Politics + Sports = Datukship

I salute the Malaysian soccer team by winning something which has not been done for 14 years- winning the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010, and not just any team but over formidable opponents Indonesia. I hope this win will spark some inspiration for the current and future players to train harder and adopt that fighting spirit to win matches rather than just playing them.

Politics play in sports nowadays- and who cannot see it coming? Datukship, cash, cars, houses, etc. Give what you must and receive what you must (legitimately) but let's consider this Suzuki win a breakthrough and start concentrating in aiming to qualify for the World Cup ok? Maybe Team Malaysia can start to play a few friendlies with the teams in EPL off-season?

Reading Malaysia from another perspective

After reading about the appalling decline of Malaysians' command of English *, which I would equate to loss of one of Malaysia's greatest national treasure, and musing over the most questionable orientation of the controlled main stream media's line of reporting, I decided to look up to a Singapore newspaper for a different perspective.

Lo and behold, in 28th December's edition of Today, I found a relevant article.


click the picture to get a larger image

The article mentioned that mainland Chinese students are eroding the advantage of Singaporean students' superior command of Engish. The article I quoted earlier already mentioned the significant gulf between Singapore Primary 4 English curriculum as compared to form I contents in Malaysia.

What can Malaysia do, faced with such fierce competition?

The article highlighted a significant advantage Singapore has - having a multi-cultural background hence having a more adaptable and flexible mindset.

Actually Malaysia can claim to be more multi-cultural than Singapore, Malaysian Chinese definitely mix with more non-Chinese compared to their Singapore counterparts...and yet our multi-cultural heritage and advantage are being labelled as a threat, an intrusion, an invasion and a robbery. Talk about killing the goose that lay the golden eggs.

One would wonder the motive of such people dealing in currency of communal politics.

For decades, the bumiputera community is given protection and told incessantly that they cannot compete openly and fairly. Well competitiveness, independence and endurance is moulded via throwing people into deep end, rather than via overprotection and constant talking down to.

Just look at what South Koreans do to beef up their boys. How should Malaysia education and social systems teach the population to be tough, mentally as well as physically?


In the same newspaper, Malaysia was mentioned in these 2 reports....which makes me wonder...what would a foreigner think, after reading abou the first 2 articles? Would they like to invest or visit our beloved country? Would they have confidence in basing their employees, assets, families and future in Malaysia?







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* As quoted by Mrs Sheela R
To illustrate further, I would like to produce an extract from a Year 4 primary school English textbook used in Singapore (which incidentally was used by my son in his Malaysian school as a supplementary text, at the equivalent grade level):

“Archeologists use certain ‘clues’ on the surface of the ground to search for the remains of the past. These include mounds, depressions or ancient buildings. On land and under the sea, remains of human civilisations were often buried in layers of mud, dirt and over the years, these have become embedded in rocks. Erosion by wind and rain can sometimes uncover ancient objects- pottery, flint, bones, tools or even coins.”

Now contrast this with the English literature component recommended for secondary schools (Form 1) for the forthcoming year.

A picture book (stylised after graphic novels) based on an oversimplified version of a Sherlock Holmes mystery novel. Questions which are featured at the end/throughout each chapter are rudimentary at best. I reproduce below a question, verbatim:
What job do they do? Use the job titles below to complete the sentences.

police officer detective doctor

a) Sherlock Holmes is a_______________
b)Dr Watson is a medical _________________
c) Inspector Lestrade is a ___________________


Reform the government, reform the Speaker first

The Speaker’s kangaroo court action in suspending Anwar Ibrahim, Karpal Singh, Azmin Ali and Sivarasa had given Barisan Nasional an unmandated 2/3 majority in Parliament, concluded

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mmail.com.my/content/58157-bn-regains-twothirds-control-house


BN regains two-thirds control of the House

Dangerous to amend Constitution, say analysts
NADIRAH H. RODZI

Friday, December 17th, 2010 12:49:00

PETALING JAYA: The chaos on the final day of the 12th Parliament's third session yesterday, which saw the suspension of four Pakatan Rakyat (PR) top guns which resulted in the Barisan Nasional (BN) regaining its two-thirds majority of the House, has sparked mixed response from political analysts.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) political analyst Dr Jeniri Amir said the
two-thirds majority has serious implications.

"This is an advantage for BN. Although they are capable of bringing positive changes, the move by speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia is seen as not gentle. It will be dangerous if BN chooses to press on with amendments. Personally, I feel Azmin Ali's (PKR — Gombak) suspension is severe. He was just supporting the party's leader, as did other Opposition Members of Parliament (MP)," he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------



The birthplace of Malaysia’s democracy, good old England, has this to state about the role of a Speaker:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/principal/speaker/

“The Speaker is the chief officer and highest authority of the House of Commons and must remain politically impartial at all times”
---------------------------------------------------------------------

What happen on that day on infamy, a practice perhaps inspired by the disgraceful Perak power grab, had the malaise extended to the federal level. The administration system that the Brits left behind has been ravaged beyond recognition.

