Day: May 21, 2010

By Rahmah Ghazali | FMT

PETALING JAYA: DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang chided the Election Commission (EC) for saying the party was “disrespectful” and “rude” during the tallying of the Sibu by-election results.

“As far as DAP is concerned, we were very civil,” he told FMT, in response to EC deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar’s statement in Malay-daily Utusan Malaysia today.

Lim stressed that DAP was only aiming for a free and just election and said that the party has been fully cooperating with the EC to ensure such objective being achieved.

Wan Ahmad was quoted as saying that the opposition party was “rude” and “disrespectful” to the EC and accused them of obstructing their workers during the tallying of the postal votes.
Continue reading “Kit Siang chides EC over ‘disrespectful’ and ‘rude’ claim”

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak should present a preliminary White Paper to the June 7 Parliament on the RM1-2 billion Sime Darby cost overruns which have already led to the fall of its group chief executive Datuk Seri Ahmad Zubir and growing calls led by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for the whole Board of Directors including Chairman Tun Musa Hitam to resign.

This is because the Malaysian people and taxpayers are the final shareholders of Sime Darby, hitherto the biggest and most successful government-linked company (GLC).

I welcome the announcement by Musa yesterday that the ongoing internal probe by Sime Darby Bhd to find out how it made staggering losses has now been expanded to cover all its six business divisions.

The probe was previously confined to the conglomerate’s energy and utilities division and is now expanded to its five other business units, viz: plantations, property, healthcare, automotive and industrial divisions.
Continue reading “Najib should present a preliminary White Paper to the June 7 Parliament on the RM1-2billion Sime Darby cost overruns which have already led to the fall of its group chief executive Ahmad Zubir”

by R. Nadeswaran, Terence Fernandez and Llew-Ann Phang
The Sun

PETALING JAYA (May 20, 2010): SHE is chauffeur-driven in an official four-wheel drive on duties and states her address in official documents as a double-storey corner terrace house in Kota Damansara. But Sharipah Marhaini Syed Ali is also the owner of the low-cost apartment in Ara Damansara and happens to be the planning director of the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ).

She is not the only senior official owning a low-cost apartment.

MBPJ’s senior assistant engineer, Hanizah Katab, owns one in the same block – and so does about 500 other MBPJ employees, many using the names of wives, husbands and relatives to own low-cost homes in Petaling Jaya.

By her own admission, Sharipah is not the only director who owns a low-cost flat. Questioned by a councillor, she charged that there are other “directors and deputy directors” who own such properties.

In a reply to a memo from Deputy Mayor Puasa Md Taib dated Feb 4, Sharipah argued that “if the policy is that those earning above RM2,500 are not eligible, then all the other officers involved should be asked to explain”.

Going by the state government’s guidelines on eligibility for low-cost units, they would not qualify by a mile because only those having combined family income of less than RM2,500 a month can apply. Continue reading “Senior MBPJ officials own low-cost flats”