Najib’s Speech to Pekan Umno on 4 July 2010
By Dr Tan Kee Kwong
Dear Dato Seri Najib,
I read your speech to Pekan UMNO in the NST with great interest. It is quoted you said, “Don’t just help ourselves or our friends and party members, but put those who are poor and needy first. If we do this, the people will see UMNO as being helpful to the people.” If you and UMNO really mean that, you will win the next GE hands down!
Sir, how do you explain what happened in March 2008 ie the Political Tsunami right after the fantastic victory achieved by the BN in 2004? How do you explain the results of the recent Sibu by-election? In Sibu, in addition to fighting the BN, PBB and SUPP, the Pakatan Rakyat had to counter the many twists and turns of the SPR ie Elections Commission!
OFFSHORE PATROL VEHICLES (OPV’s)
This was way back in 1998. The timing was also very critical for Malaysia. At that time George Soros attacked the regional currencies of South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia etc. Also at that time, Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as Finance Minister and Daim brought back as Finance Minister. Daim immediately awarded the very lucrative contract of RM5.2 billion to build six OPV’s to PSC Shipyard Berhad.
Later on, we found out in the PAC of Parliament that before PSC even started the physical construction, MOF gave PSC a cheque of ONE BILLION RINGGIT.
As the PAC meeting went on, we were shocked to find out that THREE POINT EIGHT BILLION was paid by MOF when not even ONE OPV was delivered to the Navy.
I remember even the UMNO members of the PAC committee were agahast! Then we went on to question the KSU of the Defence Ministry of the RM600 million unaccounted for. His reply was very clear and sharp – This RM600 miliion was used to pay the debts of his OTHER projects!
Now I understand that the OPV contract is given to another company to finish at a total cost to the BN Government of 7.5 billion, a cost overrun of 2.3 billion. Is this what you mean by Rakyat diutamakan? As far as I know, no one has been charged, fined or jailed. How did this mess help the poor and needy?
TRENGGANU INVESTMENT AGENCY (TIA)
Right after the political tsunami of March 2008, the political elites conjured up many ways to screw the the country. The thinking is at the next GE BN may not be in charge of the Federal Government of Putrajaya. This TIA involves the payment of Wang Ehsan from Petronas to the State Government of Trengganu, roughly about 600 to 700 million per year. So some smart guy said, “Let us raise bonds worth FOUR billion and get Bank Negara and the Federal Government to back these bonds.” And so they did in about end of 2008.
I am reliably informed that for a huge sum like this, a commission of 3% is normally paid. In this case, the commission paid was 12.5%. What they did with the balance ie 3.5 billion was even worse. They invested in an anak syarikat of a Saudi oil firm. The only asset of this anak syarikat is an oil and gas company in Kazakstan!
I want to ask Najib and the Cabinet:
a. Wang Ehsan is meant to help the poor people of Trengganu, not for any other purpose, certainly not to misuse it and raise bonds.
b. Why was this abnormally high amount of 12.5% commission paid?
c. Is this investment in Kazakstan secure?
d. Which stupid fool ignores the first rule of investment ie put all 3.5 billion in only one country and only one project. We learnt in PRIMARY school “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”.
Long but not exhaustive list of scandals:
1.BMF in HK – 4 billion
2. Bank Bumiputra bail out 2x
3. PKFZ – 4.2 billion but may cost 10 billion
4. Perwaja Steel – 15 billion
5. MAS shares – Govt bought at $8 ringgit when market price was $3.5 ringgit
6. School claasrooms & computer labs – 10 billion, direct nego. How much did the Government actually get?
7. Halal Hub – 2 billion spent, nothing done, only 200 million left
8. Armoured carriers – 8 billion going to be spent. By industry standards, a good armoured car will only cost half a million. Mindef will spend 30 million for each armoured carrier!
Mr Prime minister, is this what you mean by Rakyat Diutamakan? In your own words, how are all the scandals mentioned above going to help the poor and needy? Please explain to all the Rakyat jelata.
