Friday 22 February 2013

UMNO's Art of the Deal. Eat your heart out Donald!



This is an extended article I received via e mail from a friend. I would like to share the story with my readers.
Mahathir Mohamad awarded the Double Tracking Project to MMC-Gamuda on 21st October 2003, just nine days before he stepped down as Prime Minister. On 1st November 2003, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, fondly known as Pak Lah, took over as Prime Minister. The first thing that Pak Lah did when he took over as Prime Minister was to cancel Mahathir’s pet projects. The Crooked Bridge to Singapore was one and the Double Tracking Project was the other, which Pak Lah shelved the following month in December 2003.
Mahathir was furious. He had spent more than a year from mid-2002 to late 2003 discussing with Pak Lah as to what he can and cannot do once he took over as Prime Minister.  Whether Pak Lah just forgot or whether he did a dirty on Dr Mahathir is not too clear.  But the long and short of it, Pak Lah did everything he promised he would not do. And cancelling Mahathir’s pet projects was clearly one of the do-not-do's.
Actually, Pak Lah had a great dislike for Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary who had shunned him when he was the Deputy Prime Minister.  Hence, within just a month of taking over as Prime Minister, Pak Lah did the unthinkable.  He cancelled the Double Tracking Project, the Crooked Bridge Project, and all those other projects that Mahathir had given to his cronies.  Did anyone not bother to tell Pak Lah that one just does not slaughter sacred cows, in particular Mahathir’s sacred cows?
Pak Lah explained that the government’s ‘poor finances’ did not permit such grandiose projects -- hence the need to cancel them. This caused Mahathir to flip. It gave the impression that Mahathir’s mismanagement has bled the country’s finances dry -- hence there is no more money. It also gave the impression that Mahathir’s projects are a total waste of money -- hence the need to cancel them. In short, Mahathir is a bungling idiot.
Try as he may, Syed Mokhtar could not get Pak Lah to agree to revive the Double Tracking Project. By 2006, Syed Mokhtar became very desperate. To get the project, he had already paid out commissions and under-table-money to various parties during Mahathir’s time. Syed Mokhtar realised that the only way to get this project back on track would be to work through the back door.
Syed Mokhtar asked the CEO of Gamuda, Lin Yun Ling, to approach Seow Lun Hoo to mastermind the penetration of Pak Lah’s inner circle. That was how Seow first involved Khairy Jamaludin, Pak Lah’s son-in-law, and later Shah Hakim, the close associate of Kamaluddin, Pak Lah’s son. And by a wave of the magical wand of Shah Hakim and Kamaluddin Badawi, the project began to be revived.
All these facts have now been revealed in court when Seow and Shah Hakim admitted that they “provided technical expertise and networking capabilities to help revive the once-shelved RM12.4 billion double-tracking railway project….It was through our efforts that the project was revived.”
The ‘networking capabilities’ and revival efforts included opening doors for Lin to present the revival ideas to then Minister-in-Charge of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Effendi Norwawi. Effendi initially told Lin that given Pak Lah’s grim description of the country’s finances it would be difficult for the government to be seen as reviving it from government funding. Effendi, the Sarawak financial wizard, then created this fanciful term for Lin to use when presenting the proposal to the government as a way in getting the project revived -- Private Finance Initiatives (PFI).
The idea was: the private sector can include all their additional financial costs and risks into the PFI proposal to make the project costs higher. Effendi also advised that after approval has been obtained, the PFI project could then revert to a design-and-build project fully shouldered by the government. And that was exactly how MMC-Gamuda cheated the Malaysian public into believing that the PFI projects were fully funded by the private sector whereas in the end the taxpayers would be footing the bill.