Procedures are disregarded and the rakyat certainly did not give BN a 2/3 majority. The Speaker who was once a minister in the prime minister department gave BN that. I certainly did not pay part of his RM14K a month to turn a civilized administration system upside down.

click to see enlarge image


And this is not the first time the Speaker revealed where his loyalty apparently and truly lies.

http://wangsamajuformalaysia.blogspot.com/2009/12/is-speaker-being-objective-or-partisan.html


What is more revolting to the man in the street is his previous proclamations:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.malaysia-today.net/archives/18405-speaker-should-be-impartial-pandikar-amin


Speaker Should Be Impartial - Pandikar Amin
Monday, 23 February 2009


He said that if a person was appointed speaker, "you are the Speaker of that particular Parliament or state assembly, and do not belong to any political party or to benefit a particular party."

A speaker should not be a servant to a certain political party, he said after opening the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) first sub-committee meeting on global financial crisis and its impact here Monday (23 Feb).
---------------------------------------------------------------
A servant and a lackey are two very different desription


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=56836


Pandikar vows to be fair to all as Speaker

Published on: Friday, April 11, 2008

Kota Kinabalu: Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, the former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, has pledged to be fair to all in discharging his duties if he is chosen as the new Dewan Rakyat Speaker.

Pandikar Amin, who was informed by Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) Chairman Datuk Seri Musa Aman on Tuesday that he would be nominated for the post, said there was no denying that the sitting for 12th parliamentary term would be more challenging than previously as the number of opposition members had increased to 82 as against BN's 140, with many new faces among them.

"First and foremost, it's necessary to be fair to both sides, meaning we should listen, and listen well, to the voice of both sides," he said here Thursday.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah right, Ron Jeremy is a virgin.

Pandikar Amin’s latest action has convinced the voter in me that even a single seat majority is too many for BN. Voices of the rakyat are gagged by this undefendable action from the Speaker.

The BN administration this term has demonstrated time and again, in the case of minority interest, they are not interested at all. What happened in Perak and Sarawak, have been extended to federal level.

From a man in the street perspective, I feel that the Speaker should not be chosen from the elected MPs. It is almost impossible, human nature as it is, not to favour your previous political alignment, whether deliberately or otherwise.

If Manchester United is playing Chelsea in Old Trafford, would anyone mind if the referee is chosen from one of the non-playing Manchester United players or coaching staff?
Let's have a look at this
------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_(politics)

There is one prominent case of a speaker who is not presiding officer. The New York City Council, the unicameral legislative body for New York City, has as its presiding officer the Public Advocate, a position formerly known as City Council President, who is elected by all the voters of the city. As the public advocate's role has changed with several city charter revisions, a post of Council Speaker was created. The speaker is, effectively, majority leader of the council
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If we were to have a totally and truly independent Speaker, by golly, when I look at the quality of grey matter on both side of political divide, Pakatan MPs would clobber the BN MPs in most of the debates. The rakyat will get the money’s worth, the truly qualified MPs would get their ideas through and the nation will benefit as a whole.

This tax payer says, to reform the governance of this country, given the dreadful performance of the 3 Speakers this time round, perhaps we have to consider this drastic step.

National debts : this is getting a bit serious now

While many of us are focusing on some diplomats' coffee shop gossip over-emphasized just because it was from WikiLeak, I notice something more serious then which asshole is the real asshole.


Now almost 6 months ago, I have been alarmed by the level of national debts and wrote this. According to Singapore's Today, Dow Jones reported that 21 more government bonds auctions (really it means rakyat debts committed by temporary administrators on their behalf without getting rakyat's consent), 1/3 more than this year, to raise money to spend on 131 "key projects" (which should include the much objected Menara Warisan Merdeka).




Malaysians are expected to owe another RM90 billion from debts raised in 2011 alone; the years and years of accumulated debts as at 2008 alone was already RM213 billion.

In 2011, Najib's administration will almost double our debts and subject us to more foreign exchange risks. The loans are for infrastructure and property projects - not a whimper about healthcare, human capital development, education .... the soft skills so vital nowadays and Malaysians so lack of it nowadays.

When Najib gleefully announced his election budget for 2011, I wondered where the heck the money is going to come from, given the declining oil revenue and foreign as well as local investments; the apparent answer now, bluntly and without apology, shrinks my balls.

I do not know if the "projects" will generate enough revenue to repay the principals and interest and have enough crumbs for the rakyat to feed on. Who are going to rent the Menara Warisan Merdeka? Will KLCC become another Menara Dayabumi ghost building? Will the other commercial buildings owned by Malaysians be deprived of its existing tenants? Simple questions and no answers.

What I do know is that tax payers' money which could be used for hospitals, subsidy on food and medical supply, schools, street lighting, flood preventation, crime fighting, living expenses assistance to the handicap and aged will be forgone.

What I do not know is who are the financial service professionals that will earn a lot of fees from organising the loans?
What will the rakyat get? According to Dr Kua Kia Soong in his writing entitled "Defence Ministry on a spending spree", RM1 billion can built 100 hospitals or 1,000 new schools or 10,000 new homes. So next year when the government borrows on average almost twice a month to raise RM90 billion, we will forgo 9,000 hospitals, 90,000 new schools or just 900,000 new homes. And we have people waiting for months just to have an appointment with public hospitals.


I know Najib did some lab studies on the ETP, NEM and what not. I did a low budget lab on my own. I asked a kindly old lady who should be more knowledgeable than me.


I asked her, "madam, what would you say to me if I were to borrow in your name without your consent, spend it on something that would not benefit you but you will just spend years and years of your life paying the debt off and not getting your medicines, better quality food and other necessitites of life."

