

The Barisan Nasional (BN) -led government announced that from 1 January 2018, tolls at four locations, actually, will be abolished.  They are the Batu Tiga toll on the Federal Highway, the Sungai Rasau toll near Klang that is also on the Federal Highway, the EDL highway toll in Johor Bahru as well as the Bukit Kayu Hitam toll in Kedah.

Pakatan Harapan proposed to abolish all toll collections.  But it has not explained how they plan to compensate in the region of billions to the toll concessionaires for all the money that they have put into the highways they operate and loss of future earnings.

Furthermore, Pakatan promised since before GE12 to abolish toll collection at the Sungai Nyior toll plaza in Pulau Pinang but has not done so to-date.

Pakatan’s de facto a third of a leader, Anwar Ibrahim, had in fact made a promise not too long ago to not allow toll charges to be increased on highways they have shares in, namely, the LDP, KESAS and SPRINT.  So far they have done nothing. If they cannot even control the highways that they have substantial shares in how can we hope for them to abolish all tolls?

Anwar’s broken promise
Pakatan’s alternative budget is also unreliable when it comes to the abolishment of toll on highways.  Azmin Ali as the Menteri Besar of Selangor admitted that it was not going to be easy for them to reduce tolls let alone abolish them on highways where the state government has shares in.

Azmin Ali’s admission that it is difficult to reduce toll rates on highways Selangor has shares in
But instead of reducing or abolishing tolls, Azmin Ali introduced three new tolled highways namely the Sungai Besi-Ulu Klang Elevated Expressway (SUKE), the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE), and the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (DASH).  This is a total of 89 kilometres of new tolled highways offered by the Pakatan government versus the 2,083 kilometres  toll-free Pan Borneo Highway offered by the Barisan Nasional government.

Instead of reducing or scrapping tolls, Azmin introduced three more tolled highways in Selangor
So, who is Pakatan trying to kid when it says it wants to abolish tolls on highways?  What funds do they plan to use to acquire the concessions from concessionaires?  The government is able to abolish tolls at four locations because three of them are under PLUS which is 100 percent government-owned through UEM and EPF, and one under MRCB which has Bank Rakyat and Tabung Haji, both are government entities, as shareholders.

Another puzzling behaviour of the Pakatan is that while it claims that it will abolish tolls in total, or in Selangor or Sungai Nyior only, or just reduce the rates, it has been proven that they are just a bag filled with hot air. It has been almost a decade since their coming into power in Pulau Pinang and Selangor yet they have nothing to show. So when the BN government abolishes tolls at four locations, the reaction from them should be one of sheer happiness. Yet they seem to be otherwise. Why?

One example is Azmin’s communications director Yin Shao Loong who is unaware that the concession period for the Batu Tiga toll was extended to 2038 and not 2018.

Had the Batu Tiga toll concession period been extended, the rate users would be paying according to the original agreement signed during Mahathir’s period is RM2.40 instead of the RM1.10 users are enjoying now.

In a way, the recent offer by Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd to buy the PLUS Expressway from UEM and EPF and not increase toll rates on the highway for 20 years may have triggered the government’s decision to abolish toll collection at those four highways.  I still hope that the PM could bring all the relevant parties together to discuss the proposal as it surely benefits the rakyat if feasible.

Abolishing the GST

Prior to the introduction of the 6-percent Goods & Services Tax (GST), business owners were charged the 16-percent Sales & Services Tax (SST).  The Sales Tax was a federal consumption tax imposed on a wide variety of goods, and governed by the Sales Tax Act 1972. The Service Tax, also a federal consumption tax, was levied on customers who consumed certain taxable services, and was governed by the Service Tax Act 1975.

GST versus SST (courtesy of Bloomberg BNA)
The SST was a single stage of consumption tax where businesses cannot recover the tax paid on their purchases. This tax will be treated as a cost to business.  However, it was not a transparent form of taxation as many business owners fail to declare their taxes through transfer pricing.  The GST introduces transparency, curbs the inefficiencies, tax-payment and misappropriation issues  of the SST.

This incurred the wrath of big business owners as they can no longer hide actual sales figures to avoid being taxed.

As opposed to the SST where every single item is taxed 16 percent, household items such as but not limited to sugar, flour, cooking oil, vegetables, fish, meat, poultry and services such as healthcare, education, public transport, housing and agriculture land are exempted from the GST.  If there is a spike in the prices of these items, it is the business owners that are to be blamed for marking up prices, and consumers can report them to the KPDNKK.

It is the efficient way to collect tax from businesses that has helped the government to find an alternative form of income when price of oil have gone down tremendously.

Pakatan wants to either revert back to the SST system but has not mentioned how it plans to make up for the loss of income since oil prices cannot be depended upon, or zero-rate everything as per its alternative budget if it decides to keep the GST system, with the option to increase the rates later.

Again, Pakatan is not being transparent to the masses.

