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PKFZ scandal – Is OTK so useless he cannot ensure that the 300 copies of PwC report and appendices on RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal are tabled in Parliament on Monday

My three questions (No.79 to No. 81 on the 27th 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:

Question No. 1: This is the end of the second week of Parliament, which will adjourn next Thursday on 2nd July following a two-day extension.

Ong, who had absconded to France for the Paris Air Show instead of being Parliament when it met on June 15 to give an accounting of the PKFZ scandal, has now put up a great show of his commitment to the principles of accountability, transparency and integrity by claiming that 300 copies of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report and appendices on the PKFZ scandal have been sent to Parliament for MPs – but not a single MP whether from Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat has received it.

Ong may be trying to become a David Copperfield in Malaysian Parliament – conjuring up 300 sets of the PwC report and appendices which MPs cannot touch, see or read!

Is Ong so useless as Transport Minister, but good as Minister for Air Shows, that he could not even ensure that MPs and the media are instantly given copies of the PwC Report and Appendices?
Continue reading “PKFZ scandal – Is OTK so useless he cannot ensure that the 300 copies of PwC report and appendices on RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal are tabled in Parliament on Monday”

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Would Ong propose in Cabinet tomorrow that two former MCA Transport Ministers, Ling Liong Sik and Chan Kong Choy be prosecuted for abuses of power in unlawfully issuing four Letters of Support?

My three questions (No.76 to No. 78 on the 26th 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:

Question No. 1:
MCA-owned Star, under the headline “Lim knows the facts, say Ong” reported:

PETALING JAYA: DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang deliberately misled the Dewan Rakyat on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) issue despite knowing the facts of the project, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said.

Ong said Lim knew about the RM25 per square foot land purchase as he was engaged in the debate in Parliament, in 2007.

“He rudely interrupted my ministerial statement by accusing me of not referring to the Cabinet decision on Oct 23, 2002, that the land should be acquired at a lower price of RM10.16 per square foot.
Continue reading “Would Ong propose in Cabinet tomorrow that two former MCA Transport Ministers, Ling Liong Sik and Chan Kong Choy be prosecuted for abuses of power in unlawfully issuing four Letters of Support?”

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Is the Najib Cabinet serious about a KPI culture of high-performance?

This morning, when Tsu Koon was giving his long answer to the question on KPIs for Ministers and ministries, the Ministerial front-benches were totally empty except for three Ministers who could not get elected and had to enter Parliament through the backdoor.

Is the Najib Cabinet serious about a KPI culture of high-performance?

If so, then no Minister should be allowed to abscond or go overseas from his or her responsibility of accountability to MPs when Parliament is meeting, except for important international functions which could pass muster with Parliament!

When Parliament reconvened last Monday on June 15, the Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat deliberately avoided parliamentary responsibility for the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal by flying off to France to attend the Paris Air Show.
Why is Ong’s attending the Paris Air Show more important than his appearance in Parliament to give a full, proper and satisfactory accounting for the PKFZ “mother of all scandals”?

Continue reading “Is the Najib Cabinet serious about a KPI culture of high-performance?”

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What is the use of talking about KPIs and KRAs (key result areas) for the government servants when there is simply no high-performance culture among Cabinet Ministers?

The first Najib Cabinet saw the removal of seven Ministers in the old Abdullah Cabinet, namely Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar (Home); Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (Tourism), Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib (Rural and Regional Development), Senator Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz (Prime Minister’s Department), Datuk Ong Ka Chuan (Housing and Local Government), Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed (Works) and Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique (Federal Territories).

No one shed any tears for the dropping of the seven Ministers in the Abdullah Cabinet.

What outraged Malaysians is the new set of Ministers in the Najib Cabinet, for they are not only another set of “old faces” but include 11 new Ministers or Deputy Ministers who entered Parliament from the backdoor of the Senate.

Worse still, they include “political rejects” like Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun and Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussin who were trounced by the electorate in last year’s political tsunami in the March 8 general elections, making the Najib Cabinet even more unrepresentative and unpopular than the second and last Abdullah Cabinet.

Continue reading “What is the use of talking about KPIs and KRAs (key result areas) for the government servants when there is simply no high-performance culture among Cabinet Ministers?”

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Why has Najib shied away from seeking a confidence motion in the House?