The result of my lab study is as follows:









Is this vote buying?

http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/36572-no-funds-for-opposition-mps


No funds for Opposition MPs
NEWS/COMMENTARIES
Friday, 10 December 2010 Super Admin

The full text of the article is pasted below and open up the current deputy prime minister and potential prime minister for public scrutiny.

My 2 cents worth is:

1) it's to hell with Najib's/APCO's 1Malaysia Rakyat Diutamakan Concept

2) the DPM has demonstrated his lack of intellectual capability by failing to note that all rakyat pay taxes hence going by his logic, people in opposition area should not be paying taxes too

3) he is openly and publicly admitting that he is ignoring his duty as the nation's second top administrator by marginalising the people in opposition areas in which contains many malays as well. How to reconcile this with his membela nasib melayu stance?
4) is this a thinly veil vote buying threat? no vote no money? would MACC and SPR want to study this situation?


5) does the DPM dare to reduce his salary by the percentage of PR area / BN area? Please take a 1/3 paycut, eh deputy?


ok, Malaysians, would you like an intimidator to lead the nation?

Won't be too surprise if some wise guy come up with something like this.........




---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Star) - Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has shot down a request that the Federal Government extend development funds to Opposition MPs.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the funds were only meant for small projects in Barisan Nasional MP’s constituencies.

“They use it to finance small projects, like roads.

“It is only allocated to Govern­ment MPs ... the Barisan MPs,” he said in a press con­ference after open­ing the 36th annual general con­f­erence of the Penin­sular Malaysia Fede­ration of Peng­hulu and Peng­g­awa here yesterday.

He said providing the funds to Barisan MPs had been a practice of the Federal Government and there was no intention to extend it to Opposition MPs.

Muhyiddin was respon­ding to a request from Selangor Exco Dr Yaakob Safari that the allo­cation be given to Opposition MPs as well.

Dr Yaakob, who was representing Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim at the function, said Opposition MPs should also enjoy the allocation as they were elected by the people.

“I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister to bring this matter to the attention of the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The Federal Government should be fair in its treatment including extending the allocation to all states ruled by Pakatan Rakyat,” he said when reading Khalid’s speech.

At this juncture, the delegates, numbering about 300, started to jeer Dr Yaakob.

He however continued reading from his text which criticised the Federal Government including the formation of the village security and development committee.

Muhyiddin said the Federal Government continued to channel development allocations to states that it lost in the 2008 General Election.

Selangor, for example, though it is already a developed state, the Federal Government still provides allocations.

“That is why we have Datuk Ghani (Salleh, Federal Secretary in Selangor) here to ensure the money is spent properly.

“The important thing is the rakyat benefits from the funds.

“If we channel it to the Mentri Besar, I wonder how he would spend it,” Muhyiddin said.

Feeling excluded at home

I wish to, in order to avoid being misquoted by anyone who bother to waste time over it, categorically state that I am all for positive racism. I am from Negeri Sembilan and my parents were born in NSDK as well. If anyone ask me to balik tongsan, I'll head back to Seremban because that is the only tongsan I know.

In the earlier blog post, I wrote that:-

" I am all for special programmes tailored to the needs of different races. Chinese don’t have the same problems as Indians who also don’t have the same problems with Malays. We can have special programmes for particular segment of the society and also have nation-wide, homogenous programmes for all. "



Najib's/APCO's slogan of 1Malaysia is the fundamental nugget on which the New Economic Model is built on.





Inclusiveness is a big word. After more than 5 decades of communal politics, siege mentality and 'us & them' orientation of nation building, how do we heal the nation's wound?


Economic term-wise, NEM stated that one is entitled to affirmative action as long as one belongs to the low income 40% of household.




Chapter 6 of NEM's concluding part stated that


"Households in the bottom 40% have an income of less than RM2,300 per month with a mean income of RM1,440. Income has risen over time. Whereas in 1990 60.6% of households had income below RM999, by 2009 this had fallen to 7.4% of households. 73% of the bottom 40% are bumiputera households. "




Ok fine. No problem with such findings. I believe disadvantaged people should be assisted regardless of race. I also believe communal base aid groups can co-exist together with national and other communal base aid groups and they are specialist in tackling specific issues hence it is fine to have Malay Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Bajau Chamber of Commerce, KadazanDusun ... you get the drift.


However, the niche target groups should be made clear and transparent from the onset and avoid confusion to the public. Same concept as male toilets are for male and female toilets are for female.


I drop into the State Economy Development Agency of my home state, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri, Negeri Sembilan to see how the disadvantaged can be assisted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ns.gov.my/pknns/perkhidmatanTAP.html

PROGRAM AKADEMI TECHNOPRENEUR (TAP)


– "....melahirkan usahawan ICT di kalangan Bumiputra yang berwibawa di Negeri Sembilan....."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ns.gov.my/pknns/perkhidmatanPREMIS.html

PENYEWAAN PREMIS PERNIAGAAN DI BAWAH PROGRAM MECD

Pada tahun 1991 satu lagi program telah diwujudkan dibawah bahagian perdagangan ialah pembelian premis perniagaan dan medan selera di Terminal One Seremban bernilai RM4.49 juta melalui program pembelian oleh Kementerian Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi (MECD). Melalui program ini MECD telah membeli 9 lot ruang niaga dan 16 unit medan selera di pusat membeli belah Terminal One Seremban dan disewakan khusus untuk usahawan bumiputera. Kadar sewa yang dikenakan adalah pada kadar RM3.50 sekaki persegi dan caj penyelenggaraan pada kadar RM1.00 kaki persegi. Sehingga kini kesemua lot ruangniaga telah disewakan kecuali lot medan selera masih terdapat 6 lot yang masih kosong.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

so why not open up to non-bumiputra who are also in need of aid if vacant since before Y2K and the last time Liverpool were English league champions?