120-Day Maternity Leave versus 90-Day Maternity Leave

There are two aspects to look at when talking about maternity leaves.  First, on the employers’ side – a worker that is unable to perform her duty taxes the company as she receives full pay during her absence, and other workers have to double up to do her work.  Second, going by the concept of ‘iddah of a divorced woman – the waiting period is three menstrual cycles or three months.  I did not use the example of a widow’s waiting period because that includes a period to sufficiently overcome a huge part of grief.

Let us compare with other Muslims countries:

Bangladesh – 112 days: 8 weeks (56 days) before delivery and 8 weeks (56 days) after delivery.

Indonesia – 3 months (90 days)

Pakistan – 90 days (45 before delivery and 45 after)

Oman – 100 days (50 days before and 50 days after)

Qatar – 50 days

Saudi Arabia – 70 days

Syria – 50 days

UAE – 45 days

Yemen – 60 days

Pakatan wants to implement 120 days maternity leave, but evidence shows that after introducing a 90-day maternity leave for Selangor’s civil servants, only 30 employees have actually utilised the 90-day leave in full.

Not many took up the 90-day maternity leave provided by the Selangor state government

I guess 90 days about stretches the limit, especially for employers providing 100 percent pay during maternity leave.

TAWAS versus ADAM50

Tabung Warisan Selangor (TAWAS) is a RM100 one-off gift for every child born in Selangor with the hope of accumulating RM1,500 when they are eligible to withdraw the money when they turn 18.  Amanah Dana Anak Malaysia 2050 (ADAM50) is a 200-unit gift in the form of a trust fund for 2.8 million Malaysian babies born from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2022. The 200 units will be credited automatically in the unit trust funds managed by Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd after the registration process is completed by their parents or guardian.

TAWAS was launched in 2008 as part of fulfilling Pakatan Rakyat Selangor’s manifesto promise. Between 2008 and 2011, RM588,391 was spent on advertising and promotion for TAWAS but less than 20 percent of newborns (60,972 out of 313,706) in Selangor were registered by the end of 2011.

The Selangor state government had no choice but to extend the registration deadline to allow for more participants but as at 22 July 2014, only 159,953 registration was collected.  The total number of live childbirths in Selangor was 421,652 by the end of 2012. By end of August 2017, TAWAS only managed to get 280,568 registrations.

TAWAS started off with funds amounting to RM13.5 million but the state government has had to spend RM22.87 million annually on TAWAS despite getting only 19.4 percent registration.  Why is there a need to spend so much on so few participants?

The Auditor-General reported that TAWAS, which was formed under the Menteri Besar Selangor (Pemerbadanan) through Yayasan Warisan Anak Selangor (YAWAS) failed to submit documents of issuance of Fixed Deposit Certificates (SST) between YAWAS and AmBank to the auditors.

There is no standard operating procedures (SOP) to fix a deadline for the issuance of SST to the participants from the date the registration was made or was approved. Audit checks found that there is no record of actual of issuance and receipt of actual SST to and from participants.

“The TAWAS system only provides information on SST that had been prepared by AmBank, furthermore even YAWAS does not have detailed records on the interests received for each of the SST issued,” the report added.

ADAM50 is managed by Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNB) which has been managing funds such as Amanah Saham Nasional, Amanah Saham Bumiputra and Amanah Saham Malaysia.  The 200 incentive units and all dividends received on this initial amount of ADAM50 can only be redeemed when the child reaches 18 years of age.

Pakatan cannot even handle a far smaller fund efficiently and it wants to compare itself to a single corporation that handles funds in excess of RM265 billion.  Where has all the millions of Ringgits pumped into TAWAS gone to despite not getting the number of participants it had envisaged in 2008?

The Return of Petrol Subsidies

I won’t even go there. Everyone knows the removal of subsidies is so that it could be chanelled to the target groups instead of providing everyone, even foreigners, with subsidised petrol.

The Pakatan budget plans to subsidise only cars and motorcycles below 1,000cc. Only the Perodua Kancil and Perodua Viva would fit into the given category. How would the petrol pump know what cars are below 1,000cc and which ones are 1,000cc and above?

Other Pakatan Budget Jokes

While the BN government strives to lower taxes Pakatan’s alternative budget plans to introduce, on top of the 16 percent SST, an Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and increase Personal Income Tax to make up for the loss of income through the abolishment of the GST. Yet the pantywaist Pakatan have the cheek to cry foul and claim that the BN’s budget is oppressive.

So I will leave it up to you to decide whom to choose come GE14.

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A Possible PLUS Point

A view of the Greater London area with the 188km M25 motorway circling, clearly visible from the International Space Station

It may seem like a coincidence that during the recent Festival of Light I was driving on the Maju Expressway at night to attend an open house.  What struck me is that the expressway is lit up all along the stretch and wondered if Tan Sri Abu Sahid would light up all the PLUS highways if he gets to purchase PLUS.

Over the past couple of months I have been reading about the proposed purchase of PLUS by Maju Holdings from Khazanah and EPF.  Several people have written on it while I waited a bit to read up on the interviews given by Tan Sri Abu Sahid himself.

