How the other side of Kuala Terengganu lives
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I hope these pictures can say what words can never describe. Do the Kuala Terengganu voters still want to vote these people into office on 17 January 2009? These are the people who have milked an estimated RM20 billion of Terengganu’s Oil Royalty or Wang Ehsan.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Yesterday, we showed you some scenes of how the man-in-the-street Kuala Terengganu voter lives. Today, we are going to show you how the ‘other side’ lives so that you can see the contrast between the very few Bumiputera haves and the majority have-nots. The New Economic Policy and the RM1 billion a year Oil Royalty has not really touched the lives of all Malays or the majority of Terengganu residents as many may have thought.
1. Datuk Seri Tok Guru Haji Abdul Hadi Awang’s humble abode. Hadi, the President of PAS and Menteri Besar of Terengganu from 1999 to 2004, continued to stay in this old family home although he was entitled to stay in the Menteri Besar’s official residence. He also refused to take his RM4,000 a month housing allowance all through those five years. This is the same for Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat who has been the Menteri Besar of Kelantan for almost 20 years now.
2. In the middle is Tun Salleh Abbas, one-time Lord President of Malaysia (now called Chief Justice) and head of the Terengganu Ombudsman when the PAS-led Pakatan Rakyat was ruling the state from 1999 to 2004.
3. Handing over a Barisan Rakyat T-shirt to Tok Guru Ayah Chik, the manja name for Datuk Seri Haji Abdul Hadi Awang.
4. The famous Rhusila mosque.
5. Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar Ahmad’s residence. Wan Mokhtar is head of the ‘Wan Clan’ and was Menteri Besar of Terengganu almost as long as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister of Malaysia.
6. Wan Mokhtar has to explain what happened to more than RM12 billion of Terengganu’s Oil Royalty from 1974 to 1999 — before it was converted to Wang Ehsan from 2000 until now (which resulted in another RM8 billion or so in ‘missing money’). That makes a total of RM20 billion which flowed into Terengganu and was never seen again.
7. The home of Wan Farid Wan Salleh, the man who would like to be the new Member of Parliament for Kuala Terengganu.
8. And this is the home of Wan Farid’s brother, Wan Hashim, the man behind the RM300 million a year Terengganu Monsoon Cup. Thus far, RM1 billion or thereabouts has been spent on this lavish but non-income generating extravaganza.
9. The official residence of the Menteri Besar of Terengganu. Unlike the Umno Menteris Besar, Hadi Awang refused to stay in this house although he was entitled to do so and he also refused the RM4,000 a month housing allowance.
10. See the stable of expensive cars. Most of us can’t afford to acquire these cars even if we worked and saved our money for 30 years.
11. Now see how the other Terengganu cronies of those who walk in the corridors of power live.
And then we have this:
12. And this is how most of the man-in-the-street lives. Although there are brick houses in Terengganu, the majority of the Malays live as this picture shows.