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ns.gov.my/pknns/perkhidmatanTPPU.html


PROGRAM PEMBANGUNAN TAPAK PENGELUARAN PRODUK USAHAWAN ( TPPU )

....... Pengeluaran produk makanan adalah berdasarkan konsep “anchor” dan “vendor”. “Anchor” memainkan peranan sebagai orang tengah dalam mencari pasaran bagi produk – produk yang dikeluarkan dan memasarkan produk – produk tersebut. “Vendor” pula terlibat dalam menghasilkan produk – produk yang akan dipasarkan dan menjual produk – produk tersebut kepada “anchor” seperti yang telah ditetapkan oleh pihak PKNNS. Pihak PKNNS akan memastikan bahawa bahan – bahan mentah yang cukup dibekalkan kepada “vendor” supaya dapat menghasilkan produk – produk yang berkualiti dan dalam masa yang ditetapkan

......melibatkan tiga agensi utama iaitu MIDF selaku pemaju, MARA selaku pembiaya dan syarikat Muslim Best Food Industries Sdn Bhd selaku syarikat anchor.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am not against the above scheme, in fact I think if implemented properly, it can solve a of problems for a lot of people. However I wonder:



1) should these schemes be placed under a bumiputra aid agency to avoid confusion?

PKNNS by its name suggest it oversee entire matters of the state hence

2) is PKNNS going against its own name by excluding the non-bumuputra community who at least made up of the remaining 27% of the 40% low income group?

3) is there any scheme available for non-bumiputra communities from PKNNS?


According to its balance sheet audited by Jabatan Audit Negara, as at 31 December 2009, PKNNS is financed by RM6,219,271 (2008: RM16,617,428) of federal government loan. This suggest all Malaysian tax payers have contributed to PKNNS's source of funds and we should wonder if PKNNS is channelling back the funds in an equitable manner in accordance with Najib's/APCO's 1Malaysia concept.

MCA has yet to reply in my blog post on this matter, "Another Scholarship Crises for MCA to Yelp at"despite the enthusiastic invitation of this commentator datuk tanah, November 29, 2010 19:48:49

Sigh, in the course of writing this blog post and the one above, I do wonder if there is a place where I can call it a true comfort zone that I can wholly belong.

I can only recall the words from a certain John Rambo. The colonel asked him during a short lull of mayhem, "what do you want, John?" Rambo's reply was, "what I want is my country to love me as much as I love my country."

I guess that will do for me too.

Abdul Karim : foot in the mouth?

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/150274

Abdul Karim: Tak adil halang Taib kumpul kekayaan

The full text of the above article is appended below. I do not know whether Abdul Karim is genuinely clueless or resorting to a desperate defense of his boss.

The opening salvo is already an admission of guilt and a desperate defense. Abdul Karim is not refuting that Taib is amassing wealth, merely saying in his personal opinion, there is nothing wrong if Taib is using his position to accumulate wealth (semasa memegang jawatan).

However, he conveniently or by design, left out any saying about whether the chief minister has or has not made his wealth by way of dictating or influencing the relevant administrative processes such as award of tender and contracts. As tax payers, we are even entitled to question whether Taib is spending our time and money to administer state matters or enriching himself during office hours.

Abdu Karim’s line of reasoning defies both logic and commonsense, let alone worthy of a person holding an important public office.

His wishy-washy statement can’t hold a candle next to the well written, well research disclosure website.

http://www.sarawakreport.org/2010/12/corruption-and-abuse-of-power-irrefutable-evidence-against-taib-exclusive/


In a democracy, people are elected into office because of integrity and ability plus a willingness to serve. Elected representatives are remunerated by tax collected and owe a fiduciary duty to tax payers and citizen to ensure the wealth of nation is properly managed for benefit of all. He or she is also subject to public scrutiny over his and her personal conduct.

Amassing a fortune while having the administrative power to decide allocation of economic opportunities, and deciding in one’s own favour, is called corruption.

An elected representative with power to rule and regulation must not put himself and herself in a position of conflict of interest. You can't be given power to approve applications while you are in the business yourself. That is basic good governance practice.

If a political secretary of a chief minister cannot get this kindergarten level idea into his thick skull then one wonders his sanity let alone fitness of office. MACC should call him in for questioning. He can well qualify as a suspect with this funny line of reasoning.

If this is not clear enough, Chen Sui Bien of Taiwan, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, our very own Harun Idris were all collecting wealth beyond their official means and ended in jail.

He sounds to me like, “yes, my boss is amassing wealth while he is in office but as long as the ignorant Sarawakians keep voting him in, then the voice of the awaken would be drown by the silence of the ignorant ones.” This is a down right challenge to the citizens of Sarawak. Surely our friends in Sarawak won’t stand for this?

