Anwar: I defended Bumiputera paddy farmers with Bernas

(MM) – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim renewed today his attack against a privatisation bid of Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas), claiming he had used the rice distribution firm to protect the interests of largely-Bumiputera farmers.

When rice industry regulator National Padi and Rice Board (LPN) was corporatised into Bernas in 1996, Anwar said he had wielded his powers as the country’s then finance minister to ensure that poor farmers and fishermen took up part of a total of 45 per cent stake in the firm.

“Forty-five per cent held by paddy planters, fishermen and Bernas staff,” the PKR de facto leader said in his winding up speech at the party’s special congress here.

He explained that the privatisation of LPN was carried out by the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department, while tenders were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance that he was then heading.

While saying that his insistence on the “condition” for LPN’s privatisation had guaranteed the interests of 170,000 paddy planters that were also overwhelmingly Bumiputera or Malays, Anwar said it had also attracted the ire of influential Umno leaders.

“At that time, it caused tension with a few Umno leaders including Tun Daim Zainuddin who menegurkan (chided) me through Tun Mahathir, why give up to 45 per cent to farmers’ cooperatives, companies that don’t know how to do business,” the former Umno minister said, referring to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Anwar, who is now Opposition Leader, then took a jab at federal lawmakers from Barisan Nasional (BN) who had defended the ruling coalition’s New Economic Policy (NEP).

Late this year, the prime minister had unveiled a plan to provide over RM31 billion in aid and loans to help the Bumiputera – the country’s largest ethnic community – to empower and boost their participation in the economy.

“Dasar Ekonomi Baru (New Economic Policy), Hidup Melayu. Which Malays? I choose 170,000 paddy planters, you choose Syed Mokhtar,” Anwar said when mocking the BN MPs, receiving loud claps from party members.

Anwar and other opposition politicians had recently raised doubts over the proposed takeover of Bernas by majority shareholders linked to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.

Today Anwar resumed his attacks on Syed Mokhtar, whom he views as profiting from Bernas’s lucrative concession to distribute rice throughout Malaysia.

Earlier this month, Bernas proposed a voluntary withdrawal from Bursa Malaysia after it failed to get 90 per cent acceptance support from shareholders to privatise the company.

In an exchange filing on November 6, the company said the joint offerers and parties acting in concert to take it private had only managed to obtain 83.69 per cent shareholders’ support as of November 4, 2013.

This means that the company does not comply with Bursa’s listing requirements of having at least 25 per cent public shareholding spread.

Syed Mokhtar, who holds the controlling stake, is trying to take Bernas private using his four companies — Perspective Lane Sdn Bhd, Kelana Venture Sdn Bhd, Seaport Terminal (Johor) Sdn Bhd and Acara Kreatif Sdn Bhd — who are the joint offerors.

Following the failure of the privatisation bid earlier this month, Bernas’s shareholders will decide on the proposed voluntary delisting from Bursa in an extraordinary general meeting.

The Edge reported that three minority shareholders in Bernas – Batu Bara Resources Corp Sdn Bhd (4.8 per cent), the National Farmers Organization (3.71 per cent) and the National Fishermen’s Association (3.42 per cent) — will be key to Syed Mokhtar and his nominees’ bid to take over the rice producer.

A lawsuit could also put brakes on a bid by the main shareholders connected to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary to take over and privatise the profit-making Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas), The Edge has reported.

According to the financial news weekly, minority shareholder Ilustrasi Hikmat Holdings Sdn Bhd (IHSB) had filed the case in April, disputing Syed Mokhtar and his companies’ right to take over ownership of Bernas.

IHSB, which held 3.53 million shares in Bernas as of May this year, is saying that the company cannot be controlled and owned by a single person.

The minority shareholder is basing its claims on contracts signed between Putrajaya and other stakeholders when rice industry regulator National Padi and Rice Board (LPN) was turned into a corporation, with Bernas assuming LPN’s role as regulator in 1996.

In March, Syed Mokhtar’s initial bid to take the rice distributor private failed as the tycoon was unable to receive sufficient shares acceptance from the minority shareholders.

The bulk of Bernas shares is controlled by Syed Mokhtar through Tradewinds (M) Bhd (72.7 per cent of Bernas shares), which he privatised in March this year.

The privatisation of Tradewinds triggered a mandatory general offer for Bernas and Tradewind Plantations Bhd.

The cash-rich Bernas has RM612.67 million in the bank as of September 30, which is double the RM398.6 million it held in January this year, The Edge reported.

On April 26, 2011, the government has announced that Bernas’ exclusive contract of rice distribution has been extended for 10 years starting from January 11, 2011 to January 10, 2021.

Bernas currently controls 24 per cent of the paddy market and 45 per cent of the local rice demand.