BNM – SeaDemon Says

January 2, 2018January 2, 2018

Drama Kera La (Versi BM)

Seekor beruk bermain dengan sekuntum Bunga Raya (Gambar Hiasan)

Baru-baru ini ditularkan di dalam Facebook dan WhatsApp sebuah video mengenai cara negara China memperluaskan penguasaannya dengan menggunakan kekuatan ekonomi. Video tersebut membandingkan usahasama China-Sri Lanka di pelabuhan laut dalam Hambantota dengan usahasama-usahasama yang dijalankan di Malaysia, membuktikan bahawa Malaysia juga boleh berakhir bukan sahaja menjadi sebuah negara yang dibelenggu masalah hutang yang besar, tetapi juga bakal hilang pegangan ke atas aset-aset tersebut.

Secara kasar, berhutang keada China dengan sebegitu banyak untuk projek-projek tersebut adalah amat menakutkan, terutamanya untuk mereka yang tidak mendapat gambaran penuh. Namun, membandingkan Malaysia dengan Sri Lanka bukanlah suatu perkara yang bijak.

Pelabuhan laut dalam Hambantota terletak di dalam kawasan bekas Presiden Sri Lanka iaitu Mahinda Rajapaksa dan kos pembinaannya adalah lebih dari $1 billion. Sebuah lagi projek yang dibina di dalam kawasan Mahinda ialah Lapangan terbang Mattala Rajapaksa yang terletak 30 kilometer dari pelabuhan tersebut. Sehingga kini, lapangan terbang tersebut digunakan oleh hanya beberapa ratus orang seminggu hinggakan ianya diberi gelaran “lapangan terbang paling sunyi di dunia.”

Hambantota ialah sebuah wilayah yang terpencil di Selatan Sri Lanka. Jaraknya dengan bandar yang paing hampir iaitu Galle ialah 130 kilometer, manakala jaraknya dengan ibu negara Sri Lanka iaitu Colombo ialah 240 kilometer. Jumlah penduduknya hanyalah sekitar 12,000 orang dan ianya merupakan sebuah wilayah yang tersisih dari sebarang pembangunan. Masalah pelabuhan laut dalam Hambantota ialah kedalaman airnya yang tidak mencukupi untuk kapal-kapal dagang yang besar untuk masuk ke pelabuhan tersebut. Maka, ianya tidak menjadi suatu destinasi bagi syarikat-syarikat perkapalan besar. Tiada siapa yang ingin berpindah ke sana kerana ianya berada terlalu jauh dari pembangunan. Ini menyebabkan kedua-dua pelabuhan dan lapangan terbang tidak dapat menjana pendapatan untuk menampung kos operasinya sendiri, apatah lagi untuk membayar pinjaman yang telah diterima daripada China.

Jumlah hutang yang ditanggung oleh Sri Lanka ialah hampir $65 billion. Dari jumlah tersebut, $8 billion adalah hutang kepada China. KDNKnya (Keluaran Dalam Negara Kasar) ialah sebanyak $81.32 billion. Kadar hutang kepada KDNKnya pula ialah 75 peratus manakala rizab matawang asingnya ialah $7.2 billion. Kerajaan Sri Lanka menggunakan 95.4 peratus pendapatannya untuk membayar hutang. Inilah sebab-sebab Sri Lanka mengambil jalan untuk melangsaikan hutang-hutangnya untuk kedua-dua projek tersebut dengan cara menyerahkan pegangan kepada negara pemiutang (China).

Bandingkan apa yang terjadi dengan projek ECRL yang bernilai $13.1 billion (RM55 bilion). Malaysia mengambil pinjaman sebanyak $11.14 billion (85 peratus dari kos keseluruhan projek atau RM46.75 billion) dari China manakala selebihnya dibiayai melalui program sukuk yang dikendalikan oleh institusi-institusi kewangan tempatan.

Projek Forest City di negeri Johor pula merupakan sebuah program pembangunan bernilai $100 billion selama 20 tahun. Walaupun jumlah yang diperuntukkan bagi setiap fasa projek tersebut adalah merupakan maklumat sulit syarikat yang membangunkan projek tersebut, ianya dianggarkan sekitar $5 billion setahun. Projek tersebut telah bermula pada tahun 2015 dan sehingga kini 11 peratus telah dilaksanakan. Pada akhir bulan Disember 2016, Forest City berjaya membuat penjualan 17,000 unit apartmen bernilai $2.9 billion. Tempoh pembangunan projek tersebut masih berbaki 17 tahun lagi.