While other toll concessionaires strive to increase toll rates to keep up with ever-increasing OPEX, one of Tan Sri Abu Sahid’s selling points is to NOT increase toll rates until the concession agreement that was signed during Mahathir’s administration expires in 2038, and while many think Tan Sri Abu Sahid is mad, I see method in his madness.

Backing

The first question raised by many including myself was where is Maju Holdings going to raise the kind of money needed to buy PLUS from Khazanah and EPF?  Tan Sri Abu Sahid revealed that he is getting financial backing from Evercore, an independent investment banking advisory firm and a boutique investment bank.

Evercore is involved in many toll road projects around the world, and has crunched the numbers to support Abu Sahid’s claim that he could run the PLUS highways at a profit without having to increase the toll rates until the expiry of the concession.

So far, all the “experts” that have spoken against Abu Sahid’s claim have not shown any credible evidence to support their opposition to Abu Sahid’s proposal.  They counter Abu Sahid’s proposal by saying that it is not viable and may increase risks to users, without any figures to back them up.

But Abu Sahid has already shown that currently PLUS is paying about RM58 per square metre for resurfacing works, compared to just RM18 per square metre done by MEX.  And those figures are based on both operators using the same contractors for the works.  How is it that PLUS is paying RM40 more per square metre compared to MEX using the same contractors?  Neither EPF nor UEM have offered any explanation to say otherwise, let alone sue Abu Sahid if the latter had gotten his facts wrong.

“The best thing for them (UEM and EPF) to do is to sell PLUS. I pay them RM4 billion in hard cash, and you have taken back whatever you invested, so it’s already free, their IRR (internal rate of return) is 20 percent. If they say it’s not enough, how much do they want? Show me how much they make on their investments,” said Abu Sahid to reporters in a recent press conference.

Abu Sahid also seeks to forfeit the government’s compensation of about RM900 million owed to the toll road operator, which arose as a result of toll hikes not being implemented.  Imagine what the government could do by chanelling this money to sectors that badly need such funds.

Dangerous For Users?

In an interview, Dr Mohamad Shazli Fathi who is the Deputy Director at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Unit said that by not increasing the toll for the next 20 years will only endanger highway users.

Citing the ever-increasing cost of maintenance, especially for bitumen and cement, Dr Mohamad Shazli is skeptical of Abu Sahid’s offer.  Again, Dr Mohamad Shazli was just shooting from his hip without any figures or projections to back his claim, as with the other experts sought to “help explain” matters.

What these experts forget is that Abu Sahid could obtain these materials in bulk, thus reducing costs, through Ipmuda Berhad where he holds 31.23 percent equity interest.

And if he can do resurfacing for the 26-kilometer MEX at RM18 per square metre, it should be far cheaper, if not the same, for 974 kilometers of highways owned by PLUS through its various operating companies, because of economies of scale.

In fact, as the owner of MEX, Maju Holdings had had the expressway lit up as an extra safety measure for drivers and users, all 26 kilometers, and plans to do the same for all 974 kilometers of expressway under PLUS.  No longer are drivers required to strain their eyes in the dark, or feel scared if they suffer a breakdown at night.  If this is not safer than what the PLUS highways are now, I don’t know what is.  Try driving from Kulai to the Second Link at night and you will know what I am talking about.

If you look at the photo above of London and the M25 motorway as taken from the International Space Station, imagine how 974 kilometers of expressways lit up at night would look like from space.  That would certainly look awesome!

We Have Just Sold Our Country To The Chinese, Now We Want To Surrender Our Highways To The Americans?

Of course there is no such thing as selling our country to China (read ‘Apa Yang Strategiknya?‘, ‘Teka Bila Kem Tentera Mula Hendak Dijual?‘ and ‘The Living Forest‘). That is just people who are no longer politically-relevant talking to justify their miserable existence.

The other question that is in the people’s mind is: if Abu Sahid defaults on his payment to Evercore, does this mean that Evercore owns the highway?  Highway concessionaires only hold concessions.  The highways belong to the government.  What Abu Sahid is seeking is to buy PLUS the highway concessionaire from Khazanah-owned UEM and EPF.

When Abu Sahid proposed to sell of MEX (a deal which eventually fell through), Mahathir was angry and said, “You sell what is yours. You don’t sell what belongs to others. It could be as bad as selling APs.”  Only what is owned by MEX were allowed to be sold. The cars, the computers, the chairs, tables, tea cups. Not the highway.

The term “highway” by law includes all traffic lanes, acceleration lanes, deceleration lanes, shoulders, median strips, bridges, overpasses, underpasses, interchanges, approaches, entrance and exit ramps, toll plazas, service areas, maintenance areas, highway furniture, signs and other structures and fixtures and any other areas adjacent thereto. These are under the control and management of the Highway Authority of Malaysia (Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia or LLM).

It is because of that if Abu Sahid actually defaults on payments to Evercore, the PLUS highways will not be closed to traffic.

