Direct negotiations: Pakatan Harapan is in panic mode
Pakatan Harapan promised ZERO direct-negotiation-without-tender contracts. So even if it was not 101 but only 90 and even it was not RM6.61 billion but only RM5 billion, that does not make them innocent of breaking their election promise.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Clearly Lim Guan Eng, DAP and Pakatan Harapan are in panic mode. The revelation that 101 government projects worth RM6.61 billion were implemented on a direct-negotiation-without-tender basis has spooked them big-time.
As what the Finance Minister said, this is not a legal issue. It is not a crime for the government to implement projects on a direct-negotiation-without-tender basis. So why are Lim Guan Eng, DAP and Pakatan Harapan so spooked?
Well, abolishing direct-negotiation-without-tender government jobs is one of Pakatan Harapan’s top ten election promises. And they claimed this was going to be done in the first 100 days of Pakatan Harapan’s rule. And now we find that Pakatan Harapan broke that promise, as they did many others.
Guan Eng is now known as “Mister 10%”
Lim Guan Eng’s, DAP’s and Pakatan Harapan’s defence is that they are not the only ones guilty of implementing projects on a direct-negotiation-without-tender basis. Barisan Nasional also did the same. In fact, Barisan Nasional has done even more than just the RM6.61 billion that Pakatan Harapan was alleged to have awarded on a direct-negotiation-without-tender basis.
In fact, it is not 101 projects worth RM6.61 billion. It is less than that. It may even be less than RM1 billion, just a few hundred million, argues DAP and Pakatan Harapan.
READ MORE HERE: SENARAI 101 PROJEK BERNILAI RM6.61 BILION SECARA RUNDINGAN TERUS
Using that same line of defence, Najib Tun Razak can also argue that the 1MDB money he was alleged to have stolen is far less than the amount of money which Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was alleged to have stolen.
In fact, it is not RM42 billion, which Mahathir, Guan Eng and Pakatan Harapan alleged, Najib can argue. Mahathir, Guan Eng and Pakatan Harapan lied. Thus far, he has been convicted for only RM42 million in the SRC case, which is 0.1% of RM42 billion. And, even then, he is appealing the conviction.
Yes, same argument as what Guan Eng, DAP and Pakatan Harapan are using.
Mahathir and Guan Eng were covering each other’s backsides and now someone has to take the blame
The issue is not that Barisan Nasional also did the same. We all know that it was Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister, Mahathir, who started this practice when he implemented the Dayabumi project through this method by doing a package deal to include the PWTC Umno HQ building — as what he calls setoff or offset.
Since then, Mahathir’s government implemented billions of projects on a direct-negotiation-without-tender basis, estimated not less than RM200 billion, or RM500 billion in today’s value.
Note that Mahathir was Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister. So, when Guan Eng, DAP and Pakatan Harapan accuse Barisan Nasional of doing the same, they are in fact accusing their own Prime Minister.
DAP accused Mahathir of being “Malaysia’s Mugabe” and then took him as Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister
If they know that Mahathir is guilty of abusing his power to the tune of RM200 billion — or RM500 billion in today’s value — why take him as Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister? Is that not weird that they accuse Mahathir of being a crook and at the same time take this crook as their Prime Minister?
What is wrong with DAP and Pakatan Harapan?
The issue is not whether it is 101 contracts worth RM6.61 billion or whether it is less than that. It is like the Nazis accusing Israel of lying that Hitler had killed six million Jews and that it was only one million Jews that died. Does killing “only” one million Jews make it alright?
No, this time DAP and Pakatan Harapan have been caught with their pants down. To argue that others also did the same and that they did less than what they were accused of doing does not clear them.
Pakatan Harapan promised ZERO direct-negotiation-without-tender contracts in 100 days
Pakatan Harapan promised ZERO direct-negotiation-without-tender contracts. So even if it was not 101 but only 90 and even it was not RM6.61 billion but only RM5 billion, that does not make them innocent of breaking their election promise.
Is this what Mahathir meant by Pakatan Harapan’s election promises are unrealistic and cannot be kept and that election promises are not the word of God anyway?
Oh, and by the way, can Pakatan Harapan now reveal how much legal work the then Attorney-General, Tommy Thomas, gave to his Indian lawyer friends plus his own firm on a direct-negotiation-without-tender basis? You will be surprised when you find out how much they are worth.