KDNK Malaysia kini berjumlah $320.25 billion (RM1.3 trillion) untuk tahun 2017. Ini menjadikan kos projek ECRL pada kadar 4.1 peratus dari KDNK manakala projek Forest City pada kadar 1.6 peratus setahun. Jumah hutang keseluruhan negara ialah sebanyak RM685.1 billion atau 50.9 peratus dari KDNK. Dari jumlah ini, RM662.4 billion adalah hutang dalam negara manakala hanya RM22.7 billion merupakan hutang luar pesisir pantai.

Yang menariknya, setakat bulan Oktober 2017, hutang Amerika Syarikat kepada China berjumah $1.2 trillion, iaitu 19 peratus dari sejumlah $6.3 trillion dalam bentuk bil-bil Perbendaharaan, wang, dan bon-bon yang dipegang oleh negara-negara luar. KDNK AS pada tahun 2016 adalah sebanyak $18.57 trillion dan ini menjadikan kadar hutang AS kepada China berbanding KDNKnya sebanyak 6.5 peratus.

Sudah tentu kita boleh membiayai projek-projek di atas tanpa mengambil sebarang pinjaman. Rizab matawang asing kita berjumlah RM414.71 billion ($102.17 billion), lebih dari mencukupi untuk pembiayaan kedua-dua projek tersebut.Jika kita gunakan kaedah di zaman Tun Mahathir, Petronas mempunyai pegangan tunai sebanyak RM129 billion ($31.8 billion) manakala KWSP mempunyai aset-aset yang bernilai $771 billion ($189.9 billion). Ini tidak termasuk pegangan tunai dan aset-aset kepunyaan Khazanah, Tabung Haji, KWAP, SOCSO, PNB dan lain-lain institusi kerajaan.

Sekiranya kadar hutang kepada KDNK sebanyak 50.9 peratus merisaukan anda, ianya pernah berada pada kadar 103.4 peratus semasa Mahathir merupakan Perdana Menteri pada tahun 1985. Dan suatu jumlah bersamaan dengan 24 peratus KDNK juga telah hilang dalam skandal Forex BNM pada tahun 1991 iaitu semasa Mahathir masih lagi Perdana Menteri Malaysia. 24 peratus daripada KDNK sekiranya ia berlaku sekarang bersamaan dengan hilangnya RM315 billion dari RM1.3 trillion. Sebagai perbandingan, kadar hutang kepada KDNK Singapura ialah 112 peratus dan negara tersebut berada di tangga ke-10 dari 17 negara yang mempunyai kadar hutang berbanding KDNK paling tinggi di dunia yang disenaraikan oleh Business Insider, UK. Jepun menduduki tempat pertama dengan kadar 239.2 peratus!

Kita tidak jatuh bankrap semasa zaman Mahathir jadi mengapa perlu kita takutkan kadar hutang berbanding KDNK sebanyak 50.9 peratus bila asas ekonomi kita jauh lebih kukuh sekarang berbanding 103.4 peratus semasa asas kita lemah? Jepun dan Singapura juga tidak jatuh bankrap.

Dan apa masalahnya dengan pemilikan tanah Forest City? Tanah tersebut adalah merupakan tanah yang ditambak di tengah laut. Ini bermakna tiada tanah yang “diberikan kepada China.” Johor mempunyai hak ke atas tanah yang ditambak tersebut berdasarkan Kanun Tanah Negara, 1965 dan selagi ianya berada dalam lingkungan tiga batu nautika mengikut Seksyen 3(3) Akta Laut Wilayah, 2012. Sama ada ianya merupakan pegangan bebas mahupun pegangan pajakan, Johor mempunyai hak untuk mengambil semula tanah tersebut di bawah Akta Pengambilan Tanah, 1960. Mana-mana tanah sehingga 12 batu nautika dari sisir pantai adalah hak milik negara.

Namun Mahathir lebih suka memilih jalan dengan menggembar-gemburkan cerita untuk menakut-nakutkan rakyat. Dalam ucapan beliau baru-baru ini, beliau berkata, “Habislah tanah kita akan dijual, tidak kiralah Forest City, saya harap Forest City akan betul-betul jadi ‘forest’ (hutan)…penduduknya akan terdiri daripada kera, monyet dan sebagainya.”

Taman Perindustrian Malaysia-China Kuantan (MCKIP) dibangunkan oleh MCKIP Sdn Bhd (MCKIPSB) yang merupakan sebuah syarikat usahasama 51:49 di antara sebuah konsortium Malaysia dan sebuah konsortium China. Pegangan dalam Konsortium Malaysia pula terdiri dari IJM (40 peratus), Sime Darby Property (30 peratus) dan Kerajaan Negeri Pahang (30 peratus). Taman perindustrian kembarnya iaitu Taman Perindustrian China-Malaysia Qinzhou (CMQIP) di negera China pula dipegang oleh sebuah konsortium Malaysia (SP Setia Berhad dan Rimbunan Hijau Group) sebanyak 49 peratus.