For his wonderful advice and support, Effendi also asked Lin to sponsor his new wife’s hobby in extravagant stage productions. That explained how Effendi’s wife, Tiara Jacqueline, could have the finances to mount the most glamorous and expensive Malay stage play to date -- Puteri Gunung Ledang. Lin and Syed Mokhtar were also made to sponsor Pak Lah’s wife’s pet project in the Pride Foundation and Endon Award for Performing Arts Excellence scholarship fund.
You see, Pak Lah, his family, and his friends in the cabinet, wanted to teach Syed Mokhtar and his sidekick, Lin, a good lesson for shunning them during Mahathir’s time. So they were going to make MMC-Gamuda pay for every single one of their whimsical pleasures.
In truth, what Pak Lah did was not new. The same thing had been done during Mahathir’s time by appeasing Siti Hasmah. And now, all the corporate giants in the country are outdoing each other to appease Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor. The mainstream media will give prominence to the generous donations by these corporate giants to Rosmah’s pet project, Permata. What is unseen is that they also donate more generously to Rosmah’s fetish for Hermes Birkin handbags and jewellery.
The story would be incomplete without explaining that the Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure at that time was, coincidentally, Najib himself. Najib endorsed the revival of the project because Syed Mokhtar had agreed for Najib’s brothers to also take huge cuts in various parts of this revived project.
Nazim Razak (Jim) was the architect who will design the various railway stations, Nazir Razak (Jay) of CIMB will be the merchant banker for the PFI, Nizam Razak will be providing financial and share advisory, while Najib’s job is to approve its revival. That is why the Plaintiff’s company is called NR Sistem, which are the initials of the Razak band of brothers.
So why the quarrel now if everyone in Umno and the Umno cronies were going to benefit? Shah Hakim had a deep distrust for Syed Mokhtar. So he had convinced Effendi that the project should be divided into two parts – the Infrastructure Works to be awarded directly to MGJV for RM10 billion and the Systems Work for RM2.38 billion which will be given to a contractor of the government’s choice. The Systems Work was supposed to be sub-contracted by MGJV to NR Sistem.
When Syed Mokhtar realised that the 30% margin that the Shah Hakim group was going to make from the RM2.38 billion System Work contract amounted to RM600 million, Syed Mokhtar got upset. He complained to Mahathir about how Pak Lah had cancelled the project and forced him to use the services of Shah Hakim who will now make RM600 million ‘atas angin’. Mahathir advised Syed Mokhtar to stall signing any contract with NR Sistem for the Systems Work.
At that time, Najib decided to play the neutral game in the open confrontation between Dr Mahathir and Pak Lah. As far as Najib was concerned, he had already secured all the contracts for his brothers. Mahathir was still very powerful and his attacks could damage Najib’s political career. On the other hand, if Mahathir’s vicious attacks against Pak Lah succeeded, Najib could unseat Pak Lah as the PM without having to challenge him as Umno President.
That was why, in 2007, Mahathir mounted vicious attacks against Pak Lah and mocked him about being Mr Clean. Meantime, Syed Mokhtar directed Lin to force Seow and Shah Hakim to accept a reduced profit margin RM360 million instead of RM600 million.
This infuriated Shah Hakim and Kamaluddin because they thought they had already agreed to the 30% margin, which was equivalent to RM600 million. That money was needed not just for them personally but also to fund Pak Lah’s 2008 elections campaign.
Syed Mokhtar held back the money and refused to give Pak Lah what he needed for the 12th general election campaign. Mahathir had advised Syed Mokhtar to hang on and not to commit to any figure as Mahathir wanted Pak Lah to perform badly in the election and subsequently be ousted.
