Arrests in Malaysian Port Scandal

Written by Our Correspondent

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Three down, more to come, although concerns abound that no big fish will be landed

Malaysian authorities Wednesday arrested Phang Oi Choo, the former general manager of the Port Klang Authority and two other persons in connection with a massive scandal in the construction of the Port Klang Free Zone, which has ballooned to RM4.6 billion from RM1.1 billion and could go as high as RM RM12.45 billion if the port defaults and is forced to pay interest on its debt, according to a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services.

The arrests had been expected in the wake of a devastating report by the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament that found widespread conflicts of interest, corruption and cost overruns at the port. The three were expected to be charged with criminal breach of trust. More arrests are expected in the coming weeks, possibly including former Transport Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy and Tiong King Sing, an influential Sarawak lawmaker and chairman of the parliament's Backbencher's Club, who holds 70 percent of the shares in Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, the company hired to build the project.

Chan and Phang were found by the Public Accounts Committee earlier to have issued letters of support and undertaking for the project to cover massive loans without the approval of the finance ministry, in effect creating government guarantees for the loans, which resulted in vast cost overruns. The cabinet later ratified the letters despite their illegality. (see Asia Sentinel, Malaysia's Growing Port Scandal, 27 November 2009 and Malaysia's Port Storm, Aug. 24, 2009)

The 400-hectare Port Klang Free Zone was conceived during the reign of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as a multi-modal project for international cargo distribution and consolidation at Port Klang, 70 km. west of Kuala Lumpur. Unofficially, the development was entrusted to the Malaysian Chinese Association, the ethnic Chinese component of the national ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional. From the start, with the original purchase of the land, the project was dogged with scandals. Requests to investigate it by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission were turned down and the agency only reluctantly reversed itself as the scandal grew in proportion.

As the scandal has grown, contending factions in the MCA have charged each other with complicity, with the result that the party has been virtually paralyzed, exacerbating strains that grew out of the MCA's debacle in 2008 national polls, in which the opposition Pakatan Rakyat made strong electoral gains.

The question is how far up the government chain the investigation will go, and how seriously it will be investigated. “It is going to be very difficult to prove," said a lawyer with ties to the United Malays National Organization. "They have all covered their tracks, I'm sure."

According to the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, Kuala Dimensi sold the land to the Port Klang Authority for RM1.09 billion, or RM25 per square foot although by using Malaysia's Land Acquisition Act, it could have been purchased for RM10 per square foot. Kuala Dimensi acquired the land from the Pulau Lumut Development Cooperative for only RM3 per square foot. A flock of UMNO officials were involved in various roles including the party's permanent chairman, Onn Ismail, his son-in-law Faizal Abdullah, the former party treasurer Azim Zabidi and others. Read more.

PKFZ Please Get The Sharks Too

Hantu Laut

It's good news that the government has started a crackdown on PKFZ but those arrested today are only ikan bilis. The tip of the iceberg.

Let's hope it's the beginning of a major crackdown.The government must get the sharks, the ones that benefited the most from the debacle.

This is the biggest financial scandal so far and no stone should be left unturned to nap the biggest thief of them all.

Read full story here.

Nazri Darling Of The Oppositions

Hantu Laut

Is Mahathir a bloody racist?

Going by his record as prime minster for 22 years would any of you (except those the likes of Nazri and Pakatan Rakyat) think that Mahathir is a racist?

Didn't the Chinese businesses prosper during his time inspite of the NEP? Did the Indians complained they were marginalised? Sure, the antagonists would say those were under wraps during his time but the fact remains that the non-Malays didn't ditch Mahathir and the BN, which they could have if they wanted to during any general elections.Instead, they voted overwhelmingly for the BN during his time.

So, how can a man accepted by the non-Malays as their leader for 22 years be called a racist?

Nazri can shout till kingdom comes and should put the money where his mouth is.He should be honest and say who was actually rejected by the non-Malays.