The manner in which YB Ting Tze Hui was ridiculously evicted from the State Assembly was a cowardly and brutal act to suppress the voice of reason and truth. She was accused of making unsubstantiated claims despite quoting a collection of numbers from the Auditor General’s report. If anything, Wong Soon Koh & friends should take the AG to task for supplying YB Ting with a lot of “unsubstantiated claims”.


http://wangsamajuformalaysia.blogspot.com/2010/07/case-of-bullying-wrong-person-in.html

I think it is time for tax payers to stop all these leakage. The true extend of the leakages will only be known when a separate group of office bearers come in and open up the old books. That would make interesting reading and potential harvest. MACC Act has given the courts a power to recover lost funds and this represent an interesting option for the tax payers to recover what have been lost previously.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/150274

Abdul Karim: Tak adil halang Taib kumpul kekayaan

Keruah Usit
Dis 8, 10
4:29pm

Abdul Karim Hamzah, ketua setiausaha politik kepada Menteri Besar Sarawak, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, memberitahu Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) bahawa adalahadilbagi membenarkan Taib mengumpul kekayaan semasa memegang jawatan.

Dalam wawancara dengan RFS, sebuah radio gelombang pendek yang di luar kawalan kerajaan negeri, Abdul Karim menolak laporan sesawang Sarawak Report bahawa keluarga Taib telah mengumpulkan kekayaan yang agak luar biasa. Beliau juga membincangkan Kertas Putih yang kontroversial berhubung 'amalan politik yang tidak sihat' seperti yang dicadangkan oleh Abdul Karim sendiri.

Secara peribadi, saya lihat mesti ada had kepada segala-galanya, awak tidak boleh ada kebebasan mutlak... kebebasan bersuara, ada batasnya. Maksud saya untuk bertindak (bagi kes fitnah) bukan sesenang yang difikirkan... ada kalanya lebih baik membiarkannya sahaja, selepas seketika, ia akan lenyap.”

Beliau juga menafikan laporan di Sarawak Report yang memaparkan kekayaan Taib dan keluarganya yang dikumpul di Eropah, Amerika Utara dan juga beberapa skim tanah yang dibolotinya di Sarawak.

“Cara saya lihat, tiada masalahlah. Apa masalah Sarawak Report? Adakah mereka memperkatakan sesuatu yang berbentuk fitnah atau berniat jahat? Saya tidak fikir menjadi kesalahan kerana menjadi kaya,” kata Abdul Karim.

Apabila ditanya bagaimana gaji Taib sebagai ketua menteri dan anak-anaknya mampu mengaut kekayaan sebegitu rupa, jawapannya: “Bagaimana anda boleh menggunakan gaji sebagai kayu pengukur? Maksud saya, setiap orang harus diberi peluang, jika Taib adalah ketua menteri, saya tidak fikir kita patut hentikan anak-anaknya daripada menjadi kaya ataupun kelurga itu dari menjadi kaya.”

Imapro Sdn Bhd : a piggy bank for whom?

A year ago, YB Loke Siew Fook mentioned about a dodgy deal uncovered by the Auditor General of Malaysia. A company called Syarikat Imapro Sdn Bhd borrowed some RM8.46 million for reasons unclear to the public and has not been repaying the state coffers since 2004.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.dapmalaysia.org/english/2009/nov09/bul/bul3985.htm

Ucapan Perbahasan Bajet Negeri Sembilan 2010 oleh Loke Siew Fook di DUN Negeri Sembilan pada Rabu, 25 November 2009:

Selain itu, saya juga ingin membangkitkan satu lagi persoalan mengenai “Pinjaman yang boleh dituntut” oleh Kerajaan Negeri seperti yang dilaporkan dalam Laporan Ketua Audit Negara untuk Penyata Kewangan Kerajaan Negeri Sembilan tahun 2008. Laporan Audit tersebut menyatakan bahawa terdapat sebuah badan yang bernama Syarikat Imapro Sdn Bhd yang masih berhutang kepada Kerajaan Negeri sebanyak RM8.64 juta. Yang menjadi persoalan ialah syarikat ini langsung tidak pernah membayar balik hutangnya kepada Kerajaan Negeri dari tahun 2004

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Per page 30 of the 2008 AG's report:
Bagaimanapun, dua Agensi iaitu Majlis Perbandaran Seremban dan Syarikat Imapro
Sdn. Bhd. tidak membuat bayaran balik pinjaman bagi tahun 2004 hingga 2008.




A year older and a year wiser, what has the Barisan Nasional state government of Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus done about this?

Well, according to the state financial statements, the purpose of the loan was "Membiayai Pembelian Tanah Bagi Penempatan Khinzir 2/1998", the tenure of the original RM22 million was 10 years and interest free. In 2009, RM345K was repaid hence RM8.3 million was still outstanding so it's a RM345K speech by YB Loke.

(if I remember correctly, 1998 was around the time when JE virus wiped out the pig livestock farming in Bukit Pelanduk. We even used to export pigs by the truck load to Singapore. The family of ex-national badminton player Yong Hock Kin was among those who were hit hard)


So who are the people behind Syarikat Imapro Sdn Bhd? A visit to the Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia will do nicely.


Well, firstly the registered name is Imapro Sdn Bhd, not Syarikat Imapro Sdn Bhd, so perhaps the AG might want to consider revising the name slightly.