The only way someone can become Prime Minister in this country is by paying huge sums of money to supporters to vote them into the hot seat. Without funds, Pak Lah could not pay for votes and was ousted.
Without enough funds, Mahathir’s plan became a reality. BN and Umno fared poorly in the March 2008 GE -- which was regarded as Pak Lah losing not just the elections but also losing face as well when Bumiputera businessmen whom had benefitted from Umno’s patronage dare renege on their promise of providing funding.
This was worrisome to the Umno inner circle. The March 2008 GE was regarded as Pak Lah’s personal defeat and Mahathir unleashed the Umno warlords to cry for Pak Lah’s blood.
Post-March 2008, it was imminent that Pak Lah would have to give way to Najib. Syed Mokhtar, being the shrewd businessman that he is, then directed Lin not to sign anything with Shah Hakim’s NR Sistem – even for the agreed price of RM360 million -- as Pak Lah could no longer pose any threat to the project.
Syed Mokhtar’s mentor, Mahathir, also wanted to ridicule Pak Lah’s son, Kamaludidn, and his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaludin (that they are nothing without Abdullah Badawi in power). Syed Mokhtar also wanted Kamaludin and Shah Hakim to beg him for the RM360 million that Lin had promised them.
Syed Mokhtar never intended to pay Kamaluddin and Shah Hakim the RM600 million nor the 33% or RM3.3 billion from the RM10 billion Infrastructure Works. All in all, Syed Mokhtar earned RM3.7 billion from the combined value of RM12.4 billion for the Double Tracking Rail Project.
That is why Scomi has been side-lined from most government businesses and projects. Kamaluddin Badawi and Shah Hakim were then forced to sue MMC – Gamuda and expose in court that this is how BN/Umno raise funds for the elections.
This explains Najib’s Economic Transformation Plan where the government will again undertake gargantuan projects on the pretext of injecting a revival of the economy. In truth, it is just further acts of plundering the nation.
Just imagine how much money Syed Mokhtar will make from the KL MRT Project, which is valued at RM50 billion. Umno cronies expect a margin of 30%. That would be a cool RM15 billion!
Now, add that to the recent KIDEX project awarded to companies owned by Umno Lawyer, Hafarizam Harun, and former Chief Justice, Zaki Azmi. Consider also the sale of the 26 kilometre Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya Highway, better known as the Maju Expressway (MEX), to EP Manufacturing Berhad for RM 1.7 billion -- where the original construction cost of RM976.6 million was by way of a government grant, i.e. taxpayers’ money.
Include the NFC scandal and the 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s suspicious purchase of tycoon Ananda Krishan’s power business at RM8 billion. All this is proof that UMNO is desperately raising funds for the election as well as plundering the nation in a big way one last time. All the UMNO top guns are filling up their pockets as they realise that BN is doomed.
This is how Umno operates. It is Umno culture. They will milk the country until the country is dry. Malaysia will soon become the next Greece if we do not kick out UMNO. So, whichever prime minister you have, it will still be the same until you get rid of UMNO. But what is also untold is that all these will have to be paid by hiking the project costs many-folds and it is the country and the public that will pay for such highly inflated costs.
This is how Umno does business and controls the award of Government tenders. Projects are awarded, then shelved, then revived at a much higher cost, then given a new name or rebranded, and then passed back to the government to shoulder.  It also reveals the huge profit margins that are made to line the pockets of the Umno cronies using the tax payer’s money and our EPF contributions.
How long more are Malaysians going to tolerate these dirty parasites?