Mengikut logik Mahathir, bukankah China telah memberi peluang kepada Malaysia untuk menjajah negaranya? Sebelum ini China juga telah membenarkan Singapura menjajahnya di dua kawasan iaitu di Taman Perindustrian China-Singapore Suzhou dan juga di Bandaraya Eko China-Singapore Tianjin.

Walaupun keadaan di Sri Lanka nampak suram, Jepun, Singapura dan India telah menyatakan hasrat untuk membina infrastruktur dan mendirikan perniagaan di Sri Lanka. Walaupun Sri Lanka mempunyai asas ekonomi yang lemah, Lolitha Abeysinghe dari Opportunity Sri Lanka kekal optimistik.

“Pergantungan berlebihan terhadap mana-mana negara untuk pelaburan, teknologi dan pasaran boleh memberi kesan buruk terhadap kepentingan negara dalam jangka panjang, tetapi sekiranya diurus dengan betul dan dengan wawasan yang jauh, Sri Lanka boleh mengurangkan masalah tersebut dan mendapat manfaat terbaik untuk ekonomi luar bandar domestik di dalam sebuah dari wilayah-wilayah terpinggir di Sri Lanka,” katanya.

Malaysia mempunyai wawasan tersebut tetapi malangnya sesetengah orang lebih gemar sekiranya Malaysia gagal hanya kerana kepentingan politik. Politik cara kera dan monyet.

December 2, 2017December 2, 2017

BNM Forex Scandal: A Crime Against Malaysians Exposed By Lim Kit Siang

I simply do not comprehend the fuss that is being kicked up by Mahathir’s fanatics. On one hand they want the transparency that none of us got when Mahathir was the Prime Minister; on the other they are fuming because Mahathir, Nor Mohamed Yackop and Anwar have been implicated in the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) for the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) foreign exchange scandal of the 1990s.

Mahathir’s long-time crony Daim Zainuddin, who served as finance minister from 14 July 1984 to 15 March 1991, for having aided and abetted Nor Mohamed by leaving BNM “to its own devices”.

Let us ask the very man whose perseverance has finally paid off:

This ought to be the reaction to the RCI findings if we are to ask Lim Kit Siang

Yes. The loss of RM31.5 billion through forex gambling was and still is a crime against the Malaysian people. And if it weren’t for Lim Kit Siang’s persistence and perseverance, we would not have gotten where we are now.

Three people have been found principally liable for the criminal breach of trust and should be probed further over their involvement and liability. They are the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, his then-Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and ex-BNM advisor Nor Mohamed Yackop.

The commission found in its 524-paged report that the Cabinet in the 1990s was not given the full picture by Anwar on the forex losses, adding that he had “deliberately concealed facts and information and made misleading statements“. It is also of the opinion that the then Prime Minister (Mahathir) had condoned the actions of the Finance Minister.

The RM31.5 billion losses, the report said, were hidden using “unconventional accounting treatments”, such as booking losses to reserves in the balance sheet and the absorption of the remaining losses by the transfer of shares from the Government to BNM as well as the creation of a “Deferred Expenditure” to be repaid in instalments over a decade.

The RCI noted that Anwar Ibrahim, the then Finance Minister, had been informed about the actual forex losses suffered by BNM. It also said that Mahathir was informed by Anwar together with then Treasury deputy secretary-general Tan Sri Clifford Francis Herbert in late 1993 that BNM had suffered estimated losses of RM30 billion on the forex dealings for 1992 and 1993.

However, in the extract of minutes from three Cabinet meetings on March 30, April 6 and 13 in 1994, Anwar had made “no mention of the actual losses of RM12.3 billion for 1992 and RM15.3 billion for 1993.”

Anwar had chaired the March 30 meeting as the deputy prime minister. The losses for 1993 were reported as RM 5.7 billion.

The RCI also noted that the prime minister, who chaired the meeting on April 6, did not correct or offer more information when the forex losses for 1993 were recorded as only RM5.7 billion.

The RCI report said as pointed out by Herbert, he had expected Mahathir to be outraged but his reaction was quite normal with him uttering “sometimes we make profit, sometimes we make losses”.

“His reaction to and acceptance of the huge forex losses suggest that he could have been aware of the forex dealings and its magnitude,” said the report.