So what does Abu Sahid want from PLUS if it does not make him much money?  Access to his parcels of land so he could develop them, and provide access to land to the left and right of these highways for them to be developed.

Like it or not, mad or otherwise, Abu Sahid is a patriot at heart.  Just like the cheap and controlled price of food sold at his Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS), Abu Sahid does not want the people to be further burdened once UEM has to service its RM30 billion principal payment that is due soon.

But Abu Sahid Has A Bad Track Record – PERWAJA

Perwaja, the brainchild of Mahathir, was set up in 1982.   Even in the initial years of operating, it continuously lost money, mainly due to the global recession, lower steel prices and softer demand for steel.

Government-owned Hicom Holdings was the original major owner of Perwaja Steel with a 51% stake, which it divested in 1988.

A year later, Nippon Steel of Japan gave up its 30% stake to the Malaysian government, paving the way for a major restructuring of the company.

The government pumped some RM2 billion into the company, and new facilities were built in Kemaman, Terengganu, and Gurun, Kedah.

Despite this and several more capital infusions by the Government, Perwaja still suffered losses.

Later in 1995, the Government put Perwaja up for sale and after a delay due to the Asian Financial Crisis, Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed’s Maju Holdings emerged as Perwaja’s ultimate holding company in 2003, in a deal valued at RM1.305 billion.

Abu Sahid, like Tajuddin Ramli and Halim Saad, are victims of Mahathir’s manipulation.  He had agreed to help rescue Perwaja because the then Prime Minister asked him to do a “national service.”

And despite the massive losses Abu Sahid never sold his shares in Perwaja.

“I promised the government I would not sell and I didn’t. I burnt RM700 million  to keep my word,” he said to The Edgemarkets recently.

Who Is Happy And Who Is Not?

The happiest people if Abu Sahid gets to buy PLUS are the people – the users of the PLUS highways.  For the next 20 years, Malaysians plying the PLUS highways would not have to worry about the increase in toll rates.  This definitly augurs well for the government, especially in the savings it could make.  The deal also saves EPF contributors from suffering once the massive principal payment needs to be made.

The ones who do not seem to be happy are UEM (Khazanah) and the EPF, for reasons only known to them.  The best part is, without passing Abu Sahid’s proposal to the investments committee where it could be studied and recommendations made, both UEM and EPF have made it clear that they are not interested to sell PLUS to Abu Sahid.

How can they make such a call when the investment committee from both government institutions have not studied the proposal?

Is there more to the RM58 per square metre that meets the eye?  Again, only UEM (Khazanah) and the EPF can answer this, and if only they feel like answering.

For the people, this is a possible plus point for the government. In the meantime, the voters wait.

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The Mahathir SPR Connection

Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abd Rahman, former SPR Chairman who is now a PPBM strongman

It was reported by ASTRO Awatni tonight that there is a reason for former SPR Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abd Rahman joining Pribumi.  It is all to ensure that U-Turn Mahathir gets a seat that he could win, carved out in the latest delineation exercise by the SPR.

Mahathir, who left his job in 2003 hoping that a proxy would run the country on behalf of him, has returned to active politics for the past two years and even formed a party called Pribumi, a party for mostly prehistoric indigenous people originating from the Indian subcontinent where he is the Chairman.

The new Parliemantary seat called Xiao En Jaya, which is in northern Negeri Sembilan near Nilai, will include two state seats namely Xiao En and Nilai 3.  Unnamed sources in SPR said that Tan Sri Abdul Rashid had specifically instructed insiders to propose the new constituency during the previous delineation exercise.

“Tan Sri Rashid spcifically wanted a seat where Mahathir can win.  Xiao En Jaya  was chosen because there is enough phantom voters from Xiao En Memorial Park (also known as the Nilai Memorial Park) supported by the 40,000 Bangladeshis and Pakistanis working in carpet shops in Nilai 3 who could vote for Mahathir,” said another unnamed source.

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Amanah But Lying

AMANAH blames the school holidays for the poor turnout

Last Saturday’s poor turnout at the Anti-Kleptocracy/Save Malaysia event organised by Pakatan Harapan is proof that the masses are already jaded with the style of politics that the Pakatan has to offer.

Despite lining up old dinosaurs like Emperor Lim Kit Siang and U-Turn Mahathir, Pakatan only got 8,000 attendees at the peak of the event according to a post by Malaysiakini made just after the event ended at 11pm that night.

As usual, Pakatan sought the help of DAP’s Excel experts to count the number of attendees but Malaysiakini was wiser

That makes the attendance at 8 percent of the intended target, and 0.027 percent of the total population – and yet they claim that they represent the rakyat.

Even former partner PAS took a swipe at the event noting just 1,500 attended.

PAS is even more vicious

This underscores the dwindling support as presented by me in my previous post NO HARAPAN.

Pakatan’s spin machinery, this time led by former PAS member Salahuddin Ayub, claims that the school holidays and Deepavali break had contributed to the extremely poor turnout at the event.