The business address is Pejabat Kewangan Negeri, Negeri Sembilan, so asking for repayment probably involve a walk accross the office space.


One of the directors is Dato' Mat Ali bin Hassan, probably the State Secretary (see extract of a mundane report below), who was appointed 30 April 2009 - some 6/7 months before YB Loke's speech. I suppose directorship follows the change of top administrator of the state. Menteri Besar Dato' Mohd bin Hassan might have a say in his appointment.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ns.gov.my/daerah/jelebu/

Lawatan Kerja YB. Dato Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Ke Pejabat Daerah dan Tanah Jelebu

04 Mei 2010 (Selasa) - YB. Dato' Hj.Mat Ali Bin Hassan, Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, bersama rombongan pegawai pengiring telah mengadakan lawatan kerja ke Pejabat Daerah dan Tanah Jelebu.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Imapro Sdn Bhd is actually a RM2 company owned by Menteri Besar Incorporated

A glance at the summary financial information below provide the following:


1) Total current and non-current liabilities is about RM9.4 million, probably consist of the RM8.3 million loan from the state plus some other payables; and the RM1.47 million current liability could mean there are some other parties getting priority claims from Imapro over the state government;

2) Current assets amounted to RM10.9 million. Now if the current assets is mainly cash then it should have the capacity to repay promptly. If, however, the current assets was mainly receivables then the money wound been taken out from the company and one would be interested to know how long the receivable was outstanding.
Whatever it is, someone seems to be keeping the money that is supposed to be returned to the people of Negeri Sembilan with the state treasury as trustee.

Imapro Sdn Bhd is not suppose to be a piggy bank.
The company is listed as investment holding in the SSM report, more likely a debt holding company rather.


3) the reserves of RM1.7 million suggested the company has made a profit before. Another blogger has stated some transactions involving Imapro Sdn Bhd here.


4) current year zero revenue and RM4K loss after tax suggest the company is now dormant. The only way for it to repay the state government now is for the State Secretary as the director to recover the money from the debtors and return the money to state coffers for public benefit.

5) one wonders why an interest-free loan was given to Imapro Sdn Bhd which also did not pledge any security to the state government. Did being owned by the Menteri Besar Incorporated meant entitlement to preferential treatment?

Page 32 of the 2008 Auditor General's report perhaps give an indication as to how business is being conducted between the MB and the state government
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
4.8.2 Pelaburan
Pelaburan saham oleh Kerajaan Negeri melalui perbelanjaan mengurus ditunjukkan di Penyata Akaun Memorandum Pelaburan. Pada akhir tahun 2008, pelaburan saham di Penyata Akaun Memorandum berkurang sejumlah RM0.32 juta atau 4.8% kepada RM6.30 juta berbanding RM6.62 juta pada tahun 2007. Penurunan ini antaranya adalah disebabkan oleh Lain-lain Pelaburan berjumlah RM1.82 juta yang merupakan pelaburan oleh Menteri Besar Incoporated telah dikeluarkan daripada Penyata Akaun Memorandum. Pelaburan tersebut diuruskan oleh Menteri Besar Incorporated secara berasingan. Semua hasil pelaburan yang diperolehi tidak diperakaunkan sebagai hasil Kerajaan Negeri.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another scholarship crises for MCA to yelp at

So MCA has been blasting Yayasan Selangor over only 12 chinese students getting scholarship from Yayasan Selangor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/mcas-ti-raps-kok-over-scholarship-application-figures/

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — MCA’s Datuk Ti Lian Ker rebuked Teresa Kok today for accusing his party of misleading the public over the low number of Chinese students receiving aid from Selangor’s education fund.

MCA leaders, including Ti, had accused the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government of dispensing aid from the education fund to “only 12 Chinese students out of 4,000 applicants”.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, since MCA kicked off the game, I suppose I can only do a bit of benchmarking here.

Which brings me to Yayasan Negeri Sembilan.

http://www.yns.gov.my/v6/







YNS has stated this as their objective:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tujuan penubuhan Yayasan Negeri Sembilan adalah bagi membolehkan Yayasan Negeri Sembilan menjalankan aktiviti sosial dan ekonomi terutama dalam aktiviti menaja dan memajukan peluang mendapat pendidikan di kalangan rakyat Negeri Sembilan melalui pinjaman pendidikan, biasiswa dan bantuan kewangan.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great, wonderful, no race orientated remark like Perkasa, BTN or Siti Inshah brigade. Now let's look at the application.

The full list is available at:



According to the latest list of successful loan applicants for Jan - June 2010, of the 274, there were 7 Indians (2.6%), 2 Chinese (0.8%) and the rest, 265 (96.6%) are Malays.


Note: successful Indian applicants are listed as number 40, 43, 46, 227, 234, 258 and 255 while the 2 successful Chinese applicants are 44 and 264




Hello MCA, any comments?

Another stripping of rakyat's voice in Parliament?

There is this interesting nugget from Azmi Khalid that the PAC cannot investigate Sime Darby losses despite "urges to investigate" from "many quarters" because the investment was from private investors

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=544979



The Chairman's argument does not hold water at all.

The "many quarters" probably consist of Malaysians. Parliament is a place to discuss and resolve Malaysians' problems be it public utilities, economic conditions, social security, commercial opportunities etc.