24 comments:

  1. Dear Sakmongkol

    Quick, translate this into Malay. Every UMNO supporter/sympathiser, especially the rural folks, must read this.

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    Replies
    1. Dear OneMalaysian,
      The rural folks are not that "clever" to understand such complicated transactions. In fact Umno is happy if all rural folks are not "clever" bcos they can easily be deceived by Umno especially the older generations. Met an elderly rural gentleman recently..he is still fond of the late Tun Razak & bcos of that he supports Umno..what a pity for him to be deceived by Umno.

      Delete
    2. We must help the public to be aware of how the UMNO/BN have been plundering the country of Malaysia in a very big way. Only when the public know this truth, they will be very angry. They will reject BN. We should find way to reach the Malay heartland who have no access to internet news. We should also share with our Malay friends and relatives who have no access to internet.I also agree with some who suggest we pray b'coz it is God who decides who should rise -PR and who should fall-BN. For stealing, cheating & lies are abomination to God. He abhors such things.Nothing in all creation can hide from Him. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done.God will confound the BN. Everything the BN do will be exposed. God will shake up the Government. All the corruptions will be exposed. The public will reject BN in the 13th GE.

      Delete
  2. Once PR takeover, the first urgent project is to expand the Sg Buloh Camp to accommodate all the bustards and thiefs

    Pray 10 times a day, halal, non halal, god here, god there, etc. all bullshits

    At the end of the days, the public have to bear the fucking costs

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  3. I have been writing about these types of economic plundering of the nation's coffers at my blog since 2007.

    My book 'Tiger Isle- A Govt of Thieves' - check out esshankar.com - reveals typical practices rampant from the low clerical level to the mega $billion swindling by the Ali Baba-Fraudtrepreneur/Croney nexus.

    It is up to those voters with conscience to put a permanent halt to institutionalised theivery, robbery and plundering in M'sia at GE 13! Wake up Malsysians!

    Dpp
    we are all of 1 Race, the Human Race

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Just to remind everyone that Mahathir's useless double-tracking project was originally proposed for $45 billion, then reduced to $24 billion, and finally awarded to Sime for $18 billion, when Syed Mokhtar Bukhary stepped in offered to do it at $14.5 billion. SMB was rumoured to have already sub-contracted it out for $9 billion, making a cool $5.5 billion on paper for a Ali Baba flip over performance!

    Dpp
    we are all of 1 Race, the Human race

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  6. fcuk goverment and the politic,
    they never care...full of shit

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  7. These "leaders" hv been plundering the country with impunity (as they control the authorities eg Judiciary, Audit etc..) While they and their cronies become filthy rich, the majority of the rakyat who struggle to make ends meet hv to pay for these plunder via higher costs of goods eg endless tolls. We must not let them get away scot free. Come PRU13, vote BN out. Then set up a Special Court and hunt them down and return the wealth back to the rakyat.. Pls Sakmongkol.

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  8. Will we ever be able to recover from all these wanton looting is anybody's guess.But recover we must and more importantly all these crooks must be made to pay,starting with the UMNO Don even if he's already on life-support!Vote for change and make a difference!

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  9. i had a conversation earlier on, if BN wins with slim, or even huge majority, the rakyat will do the unthinkable. (for we couldn't trust anyone at this stage even the SPR)

    all we want now is the CHANGE, and this very article just add more reason for it.

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  10. Whether its Mahathir the "great leader" or Pak Lah the "Mr Clean" or Najib the "Transformer", they are all the same for all I care. They are leaders of a group of pirates, plundering the nation's wealth high and dry at the expense of the poor rakyat.

    Mr Clean, in his first week in office awarded MAS Catering to his brother Ibrahim on a lopsided contact that guarantees the catering company profit and with no exit clause for 15 years. Today he is the advisor to MAS and has no moral courage to undo the contract while MAS is still losing big time.

    God bless the Malays if they still see UMNO and only UMNO that can govern Malaysia and protect their interest.

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  11. It just sadden me to think that an average Malaysian make RM1500 to RM3000 a month while this pirate make billions just thru their connection. Yet their greed knows no end and they want to sapu everything. Just like in Tunisia and Eygpt, it reach an intolerable level until the situation exploded into the Arab Spring uprising. It just show that when you push the ordinary people to the tipping point they will retaliate. I hope we Malaysian are still in the slumber and have not awaken yet, but these bastards better not push their luck too far.

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  12. There goes all our oil money.

    The best comparison to kleptocratic Malaysia is actually kleptocratic Nigeria


    Phua Kai Lit

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  13. YBhg. Dato`,

    Mind you, now Tok Najib is talking about HSR (high speed rail) from KL to Singapore that was estimated to cost RM80bil. Next someone is going to make statements that the just completed double tracking is obsolete for not being up to HSR specifications. There goes money (billions) down the drain.

    Menyirap darah macam ni Dato`.

    Mansuh PTPTN RM6bil kata boleh bankrup. RM80bil ada pulak.