Why Did It Take So Long?

Of course supporters of Mahathir got their knickers in a knot over the RCI findings, mostly harp on the duration it took to have a RCI formed, whether it was formed to time itself with the looming general elections so that the Pakatan Harapan would be epitome of broken hopes?

Lim Kit Siang may have harped on the matter, trying to get an RCI formed since 1994, if not earlier. Mahathir was the Prime Minister then until the end of 2003. No one during Pak Lah’s time took up the issue as Mahathir was then breathing down Pak Lah’s neck watching the latter’s every move. In the end, Mahathir got Pak Lah ousted for not playing his game his way.

When Najib Razak took over at the beginning of the second quarter of 2009, Malaysia’s economy had shrunk even though oil price was high. The GDP growth rate for Malaysia in 2009 was -2.5 percent because of the global financial crisis then, hence Najib Razak’s priority then was to safeguard the economy and take measures to improve on the GDP growth.

Malaysia’s GDP growth rate for 2009 was -2.5%

And ever since then Najib had been fighting on all fronts to make sure that Malaysia goes through a sustainable growth, and that there would be enough government money to still help the people, especially those from the B40 income group. Hence, we see various initiatives like the 1Malaysia Clinic, Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (which is now being revamped), BR1M, PR1MA and various other 1Malaysia initiatives.

And while all that was happening, Lim Kit Siang was still going around asking for an RCI to be formed for the BNM forex scandal. In the run up to the 13th General Elections, Lim Kit Siang wrote this on the BNM forex scandal:

“I had estimated in Parliament two decades ago that Bank Negara lost a colossal RM30 billion from the Bank Negara foreign exchange scandal under Mahathir’s premiership. But Bank Negara claimed RM10.1 billion loss in 1992 and RM5.7 billion in 1993 while former Bank Negara Deputy Governor Dr. Rosli Yaakop estimated last year at a public forum that Bank Negara lost between USD27 to USD33 billion, which was five times more than its foreign reserves and its entire assets of USD20.7 billion in 1992.”

You can read more on what Dr Rosli Yaakop had said on the BNM forex scandal HERE.

Lim Kit Siang also said that Malaysian voters should not only pass a verdict on Najib’s non-transformation in the past four years, but also pass judgment on Mahathir’s 22 years of authoritarian and corrupt policies when he was Prime Minister from 1981 – 2003. He said:

“I am on public record as saying that if Pakatan Rakyat is to capture Putrajaya in the 13GE, we should re-open investigation not only on the RM30 billion Bank Negara forex scandal of 1992, there should be a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM100 billion losses suffered by the country in the financial scandals of the 22-year Mahathir era.”

Kit Siang added that the voters should decide whether they endorse the proposal to have a wide-ranging public inquiry into Mahathir’s financial scandals in 22 years which have cost the country RM100 billion of losses and for which the present generation of Malaysians are still paying the price – although there is totally no accountability and transparency about these glaring instances of corruption, cronyism and abuses of power for more than three decades.

He said all that HERE. And we should not forget that Lim Kit Siang also wrote a book on the BNM forex scandal.

And finally, and only when the economic outlook had improved, did Najib Razak announced that an RCI would be formed to investigate the BNM forex scandal.

In June 2017, Lim Kit Siang even wanted the report recommending the RCI to be made public. Finally, on 8 August 2017, the RCI commenced, and Kit Siang’s 25 years of wait ended.

And one other Pakatan leader who had been lying very low beneath the BNM forex scandal radar is Anwar Ibrahim. If anyone was to ask why did the government not do anything between 2004 and 2017, the answer would be why hadn’t Anwar, since 2 September 1998, asked for an RCI on the matter? Was he afraid that he might get implicated?

You and I know the answer to that now.

And what about the 1MDB scandal? Well, unlike the BNM forex scandal, the 1MDB case was investigated by the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, the Royal Malaysian Police, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. Police reports were also made against 1MDB. But not a single sen had gone missing!

For the BNM forex scandal, this is the first time that it has been investigated – by the RCI, and soon by the Royal Malaysian Police. And the first police report was made by a member of the RCI itself after the RCI findings report was published – 25 years after the whole thing happened.

So, we should all say our thank you to Lim Kit Siang for exposing this crime against ALL Malaysians. Thank you, Lim Kit Siang – for persistently asking for your good friends to be investigated.