So why can't a matter of public concern be looked into by PAC? Investors, big or small timers, in Sime Darby's shares may have less dividend while the banks from whom Sime Darby borrow from would have lost depositors' money and EPF dividends would be lost as well.

The Speakers have constantly rejected Pakatan Rakyat MPs' motion or even evict them denying the rakyat's voice to be heard through their elected representatives....and now this. I have that sinking feeling that we are being barred from being heard in the Parliament.

Similarly, Azmi is saying that since it is a private enterprise the government has no business looking into it.

Wrong. If the government taxes the business community via income tax, stamp duty, custom duty, real property gains tax, service and sales tax and even on credit card ownership, plus setting up laws and regulations to government the conduct of commercial entities hence why the inconsistency here?

An extract from Sime Darby's Internal Control Statement included in its June 2010 annual reports stated that:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BOARD OIL & GAS PROJECTS WORK GROUP TO REVIEW CERTAIN PROJECTS IN THE ENERGY & UTILITIE S DIVISION

The Board of Directors, on 18 September 2009, established the Oil & Gas Projects Work Group (OGPWG) to review the operations of the Energy & Utilities Division with the objective to assess the corporate governance and performance of the division, following its results in the financial year ended 30 June 2009.

The OGPWG reviewed, in particular, the four projects (collectively referred to as the projects), namely:

• The Bulhanine and Maydan Mahzam project with Qatar Petroleum (QP project)
• The Maersk Oil Qatar project (MOQ project)
• The Bakun hydroelectric dam project (Bakun project)
• A project on the construction of vessels for use in the MOQ project (Marine project)


The Projects contributed a total loss for the year of RM1,645.6 million, inclusive of the loss of RM963.8 millionannounced in the third quarter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can you spot the sore thumb there? Surely that is a government project paid by tax payers?

What or who Azmi is trying to protect? Citing the procedural restrain is at best a lame excuse or at worst another obvious attempt to frustrate tax payers and Malaysians to get an explanation or redress.

Anyone with some knowledge of commercial law will be familiar with the concept of lifting the veil of incorporation. A director and his company are 2 separate legal persons and the director is not suppose to assume all liabilities of the company.

However, under certain circumstances, if the court views that it is unjust to uphold this concept, the court then can ignore this separate identity concept and pin the liability on the director; e.g. I set up a company to cheat via a ponzi scheme and I will have to go to jail for that, regardless if I used the company's name and not mine to deal with the victims.

Otherwise, to escape the scrutiny of the Parliament on application of public money, one only needs to privatise some governmental function...like Padiberas Nasional Berhad?

Sekinchan rice farmers were complaining about the unsustainable price they were told to sell to Padiberas Nasional Berhad was overshadowed by the disgusting physical assault on Sekinchan State Assemblyman YB Ng who went over to hear them.

If Najib administration's pet rallying call is "Performance Now" among other things, Azmi is sadly lacking in this respect, I think. If the Constitution can be changed hundreds of times, why not a part of the Standing Order?

If the above are not good enough reasons, then look at the top 10 Sime Darby shareholders and you will find Amanah Saham Bumiputra, Permodalan Nasional Berhad, EPF, Felda, :



So Azmi has to consider whether PAC has to look into this Sime Darby for the sake of Malay rights (the Tuan has the right to know), security of government funds and investment as well as the retirement basket of all Malaysians

Azmi would do well to look into Ahmad Zaki Berhad as well. If you look at the 2009 annual accounts of this UMNO-linked company, the joint venture between AZB with its JV partners incured net liabilities of exceeding RM28 million which includes highway and school construction work in Malaysia. Isn't that direct usage of tax payers' money?

































Tradewinds (M) Berhad: your rice and sugar daddy

Previously, I wrote about Tradewind (M) Berhad borrowing RM1 billion to acquire shares of Padiberas Berhad at interest around 5.20-6.50%.


It is also interesting to note this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/first/17961-working-out-a-new-role-for-bernas.html

Working out a new role for Bernas
Written by Cindy Yeap
Monday, 29 June 2009 00:00


Hong Kong-based Wang Tak Co Ltd, which has been actively mopping up Bernas shares on the open market since early 2006, continues to be a buyer. Wang Tak, which is linked to IGB Corp Bhd’s Tan family, held a 14.34% stake in Bernas in late 2006; it has since doubled its holdings to 30.14% as at June 16

Wang Tak’s* average investment cost — RM1.75 per Bernas share — while above the prevailing market price, is 0.88 times Bernas’ net asset per share of RM1.98 at end-March.
* no relationship with the author

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On page 52 of Tradewinds(M) Berhad's 2009 annual reports and accounts, it has this disclosure:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Material Contracts Involving Directors and Major Shareholders

(a) a Share Sale agreement dated 28 august 2009 between Tradewinds (M) Berhad (“TWS” or the “Company”) and Wang Tak Company Limited (“WT”) for the acquisition of 148,281,100 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each in padiberas Nasional Berhad (“Bernas”), representing 31.52% of the total issued and paid-up share capital of Bernas from WT for a total purchase consideration of RM308,424,688.00. The said acquisition was completed on 2 November 2009.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



hence TW paid an average RM2.08 per share and base on the average cost of investment reported above at RM1.75 per share, a cool profit of RM56.35 million has been shifted to good old Hong Kong while Malaysians will foot the loan repayment and interest. Another consequence of privatising something that the federal government should be overseeing.