Why are the press giving credence to this uncouth Malay man called Nazri calling former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad a 'bloody racist'.What exactly has he done to this country to put himself on the high pedestals?

In June 2005, this grandstanding attention seeking maniac shouted the phrase 'bloody racist" 28 times in Parliament.Here is a line of his antics in Parliament when he asked another minister to sit down. Racist, racist duduk, racist duduk. Hei, duduk, perkauman duduk, bloody racist, duduk.

In July 2006, he caused a big stir in Sabah by saying the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah does not contribute to any social ills or disrupt the lives and economy of the Sabahan people. Sabahans asked him to go to hell and called him a bloody racist.

Has he ever said the right thing? The man shoots his mouth faster than his brain could work. His political grandstanding is a reflection of his insecurity and frustrations.

Suddenly, he becomes a darling of the oppositions.They love him and agree with him that Mahathir is a bloody racist.They say he has paid penance by admitting UMNO is a racist party and the mother of all racists is Mahathir.

Below is a comment from eddy, a regular commentator of this blog.

eddy said...

Nazri should be sacked from UMNO and sacked from the Najib Cabinet immediately. What is the point of keeping a cabinet Minister whose very words and actions are being used as ammunition by Pakatan to attack the Barisan Nasional Government. Nazri is a liability for UMNO and Barisan Nasional, PM Najib has a duty of care to get rid this dirty thorn in the flesh of BN.The sooner Nazri is thrown out the better is it for UMNO, otherwise Najib will be bogged down in a battle that he would not want and could not win.

Furthermore if Dr Mahathir is branded a racist, then UMNO is racist for defending and promoting Malay rights, then MIC, MCA and Gerakan are also racist parties. Lim Kit Siangs's DAP are also racist for defending and promoting the rights of the Chinese, Hindraf is also racist, hell even the Malay,Chinese and Indian educationist are racist for promoting and defending their race's language interest. With this kind of benchmarking are all of us racist in one form or the other? Nazri is worse than a racist he is an extremist.

December 9, 2009 1:27 PM

I share eddy's sentiments except the sacking.

Loose Cannons Playing To The Gallery: Nazri versus Mahathir

Hantu Laut

Nazri's outburst against former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on the BTN issue was nothing more than playing to the gallery.An attempt to redeem himself from his usual brand of antics.

There are better ways to response to Tun Mahathir's comment on the issue and branding him as a racist certainly is not one of them.

Nazri needs to learn some table manners and learn how to use the right tools for the occasion.

If it takes a thief to catch a thief than Nazri is a bigger racist than Mahathir.

All of a sudden you find all kind of maggots crawling out of the woodwork and claimed to have inside information on the racist policy of Mahathir.

Was it an indoctrination of racism or a programme to instill patriotism? This man, a former director of the agency says Mahathir transformed the BTN into a super-racist agency.

On the other hand, this man who is a Chinaman seems to have more finesse and decorum than those Malays that attacked Mahathir.He tells a different story.

Gerakan President Dr Koh Tsu Koon revealed the more plausible side of the story.

Koh admitted he himself has attended one such course with other political and corporate leaders, presided personally by Mahathir and said the former prime minister may not be aware of the latest slant in the BTN courses.Below is what he said.

“The content of the courses emphasised on unity and understanding as well as the need to handle all issues with great care and sensitivity.

“However, recent feedback from participants since last year showed that the BTN course has diverted from its earlier version.

“Participants, including JPA scholars, felt very upset and disheartened,” he said and added that the need to revamp is based on such feedback.

By the statement above it appears that Mahathir was right that there was nothing wrong with the BTN courses.Someone, must have changed the syllabus after he stepped down as prime minister.

It would also be interesting to know how the racist syllabus is conducted, pitting the Malays against other races when there are Chinese,Indians and other non-Malays participants attending the course.

Calling Mahathir a racist is a gross injustice when his 22-year rule proved otherwise.Most Chinese and Indians voted for the BN during his time.The Chinese and Indians jumped ship after Pak Lah took over.

So, who is the racist and the liar here?