“The rally did not achieve the goal of gathering 100,000 people. Perhaps (this could be due to) the rally happening during the school holiday and Deepavali season. So many people would be on holiday,” he said.

This is despite having the champions of rallies, Ambiga and Maria “Isteri Nabi” Chin sitting on the stage alongside the Pakatan giants.

Back in those days not so long ago, Pakatan’s NGO BERSIH was able to muster 80,000 demonstrators for the BERSIH 3.0 rally which was held on 28 April 2017, a Saturday, and many even took the Monday off because Tuesday was Labour Day holiday – a definite long weekend for many.

BERSIH 4.0 which was held on the 29 and 30 August 2015, another long weekend Hari Kebangsaan holiday, saw 100,000 demonstrators attending.  That number dropped to 40,000 during BERSIH 5.0.

However, there were three real winners during last Saturday’s event.  The first  winner being the LRT.  Majority of the attendees arrived there by LRT, a small number were ferried into Petaling Jaya from other states by Pakatan in buses paid by them.

The second winners were the two A&W outlets there, one is the old Drive-In outlet, while the other is a smaller one located at Shah Motel or whatever that it is being called now.

The third winners are the kleptocrats themselves, led by KleptoKutty himself.   While talking about the BN stealing money from the rakyat, the seasoned kleptocrats managed to con the rakyat by stealing a total of RM68,329 to finance their pockets.

Kleptocracy at its best

Well done, kleptocrats! At least you can con people off their money without even getting into Putrajaya. God knows what you would do if you ever get there.

But, we haven’t forgotten what KleptoKutty did when he was there for 22 years.

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No Harapan

Last night, BigDog revealed that Mukhriz Mahathir did not receive a single nomination for any of ANSARA posts. This is a drastic change when he used to be the leading figurehead of ANSARA.

Compared to MCOBA, ANSARA is not politically-inclined at all save for some chapters. But even those Pakatan-leaning chapters did not nominate Mukhriz for any position.

When I advised the committee members of an Air Force veterans association to seek help from Mukhriz the Menteri Besar over an issue they were facing in Kedah, they shook their head saying they would rather seek help from the EXCOs or individual ADUNs as Mukhriz was not a performer.

Of course, Mukhriz has been making his rounds in his parliamentary constituency but even people there tell me that he hardly visited them when he was the MB. They dismissed it as a superficial attempt to show that he is still relevant.

He even visited Langkawi, where his own father is the self-appointed Ketua Pribumi, to tell people of his vision to develop Langkawi even further, including turning the padi patch behind the Ayer Hangat Cultural Village into a commercial area.

The problem is, the islanders are aware that for 22 years, Mukhriz’s father only brought development to the southern part of the island, enriching cronies and outsiders, giving them land, leaving people in the northern half to fend for themselves.

Just like Pulau Pinang, there is hardly a beach that locals could go to to enjoy.

Other than bitching about what BN does, they are also good at doing bad things like creating fear among the kampung folks by dishing out lies.

An example is the putting up of a land office map of several kampungs in Seri Medan with a crudely-drawn rectangle showing “the new alignment of the High Speed Rail” that will affect the respective kampungs. Not even people in the Johor Land and Housing committee have heard of such re-alignment of the HSR.

The District Land Office plan with a crudely-drawn rectangle to show realignment of the HSR being put up at a Chinese shop in Kampung Parit Warijo Lintang in Seri Medan

Although Pribumi has a foot in Kampung Parit Seri Menanti where a former UMNO man angered by not being given contracts had set up a Pribumi branch, the party has made a base out of Kampung Sri Bengkal’s favourite Soto Kambing joint in nearby Parit Yob which is operated by a housewife and her amputee husband.


But seeing the number of likes and comments on the Instagram page belonging to a high-ranking Pribumi official shows that the 1.5 million signatures of a petition presented by Pribumi AMANDA’s Syed Sajat is nothing but a fabrication.


Of late,  even Pakatan-organised talks cannot muster the same crowds as they used to. A sign that people are weary of the amount of bitching the Pakatan has been doing instead of spending time and taxpayers’ money in the form of their allowances to do good for the rakyat.

There may have been some crowd when Mahathir was in Kuching recently but you can hardly take that as a show for support. Even my BN-supporting relatives were there “to see what the fuss is all about” and to see what stallowners have to offer.

See how the latest Pakatan talk fared.

Even the President of Pribumi who claimed he was expelled from UMNO for fighting against the alleged excessiveness of Najib Razak, could muster a handful at his talks.


This is the sorry state of support that the Pakatan could muster. It tells a lot. Maybe they should save the trouble first before saving Malaysia.

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The Fall of the Straits Settlements?

Last night, I wrote a bit about how Georgetown may lose its UNESCO Heritage Site status. Tonight, I shall write a bit more and tell you what impact should such event take place.

If you can recall I wrote that Georgetown in Pulau Pinang, and the City of Melaka in Melaka, were bestowed UNESCO Heritage Site status on 7 July 2008.

