Answers needed to Ani Arope’s electrifying ‘Blackout 92’ allegations

By admin-s On May 26, 2014

(The Ant Daily) – The former TNB chief’s accusations speak of a possible rot at the very core of the government which by his account not only works to victimise the people but also betrays the rakyat’s trust in it for the sake of lining its cronies’ pockets.

The government cannot afford to keep mum about the “Blackout 92” allegations made by former Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) executive chairman Tan Sri Ani Arope, as its very credibility hangs in the balance.

A democratic government as Abraham Lincoln reiterated in his Gettysburg Address quoting English theologian John Wycliff, must be “of the people, by the people and for the people”.

Leaving the “Blackout 92” enigma unanswered would violate that credo and more so as the government must not only be clean, just and fair, but also must be seen to be all those.

According to news reports, Ani disclosed this in his recently published memoirs and commented on it on his Facebook status.

He accused those in power in 1992, through the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister’s Department, of threatening the nation and TNB with more wide-scale blackouts as had happened earlier that year to push for the power company to turn over land it owns to the government.

Incidentally, the prime minister at that time was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

This, Ani claimed, was orchestrated so that the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), companies seen to be close to the government and often dubbed cronies, could then be contracted to build the power plants that were in fact in excess of Malaysia’s electricity demand.

A move which Ani lamented was unnecessary as TNB then was well prepared to build its own plants and had proper planning in place.

Instead, he accused the EPU and the government of colluding to enrich the IPPs at the expense of TNB and the rakyat who had to foot the bill for the sweetheart deal.

Indeed, the former TNB chief’s accusations speak of a possible rot at the very core of the government which by his account not only works to victimise the people but also betrays the rakyat’s trust in it for the sake of lining its cronies’ pockets.

Worse still, if his accusations are true, the very executive branch of the government which was elected into office and given the trust and mandate to rule justly in the people’s name has held the rakyat to ransom for monetary gains.

What kind of government holds its own people to ransom?