TW is also a major player in Malaysia's sugar supply chain. According to its Managing Director, Bakry Hamzah in his operations reports included in the annual accounts and reports,
---------------------------------------------------------------------

" For the financial year ended 2009, the Sugar Division generated total revenue of RM976.2 million as against RM862.2 million posted in the previous year.......

....presently, Malaysia has only four sugar refineries, of which two are owned by TWS i.e. Central Sugars refinery Sdn Bhd (“CSr”) at Batu Tiga Shah alam, Selangor and Gula Padang Terap Sdn Bhd (“GPT”) at Kuala Nerang, Kedah."


------------------------------------------------------------------


According to note 29 of its 2009 accounts, government grant /tax payers money of RM287 million was received by TW Group for rice and sugar.





Amazingly, this was disclosed in the accounts:


RM203.6 million or roughly 21% of the subsidized sugar was sold to......Bukhary Sdn Bhd



And on what trade terms? According to the accounts, normal trade terms for TW is 7 to 90 days. At RM203million per annum, average daily sales is about RM550K to Bukhary Sdn Bhd and the balance of RM118 million owing by Bukhary Sdn Bhd amounts to 212 days of sales, about 7 months owing. For 2008, TW sold RM165 million worth of sugar to Bukhary Sdn Bhd and the receivables not collected from Bukhary Sdn Bhd of RM170 million even exceeded the whole year sale of sugar!




I wonder what does Bukhary Sdn Bhd do with so much sugar? Can they assist in the sugar shortage that we are facing in Malaysia?

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6743421.html

Syed Bukhary has apparently benefited for a few years from his shareholdings in Padi Beras Berhad by way of dividend pay outs plus disposal of Budaya Generasi Sdn Bhd's substantial 145 million shares to TW.

Further examination of TW's operating expenses is interesting. In 2009, RM20 million was paid out to Albukhary International University.






This is a private university located in Kedah and provides scholarship to many studens from all over the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.aiu.edu.my/sponsorship.html

The Albukhary Foundation Scholarship
Albukhary International University (AIU) is fully funded by the Albukhary Foundation, Malaysia and all students attending AIU shall be sponsored through the Scholarship described herein.

The Albukhary Foundation intends to make available ten (10) scholarships for each country to assist disadvantaged youths, mainly Muslim youths, to graduate with a degree from the Albukhary International University.

Instituted in 2003, the Albukhary Foundation Scholarship has been offered to 382 students from almost 50 countries of whom many are currently studying at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Fine, if a very successful and rich man wants to be charitable with his earning but when a lot of the money comes from tax payers' subsidy and revenue from sales of staple diet of Malaysians i.e. sugar, rice and palm oil, there is an element of public interest we are talking about.


In the light of the annual brain drain and insufficient scholarship for all top scorers outcry plus the "Rakyat Diutamakan" rally call, the lucky foreign recepients includes Afghans, Albanians, Laotians, Yemenians, Ethopians, ...would we get any benefit out of this?



















Who is behind Padi Beras Nasional Berhad

In the previous post, I wrote

Who are the major shareholders who benefited from the payout? A review of its 2008 annual report shows that, Budaya Generasi (M) Sdn Bhd held 145 mil shares or 30.79%, Serba Etika Sdn Bhd held 29.8 million shares or 6.39%. I do not know these people who I have to belanja every time I eat white rice, fried rice, nasi lemak, nasi dagang, nasi kandang, pulut etc

Well after some surfing, I found the folllowing:

http://anilnetto.com/agrobusinessgm-food/whos-profiting-from-higher-food-prices-certainly-not-the-rice-farmers/

Budaya Generasi is controlled by Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary.

http://announcements.bursamalaysia.com/EDMS/subweb.nsf/7f04516f8098680348256c6f0017a6bf/a2053c675fee4ccc4825709100287f0d/$FILE/PUTERA-DirectorsProfile(1.2MB).pdf

profile of Encik Ahmad Feisal :-

He is currently the Executive Chairman of Major Crest Management Consultancy Services Sdn Bhd, which is mainly involved in corporate secretarial, accounting,taxation, auditing, financial consultancy and corporate advisory. He is an Executive Director of Medan Arau Sdn Bhd and sits on the Boards of Yayasan DPM Berhad, Hicom Dewan Development Sdn Bhd and Malaysian FirstCapital Partners Sdn. Bhd. He is also the Honorary Treasurer of Malay Chamber Of Commerce Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Treasurer of Lembaga Dana Amanah Biasiswa & Kebajikan DPM and the Chairman of the Finance Steering Committee and Tender Committee ofthe Chambers.

He started his career as an Internal Auditor with Ban Hin Lee Group in 1996. Subsequently in 1999, he joined amanufacturing company as the Financial Controller and Administrator prior to his appointment as an Internal Auditor with Hong Leong Bank Berhad. In April 2000, he served as the Head of Finance & Treasury of Realmild (M) Sdn Bhd, a major shareholder of Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB). He was later appointed as the Senior Manager of Bernas Overseas (L)Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas). He also served as the company representative of Budaya Generasi Sdn Bhd, a major shareholder of Bernas Group (Padi Beras Nasional Berhad). He was also the Special Assistant to theExecutive Director of Sharikat Permodalan KebangsaanBerhad in 2002.