    Tengok gambar pengistiharan HSR hari tu, Lee Hsien Loong tu senyum je pasal bukan duit dia. Dia peduli apa. Tanjung Pagar dia dah dapat. Pulau Batu Putih pun dah dapat. Dalam hati anak LKY ni berkata, "padan muka lu orang (Malaysia) cepatlah lu orang bankrup."

    Saya sedih bila teringat kata-kata ni,"we do not inherit this land from our father but it is borrowed from our children".

    Tolonglah Dato` tengok-tengokkan dia orang ni.

    Salam.

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  14. Dato,how long more Malaysians are going to tolerate these dirty parasites?Well in a couple of months the latest we will know the answer.

    Have anyone seen the newspaper reports that the Taulog warriors are the most aggresive and most feared warriors among the warring tribes in the Phillipines.They are blood thirsty and always looking for a fight.No wonder our HM and gomen wants to negotiate with them.Why do gomens of sovereign countries want to have a sweetheart talk with rebels or terrorists who invade their countries.

    If armed Cubans from neighbouring Cuba were to invade Florida,when cornered by the authorities they would have surrendered.Or else the US armed forces would have made mincemeat out of them.

    In Malaysia we have Bersihs 1.0-3.0.We have anti Lynas,Hindraf and anti racial rallies against bigots like the Ali twins and Ridhuan Tee.

    All these hard work by Malaysians thirsty for change,would have come to waste if the voters screaming against corruption,cronism,racial and religious discriminations,would change their minds at the last second.If these chickens were to flip inside the voting booth,and vote Umno/BN,they will be no better than the cowards who lost their bolas against the Taulog invaders.

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  15. Looks like another 5 years of UMNO-Bn if Project EC/SPR with 500,000 postal vote suceed.....What can Rakyat do??

    We need 85% malay to vote Pakatan and 95% Chinese Indian vote Pakatan...that only to Neutralise Project EC/SPR 500,000 Phantom postal vote.

    One more thing is MAT Kilau act 3 days before election date on you know what.....no need to elaborate....

    Teruskan BOIKIT Barangan UMNO macam petrol Petronas, Air Asia, MAS,Keluarkan duit dari semua Bank Malaysia... Petronas sumber duit UMNO.....

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  16. Do you know Sak,

    When there is a dispute between pirates over their shares, then the info will be known to all, more so when the case go to court

    another dispute case is Alltentuya case, submarine commision dispute

    What about KLIA2, MRT project, what are the kickbacks sum?

    Imagine the kickback for railway from KL to Singapore. mother of all kickbacks?

    With that kinds of kickbacks, fat mama can afford diamonds nuggets lining from the pussy up to the nose

    Fcuck Barang Naik. Fcuk the pirates

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  17. Although I am now a proud Australian, I find it most infuriating that BN has continue to strip my former country of all its assets while the poor rakyat languishes not knowing what the future has in store for them. Malaysia is now the Greece of Asia as huge debts keep mounting. Malaysia has enough resources to feed all its people but not enough to satisfy BN's greed. Will Malaysians allow their children to become emaciated like the kids from North Korea/Somalia/Ethiopia before they decide enough is enough?

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  18. OneMalaysian said...

    Dear Sakmongkol

    Quick, translate this into Malay. Every UMNO supporter/sympathiser, especially the rural folks, must read this.

    PLEASE DO..

    ReplyDelete
  19. One Malaysian!
    There is not enough words in Malay, that can express what AK47 is saying. For the Malay Language is a gentle courtly language(I should know).
    Still I am going to try(oh I have a degree in Linguistics & Literature in English & Malay from UM)
    Cheers!

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  20. Agree with you Dato. You have mentioned a few of corruption cases. There are many more. We just see no way of putting right what has gone wrong with this country but for a change of government. Malaysians have to vote and vote wisely.
    http://happilyspeaking.blogspot.com/

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  21. Each day my heart sink deeper into depression thinking how all these Draculas are sucking us the public dry

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  22. What I find difficult to digest, if corruption is so rampant, Anwar as a former Finance Minister should have plenty of information to take out all these cronies. Why is everyone still around?

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