Posted on

The PwC report on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal which PKA has taken off the Internet

Since yesterday, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report on RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) has been taken off the Port Klang Authority (PKA) website.

As a national service, the PwC report on the PKFZ scandal is hereby restored online and available here (Malaysia-mirror).

As I said, the PwC report is most unsatisfactory with its very narrow and restricted terms of reference, as noted by the PwC in its “Important Notice”, viz:

“The report is limited in scope. It is restricted to a position review of Port Klang Free Zone and Port Klang Free Zone Sdn. Bhd as set out in our Letter of Engagement dated 8th October 2008. We were not asked to and we have not advised on any strategy, valuation, legal implications, tax, operational effectiveness, staff competencies or process improvement. No investigation to detect any wrongdoing or audit to form an opinion on any financial information, including any forecasts and projections, has been undertaken.” (p.1)

Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has not been able to explain why he had decided on such a limited and restricted term of reference for the PwC study, deliberately excluding from inquiry the conduct or misconduct of previous Transport Ministers, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik and Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy in the PKFZ scandal, as well as not asking PwC to detect any wrong doing or render advice on “any strategy, valuation, legal implications, tax, operational effectiveness, staff competencies or process improvement”?
Continue reading “The PwC report on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal which PKA has taken off the Internet”

Posted on

Why is Ong Tee Keat afraid of a Selangor Exco member sitting on the PKA Board and insist on having his own appointee representing Selangor State Govt?

My three questions (No.37 to No. 39 on the 13th day in the current series) to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal today are:

1. In his blog from Beijing on 3rd June 2009, Ong wrote:

“At this very moment, professional experts and entrepreneurs have been roped in to provide their views and expertise on how to bring PKFZ back on track for which it was originally conceived.

“ We are not sitting still and playing rhetoric. In the weeks and months ahead, my Ministry and PKA will put in place a series of action plans to lessen the pain on taxpayers.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) submitted its “position review” report of the Port Klang Free Zone (PFKZ) on 3rd February 2009, which means Ong had more than four months to digest it.

Can he explain what he had done in these four months apart from “sitting still and playing rhetoric” to “put in place a series of action plans to lessen the pain on taxpayers” with regard to the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal and why he needs four months just to announce a blue-ribboned Task Force to make some more studies in the next two months to make recommendations “for follow-up actions” to be taken by the Government? Isn’t this a colossal waste of four months after the PwC report on PKFZ? Continue reading “Why is Ong Tee Keat afraid of a Selangor Exco member sitting on the PKA Board and insist on having his own appointee representing Selangor State Govt?”

Posted on

Ong Tee Keat should be cited for parliamentary contempt in refusing to release the appendices of the PcW audit report on PKFZ scandal to PAC members, allowing them access only during PAC meeting

Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat should be cited for parliamentary contempt for refusing to release the appendices of the PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal to Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members, allowing them access only during the PAC meeting.

It was Ong, in an oblique response to my queries, blogged from Beijing on 3rd June that he had instructed the Port Klang Authority (PKA) to submit 14 copies of the PwC audit report, “as well as the appendices”, to members of the PAC “as soon as possible”.

However, the PAC members were informed this morning that the 14 sets of appendices were only available for them during PAC meetings and not meant for them to take back for detailed study.

Such a ridiculous directive restricting access of the PwC Report appendices to PAC members during PAC meetings makes a total mockery of parliamentary responsibility and accountability of both the Transport Minister as well as PKA and should be deplored in the strongest possible terms.
Continue reading “Ong Tee Keat should be cited for parliamentary contempt in refusing to release the appendices of the PcW audit report on PKFZ scandal to PAC members, allowing them access only during PAC meeting”

Posted on

Orang Asli in Perak and the 6th Bushido Code

by Augustine Anthony

I joked candidly that M. Kula, the Ipoh Barat Member of Parliament must have been an Orang Asli in his past life because of his concern and support for my work with the indigenous people of this country. He revved his 4WD on a precariously winding road in the secondary forest that was once ravished and ravaged by the greed of men and narrowly missed the ravine that would have taken all those in the vehicle into the river below.

“You need not be an Orang Asli headman in your past life”, M. Kula was quick with a reply without even looking at me. An instantaneous and poignant response expected of a man who confronts an assortment of rotting issues that emanates unwelcome stench in our midst.

I knew what he was trying to tell me.

The journey beyond that was a humourless exchange of thoughts about the promises and betrayal of Orang Asli for the last 52 years. Though living with physical independence but sadly chained and shackled with a mind of perpetual dependence. Continue reading “Orang Asli in Perak and the 6th Bushido Code”

Posted on

Another Lesson in PAS History: The Malaysian Public Does’nt Like Extremists

By Farish A. Noor

The repercussions of the somewhat clumsy attempt by some sections of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS to call for the investigation, and possibly banning, of the Muslim women’s rights group Sisters in Islam are still being felt today. Many questions have arisen in the wake of the proposal that was passed without debate at the recent General Assembly of PAS: How and why was the proposal passed as one of the ‘non-debated proposals’ in the first place? Why was it not vetted properly and why was it tabled at all? What does this say about the internal cohesion of PAS and its internal discipline? Does this proposal reflect just a faction of opinion among PAS members, or is it actually representative of the party as a whole? And what does this mean with regards to PAS’s avowed claims to be a modern party that supports the democratisation process and dialogue with others?

It is hard, to say the least, to believe that a party can be supportive of democracy if it starts by calling for the banning of NGOs even before it comes to power…

For now however we are left to watch the internal and external drama of PAS unfold as the party seeks to re-consolidate itself after what was clearly a hectic assembly for all. The lingering question of where PAS really stands, and where it goes from here though will have to be addressed sooner than later. Continue reading “Another Lesson in PAS History: The Malaysian Public Does’nt Like Extremists”