November 30, 2017

BNM Forex: Congratulations, Lim Kit Siang

The Singapore Times report on the BNM FOREX issue

For two decades DAP’s Supremo, Emperor Lim Kit Siang, fought to bring to justice those responsible for the loss of RM30 billion (RM45.25 billion in today’s terms) through foreign gambling exchange by the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) back in the early 1990s. The greed of those responsible saw the BNM increase its trading volume to USD50 million lots (RM74.46 million or RM205.65 million today) compared to the market norm then of USD5 million (RM7.45 million or RM20.56 million today) to USD10 million (RM14.90 million or RM41.12 million today), amounting to billions of Dollars per day!

BNM’s maximum exposure in the foreign exchange markets then reached as high as RM270 billion – three times the country’s GDP and more than five times the country’s foreign reserves at the time!

Imagine what would have happened had we lost all that! But imagine what RM30 billion then could have done to arrest the massive fall of the Ringgit from RM2.4765 to the USD on 1 April 1997 to RM4.88 to the USD in early January 1998.

But despite pressing for someone to be accountable, Kit Siang is far from happy. In September of this year he Tweeted this:

Has Lim Kit Siang accepted the loss of the RM30 billion he’s been screaming about?

Now Lim Kit Siang plays innocent saying he has nothing to do with wanting a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the BNM Forex scandal. Is it because he and Mahathir are good friends now? Or is it because Mahathir’s involvement means that the DAP has lost one of its Malay political mules?

If I recall correctly, it was Lim Kit Siang who mentioned that Mahathir has to answer for the Forex loss, and that if Pakatan captures Putrajaya, he would re-open the BNM Forex scandal. He even asked if (former Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak got life imprisonment, then why should Mahathir go scot-free?

Lim Kit Siang’s demands re the BNM Forex Scandal

Has Lim Kit Siang forgotten all the above? If he has, has he gone senile due to his age? If he has problems retaining his memory, then I don’t think he ought to contest in the next general elections.

Whatever it is, the biggest winner would be Anwar. Not only does he get to see his jailor jailed, but he won’t be lonely anymore.

Let’s hope they get to share the same cell.

February 17, 2017

Pakatan Akan Siasat Skandal BNM Kata Lim Kit Siang

Tuan Besar Pakatan Harapan, Encik Lim Kit Siang berkata bahawa Pakatan Harapan akan menyiasat skandal forex Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) yang berlaku semasa pentadbiran U-Turn Mahathir jika Putrajaya miliknya.

“Sekiranya Pakatan mengambil alih sebagai kerajaan persekutuan dalam pilihan raya umum yang akan datang, satu Suruhanjaya siasatan diraja mestilah ditubuhkan untuk menyiasat kerugian skandal forex Bank Negara bernilai RM30 bilion dalam 1992,” katanya.

Berita seperti inilah yang diharap-harapkan oleh rakyat Malaysia khususnya ahli-ahli DAP yang tetap di landasan perjuangan mereka.

Memetik pandangan bekas timbalan gabenor Bank Negara Dr Rosli Yaakop, Kit Siang berkata spekulasi matawang yang berlaku pada masa itu mendapat restu U-Turn Mahathir dan bekas menteri kewangan serta konco kehormat beliau, Daim Zainuddin.

Mengulas perkembangan terkini, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Azalina Othman Said berkata Kit Siang harus menyokong usaha kerajaan untuk menyiasat skandal tersebut.

“Lim Kit Siang sebagai seorang Ahli Parlimen yang berpengalaman, seharusnya menyokong usaha Kerajaan dan bukannya mempolitikkan perkara ini,” katanya menerusi kenyataan media hari ini.

Menurutnya lagi, jika pendirian Lim kini berubah mengenai penubuhan pasukan yang dibuat semalam, maka terbuktilah bahawa Ahli Parlimen Gelang Patah itu hanya lantang demi kepentingan politik sahaja sebelum ini, dan ianya perlu dinilai secara bijak oleh ahli DAP.
“Malah kecenderungan beliau untuk berubah-ubah prinsip serta pendirian memperlihatkan sikap tidak konsistennya dan wajar dinilai oleh penyokong-penyokong DAP,” tambah Ahli Parlimen Pengerang itu lagi.
Saya boleh bayangkan betapa gembiranya Kit Siang dengan sokongan kerajaan menubuhkan pasukan petugas khas untuk menyiasat dakwaan beliau selama ini.

February 16, 2017February 16, 2017

Penantian 24 Tahun Lim Kit Siang Bakal Berakhir

Buku bertajuk "Skandal Kerugian RM30 billion Akibat Pertukaran Matawang Asing oleh Bank Negara" yang ditulis olh Lim Kit Siang — Buku bertajuk “Skandal Kerugian Bank Negara Berjumlah RM30 billion Akibat Pertukaran Matawang Asing” yang ditulis oleh Lim Kit Siang

Pada tahun 1993, Tuan Besar Pakatan Harapan Encik Lim Kit Siang telah menyeru agar Parlimen menubuhkan sebuah Suruhanjaya Siasatan DiRaja (RCI) untuk menyiasat kerugian RM30 billion yang dialami Bank Negara akibat skandal pertukaran matawang asing.