Unlike Pulau Pinang, Melaka is certainly proud of its UNESCO Heritage Site status

The application for the status was first made sometime in 1998 but failed to achieve the status as the documentation was not proper.

If I recall correctly, the Federal government had to step in through its Jabatan Warisan Negara (National Heritage Department) to properly structure the application to UNESCO.

In January 2007 the Nomination Dossier was submitted. In July, the official acknowledgment from UNESCO was received.

This followed a visit by officials from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) to Georgetown and Melaka between 24 to 31 August 2007. They include Professor Yukio Nishimura who is from the Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo.

The Baba Nyonya and Portuguese heritages as well as their society is preserved by the Melaka government

Since being bestowed the status, Melaka took the necessary steps to ensure that the descendants of the historical Melaka people, its customs and sites remain preserved with very little restoration modifications done.

One can almost imagine Portuguese and Dutch soldiers walk upon the grounds of this church on St John’s Hill, Melaka

Both Melaka and Georgetown are similar in many ways. Some parts of both cities are time capsules of eras that have passed, eras that played a huge role in shaping the two cities. But that is where the similarities end.

In Georgetown you can hardly find the original people. Although the clans still have their presence there, only the richer ones remain on the island while poorer ones have moved to the mainland.

Gone are the sundry shops, the second-hand bookstores I used to frequent along Armenian Street, the old Chinese man weaving rattan baskets and the Malabari newsagents.

While the facade of their shops remain, inside are rows upon rows of boutique hotels and hipster cafes that are owned by foreigners and by that I mean non-citizens.

Pulau Pinang’s adamant stand to fulfill its Transportation Master Plan as wel as the selling of heritage buildings to foreigners also contribute to Georgetown losing its heritage status. Changing the landscape by the reclamation works to build three man-made islands would also destroy Pulau Pinang’s heritage.

Other than having to maintain and preserve historical buildings and sites, multi-cultural tangible and intangible heritage expressed in the great variety of religious buildings of different faiths, ethnic quarters, the many languages, worship and religious festivals, dances, costumes, art and music, food, and daily life must also continue to be preserved.

Under the guise of development the DAP-led state government of Pulau Pinang is only interested in making as much money as it possibly could.  After all, land is money? Why worry about 40 buildings that nobody could live in when you have preserved five?

But what I am about to tell you will make many become apoplectic with rage – if Georgetown loses its UNESCO Heritage Site status, SO WILL MELAKA.

Yes, the UNESCO Heritage Site status was jointly awarded to both Georgetown and Melaka on 7 July 2008, and the Jabatan Warisan Negara is the body to preserve the sites as per the status. There was one joint-application to UNESCO for both cities.

But with land being a state prerogative, what chances does the department or all Pulau Pinang’s heritage NGOs have? The innocent victim here would be the people of Melaka. If robbed of its status because of the callous behaviour of the Pulau Pinang state government, the romance of showcasing historical sites to tourists in Melaka would be forever gone. So would be the businesses, the trishaw riders, and possibly some of the archaeological excavation sites.

Yes, Tokong’s greed and selfishness will not only destroy Pulau Pinang, they will destroy Melaka too. Does he care? I doubt. The people of Melaka are not going to vote for him next year.

The sun will soon set on Melaka’s UNESCO Heritage Site status because of the Tokong
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Making Money While They Still Can

The blood, sweat and tears shed to get the UNESCO Heritage Site status for Pulau Pinang will soon go to waste
On 7 July 2008, four months after DAP’s coming into power in Pulau Pinang, the old part of its capital Georgetown was declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.

Georgetown, alongside Melaka, were chosen on that day because both demonstrate a succession of historical and cultural influences arising from their former function as trading ports linking East and West.

These are the most complete surviving historic city centres on the Straits of Malacca with a multi-cultural living heritage originating from the trade routes from Great Britain and Europe through the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and the Malay Archipelago to China.

Both are living testimony to the multi-cultural heritage and tradition of Asia, and European colonial influences. This multi-cultural tangible and intangible heritage is expressed in the great variety of religious buildings of different faiths, ethnic quarters, the many languages, worship and religious festivals, dances, costumes, art and music, food, and daily life.

But after nine years, Georgetown will soon lose it all. In 1966 the Alliance government of Pulau Pinang introduced the Control of Rent Act (CRA) to help original tenants in the inner-city area have the rights to enjoy low rental rates for housing, allowing them to continuously reside and practice their trades in the area. The Act was repealed and this led to a drastic increase in rent.

This has led to the gentrification of not only Georgetown, but also the rest of the island side of Pulau Pinang that have chased away those who can no longer afford to live on the island – the poorer Chinese, the Malays and also the Indians, who were the real reason UNESCO granted the status upon Georgetown.

The gentrification of Pulau Pinang has led to the poorer people to move out and settle elsewhere. Those who cannot afford to move out continue to live in Georgetown on God’s good humour

Without the RCA, Tokong’s DAP government is no longer restricted to raise the market price of land within the heritage site and this has led to the redevelopment of areas within the site and selling them to foreigners.