With every passing day, public confidence in the credibility, integrity and legitimacy of the Prime Minister has worsened, as illustrated by the two following indicators:

  • In an opinion poll conducted by opinion research firm Merdeka Centre in his second month as Prime Minister from May 6-15 on 1,067 registered voters, Najib could only secure 45% popularity.
  • In poll on the blog of the MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, 78% of those polled wanted MCA to get out of Barisan Nasional.

Now Malaysians have even more reasons why they have no confidence, the credibility integrity and legitimacy of Najib as Prime Minister – the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal; galloping crime in the country with Malaysians, tourists and investors losing their fundamental rights to be free from crime and the fear of crime; worsening of the crisis of confidence in independence of the judiciary.

This was why I had called on Najib to seek a vote of confidence when Parliament reconvened on June 15.

Continue reading “Why has Najib shied away from seeking a confidence motion in the House?”

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Najib facing deepening of the national and international crisis of credibility, integrity and legitimacy as 6th PM of Malaysia

The Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau by-election results, with increased majorities for the Pakatan Rakyat candidates as compared to last year, are a clear and unmistakable endorsement of the March 8, 2008 political tsunami telling the nation and the world that what happened in the 12th general elections in March last year was neither accidental nor a fluke, to disappear like fireworks in the skies, but a major political paradigm shift representing the deep-seated and widely-held aspirations of Malaysians regardless of race or religion for democratic change.

Furthermore, that such fundamental political change is here to stay!

Although UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders had claimed after the March 8 political tsunami, which toppled Barisan Nasional governments in five states and ended its unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority, that they had heard and learnt the message of the voters, the verdicts in the Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau by-elections were loud and clear – that UMNO and Barisan Nasional had failed in the past 13 months to heed the message of the 12th general election results.

Continue reading “Najib facing deepening of the national and international crisis of credibility, integrity and legitimacy as 6th PM of Malaysia”

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Najib’s first 74 days as Prime Minister is the most uninspiring when compared with the past five Prime Ministers

This motion to re-allot the 2009 Budget among the various Ministries is the direct result of the Cabinet reshuffle by the new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on 10th April 2009 – a week after he replaced Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Najib should be enjoying his first two-and-a-half months as the new Prime Minister but there is no air of expectation, hope or euphoria in the country that is normally associated with the advent of a new national leader – the political honeymoon of the First Hundred Days!

In fact, nobody can really disagree when I say that Najib’s first 74 days as Prime Minister is the most uninspiring when compared with the past Five Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah! Is this a sign of the final fulfillment of the most famous political prophecy in the country, RAHMAN, indicating the end of the line of Umno Prime Ministers in Malaysia as well as the end not only of Umno hegemony but Umno rule in Malaysia?

Continue reading “Najib’s first 74 days as Prime Minister is the most uninspiring when compared with the past five Prime Ministers”

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PKFZ scandal – Ong Tee Keat caught red-handed telling an untruth on the RM1.2 billion KDSB variation order

My three questions (No.73 to No. 75 on the 25th 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:

Question No. 1: Port Klang Authority (PKA) Chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng made a very revealing and incriminating admission when he came to the defence of the Transport Minister, with reference to a letter by Ong to the Prime Minister dated May 10, 2008 after it surfaced on the Internet.

According to the New Straits Times, Lee clarified that the letter on RM1.2 billion variation order by the PKFZ turnkey developer, Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd (KDSB) was not Ong’s request for more money to be approved but merely a relay of the PKA board’s decision (that they needed more money) to the prime minister.

“The letter from the transport minister dated May 10, 2008 to the then prime minister was to inform the latter that the PKA board had already deliberated and approved in February 2008, the final costs of the main development agreement of the contract with the developer.”

Continue reading “PKFZ scandal – Ong Tee Keat caught red-handed telling an untruth on the RM1.2 billion KDSB variation order”

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Unity govt a betrayal all around

by Oon Yeoh
The Edge

The much-hyped, but now abandoned, unity-government concept, first touted by PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang in March, and welcomed by all and sundry within Umno is a betrayal.

From Pakatan Rakyat’s perspective, it is a betrayal of voters’ trust. Malays who voted for PAS did so because they preferred it over Umno. Non-Malays who voted for PAS didn’t do so because they wanted PAS but because they rejected Umno. In either case, PAS teaming up with Umno is the last thing these Malay and non-Malay voters want.