Jumlah RM30 billion pada tahun 1994 adalah bersamaan dengan pelepasan cukai untuk 19 juta rakyat Malaysia ketika itu termasuk bayi dan kanak-kanak selama LAPAN TAHUN! Jumlah tersebut juga bersamaan dengan 1.2 juta rumah murah bernilai RM25,000, 45 universiti, empat LapanganTerbang KLIA dan lima Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan.

Setelah 24 tahun penantian, permintaan Lim Kit Siang kini hampir menjadi kenyataan. Kit Siang harus berterima kasih kepada Perdana Menteri Najib Razak kerana bertindak untuk mengetahui kebenaran mengenai skandal tersebut manakala kita rakyat Malaysia patut memberi penghargaan kepada Lim Kit Siang kerana berkeras meminta agar siasatan terhadap kerugian tersebut dijalankan.

Lim Kit Siang amat berdedikasi dan memberi tumpuan khusus terhadap skandal tersebut hinggakan beliau telah menulis sebuah buku mengenai skandal tersebut seperti di atas.

Surat dari Pejabat Perdana Menteri mengarahkan agar satu pasukan petugas ditubuhkan untuk meneliti kes skandal 1992 Bank Negara

Lim Kit Siang mendakwa di dalam penulisannya bahawa kerugian akibat skandal tersebut telah mengakibatkan suatu lubang yang boleh mengakibatkan tenggelam dan musnahnya Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) sebagai entiti pihak berkuasa dan penjaga bank-bank dalam negara.

Gabenor BNM ketika itu, Tan Sri Jaafar Hussein menafikan pada tahun 1992 bahawa wujudnya lubang tersebut.

Untuk mereka yang lahir selepas tahun 1975 dan terlalu muda untuk mengingati skandal tersebut, BNM di bawah Jaafar Hussein menjadi satu entiti yang aktif dalam pasaran pertukaran matawang asing (FOREX). BNM begitu agresif mempengaruhi pasaran pertukaran matawang asing hinggakan Pemangku Pengerusi Bank Rizab Persekutuan Amerika Syarikat, Alan Greenspan, terpaksa meminta BNM untuk menghentikan aktivitinya tersebut.

Pada tahun 1991, akhbar Reuters melaporkan:

“Sejak dua tahun yang lalu, ia (BNM) telah meningkatkan jumlah dagangan, dan tahun ini ia telah mula berniaga dalam apa yang digambarkan oleh para peniaga lain sebagai “jumlah yang benar-benar besar…”

“Biasanya, Bank Negara beroperasi dengan lot-lot bernilai AS $ 50 juta setiap lot, berbanding dengan norma pasaran sebanyak AS $ 5 juta atau US $ 10 juta dan berniaga mungkin dengan enam bank utama di Eropah dan enam di New York,” kata para pedagang.

“Seorang pedagang matawang berkata satu-satunya peniaga yang menyaingi Bank Negara ialah dana dari Jepun. Namun dana Jepun ini memasuki pasaran tidak lebih daripada sekali atau dua kali setahun, Bank Negara pula melakukan berbilion dolar sehari.”

“Teknik terkini BNM ialah dengan mengenakan bank-bank utama dengan USD50 juta setiap satu transaksi, dan mengenakan mereka sekali lagi 10 minit kemudian,” kata para pedagang.

Kemudian ia (BNM) menukar pusat dagangan dan melakukan transaksi yang serupa sekali lagi, berulang kali.”

Pada 21hb September 1990, BNM telah menjual di antara US$ 500 juta ke US$ 1 billion nilai Pound Sterling dalam masa yang tersingkat hingga mengakibatkan matawang tersebut jatuh 4 cent setiap Dollar. Bank-bank bertindak balas dengan cuba mendahului permintaan BNM.

Pada tahun 1993 juga, menurut Lim Kit Siang, U-Turn Mahathir yang kini merupakan rakan “comolot” Lim Kit Siang, telah menafikan wujudnya “lubang” yang boleh mengakibatkan kemusnahan BNM.

Pada tahun 1993 juga, BNM telah cuba mempertahankan nilai matawang Pound Sterling dari serangan para pedagang termasuk George Soros namun usaha ini gagal. Kegagalan ini mengakibatkan BNM mempunyai nilai tanggungan melebihi nilai aset semasa, dan terpaksa diselamatkan oleh Kementerian Kewangan pada tahun 1994.