The Tokong does not care for Georgetown’s heritage sites, and this is evident in his attitude towards the preservation of the Sia Boey. The sooner he could sell that piece of land off, the more money is made.

This “don’t-care” attitude of Tokong’s is just like his Underwater Tunnel Project. The reclamation works for the project has gone full swing, yet the feasibility study for it has yet to be submitted.

How is it possible that works can start before a feasibility study is submitted?

The RM305 million study, which Pulau Pinang taxpayers paid for some time back, is still not completed. It was back in March this year that the Tokong said it was 87 percent complete.

It has been six months since the study’s completion was at 87 percent

Today, more than six months later, Tokong still has not submitted the feasibility study to the Ministry of Works.

18 months to do a report? Another six months and I could have completed a Masters in something

Tokong will continue to give all sorts of stupid excuses for not being able to submit the report and stretch this until after the next general election if at all possible.

All we know is that while he is busy giving excuses, there would be more land within the heritage site that would be sold.

The clock is ticking, however Tokong knows how to buy more time to be able to make more money by getting rid of the UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

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Perlukah Adanya JITN?

Pada bulan Julai 2017, Perdana Menteri telah mengumumkan bahawa unit-unit integriti dan tadbir urus akan diwujudkan di semua syarikat-syarikat GLC dan akan dikawalselia oleh Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM).  Ini selaras dengan tugas-tugas SPRM yang termaktub di dalam Akta SPRM.

Ucapan Najib Razak yang menyebut unit-unit integriti dan tadbir urus akan dikawalselia oleh SPRM

Walau bagaimanapun, Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Paul Low pula telah umumkan dua bulan kemudian bahawa kabinet telah bersetuju untuk menubuhkan Jabatan Integriti dan Tadbirurus Negara (JITN) yang akan diletakkan di bawah pentadbiran beliau.

Ini nyata bercanggah dengan pengumuman yang telah dibuat Najib Razak dua bulan sebelum itu.  Percanggahan ini telah mencetuskan rasa tidak puas hati di antara Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad dengan Paul Low dan mengakibatkan sebuah NGO bernama Pertubuhan Belia Generasi Mahkota (PEMBELA) membuat laporang terhadap Ketua Pesuruhjaya MACC itu kerana melawan cakap Menteri.

Yang menjadi tanda-tanya adalah keperluan untuk membentuk sebuah jabatan hanya untuk penambahbaikan integriti dan tadbir urus Kementerian-Kementerian serta GLC-GLC sedangkan jentera-jentera kerajaan yang sedia ada termasuk SPRM sudah boleh menangani ketirisan, ketidak-cekapan serta membanteras perbuatan rasuah.  Apa yang perlu dilakukan hanyalah untuk ketua-ketua jabatan serta GLC menentukan segala kelemahan yang telah dikenalpasti oleh Ketua Audit Negara diambil tindakan segera dengan membentuk jawatankuasa dari kalangan juruaudit dalaman setiap jabatan dan melaporkan kemajuan dan kelemahan kepada unit-unit yang telah disebutkan oleh Najib Razak.

Difahamkan setakat ini memang sudah ada pegawai-pegawai SPRM yang terlatih sebagai Pegawai Integriti Terlatih (CIO) yang ditempatkan di jabatan-jabatan kerajaan.  Bagaimanapun, Paul Low bercadang untuk menempatkan seramai 20 orang pegawai tadbir dan diplomatik (PTD) menggantikan kesemua CIO SPRM yang telah bertugas di unit-unit tersebut.

Ini bermakna, 20 orang PTD ini terpaksa dilatih sebagai CIO, manakala SPRM perlu membuat perjawatan-perjawatan baru untuk menyerap para CIO mereka yang tidak akan mempunyai sebarang jawatan.  Ini sahaja akan melibatkan kos tambahan kerana akan terdapat perjawatan baru.

Bukan itu sahaja, malah dakwaan Paul Low bahawa penubuhan JITN tidak akan memberi kesan kepada SPRM juga nyata terpesong kerana sudah tentu akan ada perubahan struktur organisasi serta tanggungjawab-tanggungjawab yang telah diberikan kepada SPRM melalui Akta SPRM.

Melalui akta apakah kuasa JITN diperolehi?

Pada masa yang sama, persoalan yang timbul ialah bagaimana 20 orang ini boleh memantau kesemua jabatan dan GLC milik kerajaan dengan berkesan?  Adakah ini bermakna kerajaan perlu melantik konsultan luar untuk membantu pengurusan unit-unit di bawah JITN?  Saya tidak yakin bahawa integriti dan penambahbaikan tadbir urus jabatan-jabatan kerajaan serta GLC dapat dilakukan dengan baik oleh hanya 20 orang!