By pushing for unity-government talks, the faction headed by PAS Deputy President Nasharuddin Mat Isa, is betraying PAS’ coalition partners DAP and PKR, which consider Umno the enemy (as do most of PAS’ grassroots).

Lastly, this faction is betraying PAS itself, which campaigned on a platform of a “welfare state”, with justness for everybody, not just Malays or Muslims.

What else could you call a PAS-Umno unity government but a race-exclusive government? Continue reading “Unity govt a betrayal all around”

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The regurgitation of not administering justice according to law in the written judgment of Nik Hashim FCJ in Jamaluddin & ors v Sivakumar

Flashback

To refresh your memory, I refer to the report in the New Straits Times of Friday, April 10, 2009:

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has declared that three assemblymen who quit their parties are still members of the Perak state legislature.
This follows an unanimous ruling by a five-men bench yesterday which ruled that “The Election Commission is the rightfulll entity to establish if there was a casual vacancy in the Perak state legislature,” said Federal Court judge Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff.
Sitting with him were Datuk Arifin Zakaria, Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman, Datuk Sen S Augustine Paul and Datuk James Foong.
Last month, Party Keadilan Rakyat’s Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Bebrang) and Mohd Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering), together with DAP’s Hew Yit Foong (Jelapang), filed an urgent application for the Federal Court to decide their matter.
The three wanted a declaration whether it was the Election Commissioner or the Perak Speaker (V Sivakumar) had the final say in determining a vacancy. In February, Sivakumar, using resignation letters signed by the three, had declared the seats vacant.
He informed the Election Commission, but the commission refused to hold by-elections on the ground that there was ambiguity over whether the assemblymen had resigned voluntarily.

Following this newspaper report, I wrote an article which was posted on several portals on the Internet titled “When justice is not administered according to law“. This is what I said: Continue reading “The regurgitation of not administering justice according to law in the written judgment of Nik Hashim FCJ in Jamaluddin & ors v Sivakumar”

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Will Ong Tee Keat tender apology in next 24 hours for misleading Parliament in his eight-minute Ministerial statement on PKFZ scandal or I will move motion to refer him to Committee of Privileges

My three questions (No.70 to No. 72 on the 24th 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:

Question 1: Ong was a real disappointment with his Ministerial non-statement in Parliament on the PKFZ scandal in Parliament this morning.

His so-called Ministerial statement took eight minutes but he needed 40 minutes (i.e. five times the time he took in Parliament) in his press conference in the Parliament lobby to explain his Ministerial non-statement!

Why didn’t he spend these 40 minutes to give a proper, meaningful and comprehensive statement on the “mother of all scandals” in his Ministerial statement in Parliament on the PKFZ scandal, especially as the Deputy Speaker, Datuk Dr. Wan Junaidi bin Tuanku Jaafar had told the press the previous day that there is no time limit to a ministerial statement and that the minister could take as long as he wanted? Continue reading “Will Ong Tee Keat tender apology in next 24 hours for misleading Parliament in his eight-minute Ministerial statement on PKFZ scandal or I will move motion to refer him to Committee of Privileges”

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Pakatan Rakyat’s Stand on Unity Government

Press Release
Pakatan Rakyat Council of Leaders
22 June 2009

The Pakatan Rakyat Council of Leaders today Monday, 22 June2009 held a meeting at the office of the Opposition leader and agreed on the following:

1. All the component parties of Pakatan Rakyat reiterate their commitment to each other and to strengthen the coalition in order to help form the future Federal Government

2. The Pakatan Rakyat Council of Leaders reaffirms our rejection of the idea of forming a Unity Government with UMNO/Barisan Nasional which is clearly a malicious and desperate attempt to compromise the integrity of the increasingly popular Pakatan Rakyat

3. Pakatan Rakyat agrees to adopt an open approach and is willing to hold discussions with the leaders of Barisan Nasional on issues of national interest such as economic recovery, improving the quality of education, restoring the integrity of the judiciary, abrogation of the Internal Security Act (ISA), the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, abuse of power by the police leadership during times of increasing crime, eradication of corruption, establishment of good governance and to hold immediately a free and fair election to resolve the Perak crisis.

