EPF Contributors! Beware. (Da Man)

Beware people! Our EPF money is placed in possible harm's way.

Our EPF (Employees Provident Fund) is planning to develop the 3000 acre RRIM Land in Sungai Buloh. On page 1 of the STAR – the people's paper yesterday, the PM announced Malaysia's Easy first home scheme. Young adults can get 100% financing for homes up to RM 220,000.

Is the government doing something to avoid a subprime disaster? Opening up relieve valves to reduce the pressure on property market? China has banned second home financing. Here we are doing nothing of that sort. As a result houses in the city- where we are going to be serviced by the RM 50 billion MRT and have our senses dulled and lulled by the scenic beauty of the RM 17 billion River of Life Project- will cost how much? Most of us can and will only do that as tourists in our city. After that we shall go back retreating to our RM 200,000 homes in Meru Kelang, in Kuala Selangor etc. meanwhile homes in KL and Greater KL- RM 500,000 and above? Can the majority of the working population ever afford to own such homes?

Kuala Lumpur is becoming a city from the rich, by the rich, for the rich and to the rich.

Two- is the Housing Developers Association people pressuring the PM? By proposing to the PM a scheme of financing homes up to RM 220,000- that can be an excuse for developers to start asking the government cheap lands or land payable by low premiums. A developer can propose to the government its readiness to build affordable homes provided the government gives him cheap land. Or pay low premiums.

There's a simpler way of making homes affordable. Place a cap on the prices of houses. Remove the RPGT. Stop the financing of second homes. The property price will come down. If China can ban second financing of homes, Malaysia pun boleh.

The other issues behind the Easy First Home scheme may be an interesting storyline to develop further. If you people out there have interesting facts please e mail me. But first for now, let's leave that hot issue.

I want to tell the story about our EPF. Cilaka punya orang.

In the StarBiz – it was reported; EPF APPOINTS CHIEF EXECUTIVE FOR KWASA LAND. Lu banyak kuasa ya?

EPF appoints a chap from MRCB to its wholly owned subsidiary Kwasa Land. Why is this chap Mohd Lotfy Mohd Noh following the trail of the 3000 acre land? Perhaps MACC should start investigating at such appointments.

Wasn't the earlier plan was for the EPF to hive off the land trough MRCB? Guess who was at MRCB at that material time who was supposed to handle the land deal? Our friend Mohd Lotfy, buddy to Shahril of EPF, protégé of NMY- Nor Mohamed Yaakob. Forgive the acronym- but the alphabet soup ETP, MRT, PDP, GTP, NEM, is getting on to me.

The plan was for MRCB to sell the land to some china men. The deal didn't go through. Or the deals didn't go through. So EPF brings back the land home and parks it now, under a wholly owned subsidiary. Who heads this subsidiary? Our friend Mohd Lotfy friend to Sharil protégé to NMY. EPF promptly announce that Kwasa Land will parcel out the development of the 3000 acre land. What EPF cannot do through MRCB, they will now accomplish under Kwasa land. And they have got the person to carry out the devious plan, parceling out the development of the RRIM land.

Here's the paradox. Out of the estimated 11 million contributors to EPF, maybe 10 million earn salaries less than RM3000 a month. They can now get a house up to RM 220,000. The question is where? In Sekinchan? In Meru Klang? Maybe the government can ask UEM to revive the housing project at Lembah Beringin?

EPF which uses OUR money to strike business deals has got a land bank of 3000 acres in Sungai Buloh. How come it's not coming out with plans to build affordable housing for its 10 million depositors? It has a MORAL DUTY to do so. You take our money; you want to develop the 3000 acre land into a new upscale township. All the 10 million depositors can do is salivate at seeing the new township components. How can they not when the property will definitely cost more than RM 220,000 per unit?

The deals that EPF is doing are serpentine in terms of visibility and transparency. It's almost like, there is an unseen hand orchestrating deals though our various GLCs that will end up enriching a coterie of protégés. At the end of the year, heads of GLCs will announce an impressive business record for the year and declare dividends of 50 sen per share. Who is to know while declaring a 50 sen per share dividend, the head of the bloody GLC is pocketing 30 sen per share? We don't know do we? Who is to know, people at Kawasa will sell out pieces of the 3000 acre RRIM land making huge commissions through those deals? Haiya- what is RM 50 million compared to the RM 500 million that went to Perimekar ma?