Tugas JITN juga akan melibatkan latihan integriti kepada para pegawai dan kakitangan kerajaan, iaitu satu peranan yang sememangnya telah diberikan oleh Akta SPRM kepada SPRM.  Adakah JITN akan menggunakan 20 orang PTDnya yang dipertanggung jawabkan untuk mengawalselia integriti dan tadbir urus jabatan-jabatan kerajaan dan GLC juga untuk menjalankan latihan-latihan integriti?  Atau adakah JITN akan membayar konsultan luar untuk menjalanjan peranan ini?  Di bawah akta apakah akan latihan ini dijalankan?

Di Akademi Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (MACA) juga terdapat sebuah sistem iaitu Sistem Pengurusan Anti Rasuah (ABMS) yang diseliakan oleh CIO-CIO dari SPRM.  Sistem ini memerlukan latihan dan pensijilan khusus untuk mengendalikannya.  Maka, adakah sebuah lagi konsultan akan dipanggil untuk mengendalikan sistem ini, atau adakan sebuah konsultan akan dipanggil untuk mengadakan sebuah lagi sistem yang akan memakan lagi belanja wang rakyat?

Kita maklum bahawa Paul Low sudah berada di penghujung perkhidmatannya sebagai seorang Menteri. Khidmat beliau sebagai seorang Senator akan berakhir pada bulan Mei 2019.  Oleh itu, beliau tidak akan lagi dilantik sebagai seorang Menteri selepas Pilihanraya Umum Ke-14.  Ini membawa kita kepada persoalan adakah Paul Low menggunakan penubuhan JITN ini sebagai rancangan persaraannya?

Pada 2 Oktober 2017, Perikatan Integriti Perniagaan (BIA) telah menandatangani sebuah MOU dengan Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Bahagian Integriti adalah di bawah Paul Low) kerana dilantik menjadi “rakan” kerajaan untuk menjadi pemudahcara bagi pihak kerajaan untuk membanteras perbuatan rasuah di sektor swasta dan sektor awam yang nyata penindihan tanggungjawab dengan SPRM.

Berapa yang kerajaan perlu bayar untuk mereka menjalankan tugas pemudahcara tersebut?

Business Integrity Alliance (BIA) dilantik sebagai pemudahcara pihak kerajaan untuk membanteras rasuah. Adakah ini SPRM kedua yang menjadi salah satu rekaan Paul Low untuk rancangan persaraannya?

Paul Low telah lama berbincang dengan pihak BIA mengenai penubuhan JITN ini.  Pertemuan mereka pertama kali diadakan pada bulan Disember 2016 semasa bersarapan bersama-sama.

Makan-makan dan cari makan bersama

Pentadbiran baru SPRM sejak setahun lalu gandingan mantap Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad dengan timbalan-timbalan Ketua Pesuruhjayanya telah membuahkan hasil yang tidak pernah kita lihat berlaku sebelum ini.

Dalam sembilan bulan pertama tahun ini sahaja sebanyak RM21.4 juta wang hasil rasuah telah dirampas, iaitu kenaikan 400 peratus berbanding dengan tahun sebelumnya.  Sebelum pucuk pimpinan SPRM diambil alih oleh Tan Sri Dzulkifli, SPRM hanya berjaya merampas RM4.95 juta pada tahun lepas dan RM3.9 juta tahun 2015.  Ini menunjukkan bahawa SPRM kini lebih tegas dalam hal pembanterasan rasuah berbanding dengan tahun-tahun sebelum ini sedangkan perbuatan rasuah yang melibatkan pegawai-pegawai kerajaan dan syarikat-syarikat kerajaan.

Kalau JITN itu bagus, kenapa sebanyak 50 NGO dan tokoh-tokoh integriti seperti Ramon Navaratnam, Lee Lam Thye dan Tunku Aziz membantah penubuhan JITN?

Ingat pesanan Allahyarham Tun Razak buat penjawat awam

Pada tahun 1967, Perdana Menteri Malaysia Ke-2 Allahyarham Tun Haji Abdul Razak bin Hussein telah memberitahu para penjawat awam suaya tidak tunduk kepada para ahli politik kerana di dalam sebuah demokrasi para penjawat awam mempunyai tanggungjawabnya tersendiri.

Saya yakin Najib Razak benar-benar ingat akan pesanan Allahyarham Ayahandanya.  Itulah sebab beliau terus membuat ucapan pada bulan Julai 2017 tersebut dengan tujuan menentukan SPRM terus bebas dari sebarang pengaruh politik.

Sekiranya itulah kebenarannya, adakah Najib Razak yang mempengerusikan mesyuarat kabinet di mana Paul Low telah mengusulkan rancangan persaraannya ini supaya diterima dan dipersetujui oleh para menteri kabinet yang tiada sebarang petunjuk atau maklumat mengenai perkara ini sebelum ianya diperbincangkan?

Jika benar tanggapan saya bahawa Najib Razak tidak mempengerusikan mesyuarat kabinet tersebut, adakah ini bermakna PEMBELA telah tersilap dalam langkahnya membuat laporan polis terhadap Tan Sri Dzulkifli sedangkan yang melanggar kemahuan Najib Razak ialah Paul Low sendiri?

Inilah jawapan yang perlu kita cari untuk merungkaikan permasalahan ini.