I am very disappointed that my motion for an urgent debate of the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal and a government bailout has been denied, casting not only a dark shadow on the 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations on Friday by raising grave questions about good governance, an accountable and honest Cabinet and an effective “First-World Parliament”.
It would appear that no Barisan Nasional MP is prepared to take a principled stand demanding full parliamentary accountability of the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal and that there should be no government bail-out unless there is prior Parliamentary sanction, especially as the government had earlier been giving an assurance that the PKFZ was feasible and self-financing which would not require a single ringgit of government funding.
Although the rejection by the Speaker, Tan Sri Ramli Ngah of my urgent motion on the PKFZ is a setback in the campaign to hold the government to the National Integrity Plan launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, I will continue to demand full and proper accountability for the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal in the current budget meeting of Parliament.
Yesterday, former MCA President and Transport Minister, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik broke his silence on the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal which was initiated when he helmed the Transport Ministry but what he said raised the question whether Ling was telling the truth or just a pack of lies.
How can Ling hide his head under the sand and claim that the PKFZ plan to “emulate Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone was a good strategic idea” when it has become a national calamity, which is the candidate for a RM4.6 billion bail-out — the biggest financial scandal for the start of any Prime Minister in the nation’s 50-year history?
Ling said yesterday that the intention of PKFZ was to copy Jebel Ali Free Zone, which had 4,500 factories supplying to the whole of the Gulf, by combining port trade with Jebel Ali and bring at least half the factories to PKFZ to supply to Asean.
After spawning the monster of a RM4.6 billion mega-financial scandal, what has PKFZ to show in terms of achieving the target of attracting 2,250 factories from Jebel Ali Free Zone to Port Klang? Has it achieved 10, five or even one per cent of this target so far?
What is worse, the Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) which originally had a 15-year contract to be management consultants of PKFZ to tap into Jafza’s expertise in this field had been driven out of the country because of hanky-panky in the administration and management of PKFZ.
It is intriguing why Ling had brought out the name of the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, specifically saying that the Cabinet meeting chaired by Mahathir had approved his (Ling) recommendation “to acquire the land” for the PKFZ project.
Is Ling trying to pass the buck by implying that it was Mahathir who must bear full and final responsibility for the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal?
However, Ling seems to have a very selective memory about the Cabinet decision on the acquisition of the 1,000 acres of land for PKFZ, claiming that he could not remember the actual price paid for the land. Is this credible?
As revealed in various media reports, the Treasury and the Attorney-General Chambers had proposed that the 1,000 acres be acquired by the government under the Land Acquisition Act at the market price of about RM10 psf but it was the Transport Ministry which insisted that the land be bought at RM25 psf for the PKFZ on the ground that it was feasible and self-financing and would not require a single ringgit of public funding.
Wasn’t Ling the Minister who was the strongest advocate in Cabinet for the purchase of the 1,000 acres for PKFZ for RM1.8 billion when the land had been bought by Kuala Dimensi Sdn. For RM95 million or RM3 psq in 1999?
Ling should explain why he could remember that it was Mahathir who chaired the Cabinet meeting which approved the acquisition of 1,000 acres of land for PKFZ but could not remember the price of the land acquisition?
Sounds logical enough…..now you have to go into the nitty gritty….and find out who actually were the pirates…….the answer must surely lie with Kong Choy…………..this horrible culture in Malaysia where money must be made upfront and the project itself can go to hell…..was of course initiated by the great financial minds of TDM and Daim……everyone else just followed suit……which is why this country will not have a future………
Uncle Lim, i’m not surprised at the rejection…i hope all Malaysians really wake up and see how rotten this issue has become
Say that again. This is worth repeating:
raven77 Says:
August 27th, 2007 at 12: 38.41
Sounds logical enough…..now you have to go into the nitty gritty….and find out who actually were the pirates…….the answer must surely lie with Kong Choy…………..this horrible culture in Malaysia where money must be made upfront and the project itself can go to hell…..was of course initiated by the great financial minds of TDM and Daim……everyone else just followed suit……which is why this country will not have a future………
The question is why pay RM25 per sq ft when the valuation was just for RM10? The difference of RM15 ringgit a sq ft is the reason for all the denial. 1000 acres x 43,560 sq ft x RM15…. wow its so much money to be shared. Enough money to keep everybody quiet. About RM653 million! That is how the game is played.
In 10 – 20 years time, you will see Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone is a failure…..a dream and overinvestment from easy oil revenue. PKFZ might suffer the same faith, if we are not careful!
Who wants to invest in a country which is boring and restricted freedom with Islamic law. As long as there is big money to be made from oil revenue……..Westerners will be there to take up employment until all construction projects are completed.
The dark side of Jebel Ali Free Zone is Asian employees are badly treated by their employers, let alone their low Salary and bad working conditions, who only looked up to Westerners.
all i can say is that all the ministers sitting in there are corrupted except those from the oppositions. How else can one explain the creepy silence?
Not forgeting Ling also has to clarify on behalf of his son how on earth can a 30+ yrs old engineer (in 1997) working in deep forest of Bakun Project able to acquire a company called Berjaya Industry (which later changed name to Rekapac and delisted from mainboard) for RM300 million. Till todate dust has settled no news on the scandal.
Ling should be stipped of the title Tun. People have zero respect with Datuks and Tan Sris, very soon will be Tun. Total disgrace to the country and society.
Is this what we have 50 yrs in to independent. Selamat Merdeka? … ya right. Merdeka from British but colonised by the corrupts and racists. The British did a much better job and we should be thankful for them for the system. Too bad the dogs never know how to follow the system but only know to manipulate it to suit own agendas.
Typical spin…..spin until no one understands or everyone gets frustrated and throws up his/her hands. Then, case closed.
Tun Ling has opend his mouth. I am not surprised that it is still the same stupid things he said when he was President of MCA.
Good for Ling liong sick ,After all we all know UMNO big wits have been robbing us blind,This is one time that MCA big wits has rob joe public,so let it be,can,t wait to see MIC do it next,because all this while MCA and MIC has only been robbing their own kind.Like they “It,s good to learn from the best” So all you UMNO members beware MCA is learning the “trick of the trade”,and MCA knows its hard to cheat the chinesss.
Hey, Ling LS and his fellow MCA mah chai also have to feed their families and to balance what the Umnoputras like Zakaria did to the national wealth. One for you, one for me, ……
If you don’t like what they are doing, don’t just complain, join them and just do it!
“Wasn’t Ling the Minister who was the strongest advocate in Cabinet for the purchase of the 1,000 acres for PKFZ for RM1.8 billion when the land had been bought by Kuala Dimensi Sdn. For RM95 million or RM3 psq in 1999?”
Was he? Even if he was I would not be surprise. How did he get away with it? By forgetting I guess. You see, if you forgot what you have done in the past, and you say something different today, that’s not a lie, that’s because you are a Tun, if not a Prime Minister, either you are from UMNO or you are from MCA. Here, a lie is not a lie, it is the relection of truth. I don’t tell you the truth, I told lies because the opposite of lies is the truth! Let’s beat around the bush…
Don’t forget that if you repeat your lies many times it becomes the truth – ‘truth’ defined!