Some people can do these things precisely because heads of GLCs and their henchmen are running the government's business agencies behind veils of secrecy. And we wonder how come these heads of GLCs can drive in Ferraris, Lamborghinis, R8s, etc? No this is not business acumen- it may just be indicators of daylight robbery.

The problem here is the heads of our GLCs and those who handle public money – if they run circles, can just hoodwink the PM and cabinet ministers. The heads of our GLCs are in fact the PM of their respective domains- answering to no one and having the liberty to report to the PM in any manner they can. The manner is of course anything that pleases the ears of the PM.

How come we never hear of heads of GLC reporting about anything amiss in their organizations only to later discover, the organizations they head, have cans of worms? Before the billion Ringit fiasco of its Energy and Utility business, how come the management of Sime Darby wasn't forthcoming in their report to its board of directors? And when the rot was revealed everyone were clamoring for the removal of the Board of Directors but most of us were silent about the management team and line managers? Get the line managers first and ferret out the missing links! Incidentally I wrote for the removal of the BOD and ALSO the firing of line managers.

We appear to apply the most stringent tests on propriety and good governance on public officials and politicians. But we are shy of doing the same when it comes to investigating and questioning those people managing our GLCs- Sime Darby, Malayan Banking, TNB, EPF, MRCB and so forth? These people manage these organizations like imperial mandarins, impervious and very opaque.

On its Business Page news B3, the Star had this to report on EPF deals- "as it stands, there is still little visibility on the selection criteria" .

"As it stands, there is still little visibility on the selection criteria". I almost fell off my chair.

Hello people, you are looking at the wrong source to ask the question. Let me give an historical analogy. Remember, when the Perwaja Steel under the late Eric Chia was the focus of our anger the last time? Everyone says they couldn't locate Eric Chia? I remember Karpal Singh coming out with a statement- you people are looking at the wrong place. If you want to locate Eric Chia, look at the PM's residence.

Now- where do you go to unravel the opacity of the EPF deals? You go and ask Nor Mohamad Yaakob people- he is the one who appoints the KPI Brigade for the various GLCs. I think the PM should start looking at re aligning his ministers. The infective and meek Husni Hanazliah the FM2 who should be the one to look at the appointments of GLCs should be shown the way out. Lu lah jaga appointment to the GLCs brother.

Instead its Nor Mohamad Yaakob( NMY) ( the cabinet's money changer) who is looking after the appointments. It seems this man who lost billions when doing FOREX deals at Bank Negara sometime ago, is the only person in this country who understands about KPI and can identify those people who can translate KPI. Hence he chooses and picks people for KHAZANAH- who run our Sovereign Fund like a private fiefdom. He appoints his boys at TNB, EPF, Bursa Saham, MRCB , the government owned banks etc. He is Da man.

So if we want to unravel the mystery and opacity, go ask NMY. He is the only minister in the cabinet whose political secretary has been charged for corruption. So for good measure, maybe MACC should also look at the people whom NMY appoints to head the GLCs. Khazanah, TNB, EPF, MRCB etc. etc.

The heads of Telekoms, Celcom, PNb, EPF, MRCB, -you name it, PETRONAS too, who behave like they are the PM in their respective domains? Who shall oversee them? Nor Mohamad Yakob?

This man seems to be more interested in placing his people in strategic economic pies. He has his every finger in every pie in the country. He has his KPI boys in many GLCs- in EPF, in MRCB, in Khazanah, in Maybank, in the banks, etc. etc. the list goes on and on. These boys are just bean counters had they travel the normal course of career development but for Nor Mohamad Yakob's discretionary application of the power to appoint, they have become fabulously powerful and wealthy.

Of course they can report profits and dividends of RM1 per share- but who is to know whether 80 sen has gone into their own pockets? I think the MACC should investigate all the heads of GLCs. They have the power of giving out multibillion deals and here we are decrying the case of one YB receiving a mere RM 2000.

That's a lot of bull and morally twisted crap.