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The Poison of “Unity” Government

by M. Bakri Musa

The two Malay political parties – UMNO and PAS – are battling each other to convince us that each is better than the other in advancing the “Malay agenda.” The two are like ageing fighters stuck with their same old tired moves. They are oblivious of the fact that we are fed up with their act; their lack of vigor and imaginative new strategies.

In a clumsy if not desperate attempt for new moves they concocted a ‘vision’ for a ‘unity’ government based on the two parties! Left unstated is the question: Unity for what and against whom?

I wish that they would expend their efforts on making our people competitive, and thus lifting us out of poverty. That is the most important Malay agenda today. Better yet, I would prefer that they just exit the ring and let others run the show for a change.

I fail to see how this ‘unity’ government would make Malays more competitive. The track record for UMNO is for all to see. Corruption is now rampant, as well as the erosion of the integrity of our institutions and the deepening polarization of Malaysians. The Melayu Baru (New Malay) of UMNO has now morphed into Melayu Barua (Malay scoundrels). Continue reading “The Poison of “Unity” Government”

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Political H1N1 hits Malaysia!

@limkitsiang – Twitter record of Bayu Tinggi, Klang DAP fundraising dinner:

900 cops ‘attend’ DAP dinner in Klang – Star http://tr.im/pgTV Some 10,000 police manhrs wasted by IGP 2stop ord DAP dinner IGP nothing 2do?
06/22/2009 08:53 AM

1 final pt. Musa Hassan’s term as IGP ends in Sept. He wants another renewal. Actually he shld be sacked instead of his term renewed.
06/21/2009 11:11 PM

B4 signing off 4nite,pay tribute 2Klang ppl 4 refusing 2cow down 2police bullying tactics.Believe majority of police don’t agree w IGP order
06/21/2009 11:01 PM

Hear Ops “No dinner” order came from very top – IGP himself. Can Musa Hassan explain why he tarnished national image w such stupid action?
06/21/2009 10:54 PM

2 questions asked when I go round table-by-table: why Najib so frightened to allow speeches; what has Ong Tee Keat to hide in PKFZ scandal.
06/21/2009 10:51 PM

Over 300 police but how 2stop 3k people getting into sealedoff area? Police manhrs lost in fighting crime criminal!
06/21/2009 10:35 PM
Continue reading “Political H1N1 hits Malaysia!”

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What Malaysians need is not another look at the 125 proposals of Police Royal Commission of Inquiry four years ago but another Police RCI to address a very worsened crime crisis in the country

New Sunday Times today carried the front-page headline “Royal Commission Report on Police: Another look at the 125 proposals” together with more than two-pages of interview with the new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

What Malaysians need is not another look at the 125 proposals of the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) four years ago but another Police Royal Commission of Inquiry to address a very worsened crime crisis in the country as well as to inquire what happened to the 125 proposals of the Dzaiddin RCI in the past four years.

I was quite excited at first that Hishammuddin had given long interview of what he is going to do as Home Minister but after reading its contents, I am most disappointed that Hishammuddin has nothing new or innovative to say as to how he is going to restore to Malaysians, visitors and investors their lost rights for more than a decade to be free from crime and the fear of crime.

Kudos goes to Hishammuddin as the first Home Minister to acknowledge that crime has got out of control in Malaysia, when he admitted that “many Malaysians did not feel safe in their neighbourhoods anymore with rising crime levels”.
Continue reading “What Malaysians need is not another look at the 125 proposals of Police Royal Commission of Inquiry four years ago but another Police RCI to address a very worsened crime crisis in the country”

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Ong’s last chance to “tell all” about the causes and culprits of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to salvage his reputation even at the price of losing his Ministership

My three questions (No.67 to No. 69 on the 23rd 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:

Question No. 1: Finally, the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat is appearing in Parliament tomorrow to give an accounting on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, after absconding overseas to the Paris Air Show when he should have stayed behind to appear before Parliament when it started its meeting last Monday. It is a great embarrassment and shame that the MCA President has to be forced to appear before Parliament to give a ministerial statement on the PKFZ scandal on the directive of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

My first question today to Ong is whether his Ministerial statement would contain answers to the Five Questions on the PKFZ which I had posed to him on 9th April last year, viz:

  1. Was it true that when the Port Klang Authority and the Transport Ministry insisted on buying the 1,000 acres of Pulau Indah land for PKFZ at RM25 psf on a “willing buyer, willing seller” basis, in the face of strong objection by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Treasury which had recommended that the land be acquired at RM10 psf, the Cabinet had given its approval subject to two conditions: (i) categorical assurance by the Transport Minister that the PKFZ proposal was feasible and self-financing and would not require any public funding; and (ii) that every RM100 million variation in the development costs of PKFZ would require prior Cabinet approval.