Pada bulan April tahun yang sama, Jaafar Hussein meletakkan jawatan sebagai Gabenor BNM.

Maka tidak hairanlah BNM kemudiannya gagal mempertahankan matawang Ringgit pada tahun 1997-1998 daripada serangan George Soros akibat kekurangan rizab matawang asing disebabkan skandal tersebut, hingga menyebabkan matawang kita tidak pernah pulih sepenuhnya sejak peristiwa yang berlaku di zaman pentadbiran U-Turn Mahathir tersebut.

Menurut bekas Timbalan Gabenor Bank Negara ketika itu, Dr Rosli Yaakop, empat orang bertanggung jawab penuh dalam skandal ini. Mereka adalah U-Turn Mahathir, konconya Daim Zainuddin yang merupakan Menteri Kewangan ketika itu, Jaafar Hussein sebagai Gabenor BNM ketika skandal tersebut berlaku, dan Nor Mohamad Yackop yang merupakan Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri yang bertanggung jawab terhadap Unit Perancang Ekonomi di bawah U-Turn Mahathir.

Menurut Rosli, pakar-pakar menganggarkan kerugian sebenar di antara US$27 billion sehingga US$33 billion iaitu lima kali ganda simpanan rizab asing dan seluruh asset BNM bernilai USD20.7 bilion dalam tahun 1992.

“Dakwaan kerugian oleh Bank Negara telah “diperkecilkan secara berskematik” (schematically understated), melalui penilaian semula pegangan emas (gold holdings) dan penilaian semula pelaburan sebut harga (quoted investment),” tambah Rosli.

Rosli membuat dakwaan-dakwaan tersebut di ‘Forum Skandal Forex Bank Negara‘, anjuran Penang Institute, di Dewan Sri Pinang, Georgetown, Pulau Pinang pada 11hb Jun 2013.

Lim Kit Siang telah memegang teguh kepada tekadnya untuk diadakan juga satu RCI supaya skandal BNM tersebut disiasat kerana rakyat Malaysia berhak mengetahui ke mana, bagaimana, dan siapa anasir-anasir yang bertanggung jawab terhadap kerugian yang terpaksa ditanggung oleh seluruh rakyat Malaysia.

Kerugian RM30 billion yang ditanggung oleh BNM serta bantuan kewangan oleh Kementerian Kewangan adalah kerugian wang rakyat. Sayugia diingatkan bahawa 1MDB tidak melibatkan wang rakyat kerana institusi tersebut telah meminjam wang dari institusi-institusi luar negara, bukannya dari mana-mana badan kerajaan mahupun syarikat berkaitan kerajaan (GLC).

1MDB juga telah melangsaikan segala hutang jangka pendeknya dan membuat lebihan tunai sebanyak RM2.3 billion yang memberi manfaat kepada negara.

Sekali lagi, kita amat berterima kasih kepada Encik Lim Kit Siang di atas ketegasannya supaya satu RCI dapat diadakan untuk menyiasat skandal forex BNM 1990an. Kerajaan pimpinan Najib Razak telah mendengar keluhan beliau dan adalah diharap Encik Lim Kit Siang berasa amat gembira dengan usaha kerajaan ini.

January 28, 2017January 28, 2017

The Bank Negara RM30 Billion Forex Losses Scandal

Kit Siang also published a book on the BNM Forex losses scandal

Yes. The year was 1994 when Lim Kit Siang found it ultra-important to publish a book on the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) foreign exchange scandal that caused the loss of RM30 billion (estimated to be at RM49 billion in today’s terms).

The book is called, as you would have guessed, ‘The Bank Negara RM30 Billion Forex Losses Scandal‘.

The BNM forex scandal losses in 1991 made international headlines at the time, forcing the resignation of BNM’s governor Jaffar Hussein.

Again I should thank Kit Siang for writing all this, making it easier for me to see what he had written on the issues he raised in the past.

In 2004, Kit Siang called upon Nor Mohamed Yackop who then was sworn in as a Senator to become Finance Minister II to issue a White Paper on the matter.

“Up to now, the government has failed to “come clean” on the colossal Bank Negara forex losses as a result of speculation in the international currency markets from 1992-1994, with the losses cited as ranging from RM10 billion to RM30 billion. In Parliament in 1994, I had given reasons as to why the Bank Negara’s forex losses as a result of its forex speculation operations could have amounted to as high as RM30 billion, which had not been seriously rebutted by any top government leader or Bank Negara official,” he wrote on his blog limkitsiang.com.