    2. Continue reading “Ong’s last chance to “tell all” about the causes and culprits of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to salvage his reputation even at the price of losing his Ministership”

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Pakatan Rakyat foremost task – resolve first crisis of confidence by sending out clear message that PR parties committed to “new politics” and reject “old politics” of “divide-and-rule”

Tomorrow, Pakatan Rakyat parties must resolve the first crisis of confidence faced by PR in 14 months after the political tsunami of the March 8 general elections by sending out a clear and unmistakable message to Malaysians that Paktan Rakyat rejects the old Malaysian politics based on “divide-and-rule” and the fear factor by standing up solidly for “new politics” in representing the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or territory.

Recently, UMNO strategists have been very successful in planting doubts among Malaysians who had created the political tsunami which saw Pakatan Rakyat winning five state governments and ended the Barisan Nasional two-thirds parliamentary majority and terminated Umno political hegemony in Malaysian politics whether they had made the right choice.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders’ foremost task and greatest challenge at the PR leadership council meeting tomorrow is to assure these architects of the 2008 political tsunami that they had not made the wrong choice, that PR is prepared to move forward to give meaning to the “new politics” of the future and to put the old politics of the past 52 years solidly behind us. Continue reading “Pakatan Rakyat foremost task – resolve first crisis of confidence by sending out clear message that PR parties committed to “new politics” and reject “old politics” of “divide-and-rule””

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Make English a compulsory pass subject for SPM, STPM and matriculation to end and reverse the unchecked decline of English standard in the country in the past three decades

One of the greatest failures of the past two premiership of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (for 22 years) and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Tun Abdullah) was their failure to enhance the country’s international competitiveness by ending and reversing the unchecked decline of English standards in the country and to ensure that Malaysian students master English as “necessary for communication and essential to keep abreast of developments in the technical fields such as engineering and science”.

Globally English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a “world language”, the lingua franca of the modern era. While English is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a second language around the world to the extent that it has ceased to be the exclusive cultural property of “native English speakers”, but a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it continues to grow.

It is a sorry spectacle in the past three decades to see the headlong decline of English standards in Malaysia, which was once the envy of other countries, undermining Malaysia’s economic prosperity and well-being in crippling our international competitiveness in the era of globalization.
Continue reading “Make English a compulsory pass subject for SPM, STPM and matriculation to end and reverse the unchecked decline of English standard in the country in the past three decades”

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Lee Kuan Yew keeps corruption at bay

By Tunku Abdul ziz
In MySinchew

I BEGIN with a confession. I may be fairly described as a dyed in the wool admirer of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s Minister Mentor. I am pleased that his recent visit to our country went well. He was received and treated as an honoured visitor, in the grand palaces and everywhere else he went, as well he should, because Lee undoubtedly played an important and historic role in the creation of Malaysia as a political entity. That is a historical fact.

I am glad that Lee gave Mahathir a wide berth. It would have left a bad taste in the mouth if he had asked to meet the bitter old man of Malaysian politics. Mahathir could have been relied upon to be obnoxious and boorish as only Mahathir knows how. His reference to Lee as the little emperor from a small Middle Kingdom is vintage Mahathir, dripping with venom and uncharitable innuendoes. The man, Mahathir I mean, is a total disgrace to the Malay sense of gracious hospitality and traditional decorum. I suppose the kindest thing to do is to ignore Mahathir and let him continue to entertain the sad fantasy that he is an indispensable part of our country’s process of governance.

Lee Kuan Yew is far from perfect. His record on human rights and media freedom is well documented, and there is not a great deal to choose between his and ours. We should wipe off that feeling of smugness. On balance, though, Lee runs a tight ship and Singapore’s pre-eminent position as a modern, affluent and corruption free society owes entirely to his vision and his determination. What he has achieved for his country in the face of the hopelessly impossible challenges says a great deal about his single minded devotion to public duty in the public interest. Enriching himself or his family has never been part of his game plan. Continue reading “Lee Kuan Yew keeps corruption at bay”