In April 1991, a Reuter news agency report from London described Bank Negara as “a dominant force on the foreign exchange scene for some years” and it was accused by some forex operators as “a market bully”.

The 1991 Reuter report states:

“Over the past two years it has stepped up its trading volume, and this year it has started dealing in what dealer described as ‘really massive amounts’…

“Typically, Bank Negara operates in US$50 million lots, compared with the market norm of US$5 million or US$10 million and deals with maybe six major banks in Europe and six in New York, dealers said.

“One trader said the only dealers rivaling Bank Negara would be the Japanese funds. But while these funds enter the market no more than once or twice a year, Bank Negara is coming in and doing yards (billions) of dollars a day.

“”Its recent technique has been to hit major banks for US50 million each, then his them 10 minutes later, dealers said.

“Then it changes centre, and does it all over again.”

The April 1994 issue of Malaysian Business – one of the publications in the New Straits Times stable – reported that Bank Negara’s maximum exposure in the foreign exchange markets reached as high as RM270 billion – three times the country’s GDP and more than five times the country’s foreign reserves at the time!

Kit Siang added that some Government leaders were wise after the event, and one of them was none other than Daim Zainuddin, under whose first tenure as Finance Minister from 1984-1991 the Bank Negara’s unorthodox forex speculation started, who said on April 4, 1994 that while those responsible for the huge forex losses of Bank Negara had accounted for their mistakes by resigning, central banks should never “play with fire” with such forex speculation.

It was Kit Siang who pointed out the irony.

In 1995, a book on international high finance, ‘The Vandal’s Crown‘ by Gregory J. Millman on Page 229 had this to say about the Bank Negara forex scandal:

“Using all the resources a central bank commands – privileged information, unlimited credit, regulatory power, and more – Malaysia’s Bank Negara became the most feared trader in the currency markets. By trading for profit, Bank Negara committed apostasy against the creed of central banking. Instead of working to ensure global financial stability, Bank Negara repeatedly shoved huge sums of money into the most vulnerable market situations in order to destabilize exchange rates for its own profit” (p.226)

“(Bank) Negara operated behind a thick veil of secrecy. The bank seldom spoke publicly about its controversial trading activities. Yet it was increasingly clear to foreign exchange traders that Bank Negara’s operations in the foreign exchange markets went far beyond simple self-defense. It became the most awesome currency trader in the world.” (p. 227)

“(Bank) Negara’s market manipulation was so egregrious that one American central banker said, ‘If they tried this on any organized exchange in the world, they’d go to jail.’ However, in the unregulated international currency markets, there were neither police nor jailers. The only rule was the rough justice of the vandals, and it was this rule that eventually brought (Bank) Negara down.

“In 1992, (Bank) Negara took on a large pound sterling position, apparently expecting Britain to maintain the discipline required by the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. It was a bad economic and political judgement. (Bank) Negara lost approximately $3.6 billion when Britain withdrew from the ERM, letting sterling collapse. The next year, (Bank) Negara lost an additional $2.2 billion. By 1994, Bank Negara was technically insolvent and had to be bailed out by an infusion of fresh money from Malaysia’s finance ministry.”

Recently, Abdul Murad Khalid who was the Assistant Governor of BNM who resigned in 1999 revealed that the forex losses were in actual US Dollars and not in Malaysian Ringgit.

“There was no control… The most important thing is that there was no investigation at all,” Murad was quoted as saying by NST.

Asked if the then Prime Minister knew about the losses, he replied: “I’m sure the governor briefed them.”

Kit Siang’s silence on this issue is indeed deafening. The so-called champion of the rakyat now has his balls as wrinkled as his face is. And all to achieve his personal political ambition.

In 1993, Anwar Ibrahim who was then the Finance Minister responded on behalf of his then-master, U-Turn Mahathir, to Kit Siang’s query on some “rumours about BNM losing money gambling forex“.

Anwar said that the rumour was not true at all.

When confronted, again by Kit Siang, a year later, Anwar said “the amount is not huge.”

The above engagements can be found in the Parliament Hansard.

After Murad’s revelation we know now that the amount is actually colossal.

We also know that U-Turn Mahathir as well as Daim Zainuddin were very much in the know of the losses.

And we know that Lim Kit Siang is just another opportunist snake manipulating the issue to gain support from the rakyat but now bats no eyelid to work hand-in-hand with his sworn enemy so he could come into power.

I am pretty sure he feels pleased looking at himself in the mirror every morning knowing he had blatantly lied to the people.

wǔdǎyī!