Fighting corruption is a serious undertaking

In august 2010, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah wrote the following. As I am now writing articles about corruption, I find it apposite to remind readers of that article. It's about asking ministers to declare their assets.

This is important in order for the public to gauge the integrity of ministers who possess wide discretionary powers. Ministers are given powers by Parliament to become the final arbiters on certain decisions. To waive strict compliance on certain matters. To allow leeway in others.

We give Ministers the powers to make decisions involving vast sums of public money. Those decisions have too often led to bloated or stalled projects, questionable awards of tenders, and inflated contract values. Meanwhile some Ministers" lifestyles suggest incomes far beyond what they could possibly afford on their salaries. Ministers' assets are not a private matter to be discussed cozily behind closed doors with the Prime Minister. It is not the Prime Minister's money that we are talking about.

Corruption has become institutionalized in our political system. It is ruining this country. This is not just my private belief. Malaysians from all walks of life believe that corruption has become a way of life and know that many of their leaders are corrupt. They know that corruption is so widespread that it has been normalized. They know it deprives them of what is rightfully theirs in the present and stunts their children's future.

The MACC has a huge task in overcoming corruption. They have had to overcome the perception that they are not serious about pursuing corruption wherever it is found. They would have a lot more credibility with the public if their chief commissioner's call for transparency of Minister's assets were heeded.

Nobody is going to believe that members of the cabinet are above corruption, let alone serious about addressing the problem, if they refuse to declare their assets.

In the same measure the assets of former Ministers should also be made public.

But beyond just calls to stem corruption, the calls must surely be followed through by serious attentiveness. The recent case involving Khir Toyo is a case in point. If we are not careful, which indicators appear to show so, this case may come back to haunt the government. The public will say, the case isn't strong at all and that it's only put up as show.

If we are to make a charge, we must also ensure that the charge sticks. Otherwise, we are going to be opened to charges of unprofessionalism. Can the charge on Khir Toyo stick? It's not a crime if a seller wishes to part with his property and a loss. Stupidity is not a crime.

Sometime people have to sell their property at forced sale prices. Hence if I bought this house a few years ago at RM 6 million, it's my damn bloody business I now want to sell the house at RM 3 million. That is not corruption.

Hence to frame a charge on such a weak foundation will certainly suggest a profound lack of seriousness.

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UMNO and corruption- 2

 

My most recent article is the stand of UMNO on corruption. The easy linking up of UMNO and corruption is too simplistic. It can't be true that UMNO people are devoid of a sense of probity. If you see the comments following that article, no one, including UMNO people are condoning corruption. No one wants it.

And I find it mischievous to suggest that UMNO does not want integrity in its dealings.

The stand is: UMNO like any other political parties does not condone and tolerate corruption. But proving corruption will not be easy. Despite that, the difficulty to prove it is not an excuse not to do the necessary actions.

Since we cannot discuss the specific matter that Khir Toyo is facing before the court, we will highlight other things which Khir Toyo did which are cause for concerns. Or reasons for our misgivings.

We shall speak instead about the politics of the case. How should be UMNO's political stand?

I have said, it would be grave mistake to treat Khir's case as that of UMNO's. Let's not make khir a martyr. Secondly, khir toyo is not indispensable. His likes are a dime a dozen. So many others can do the job Khir did. It was only a set of accidental events that catapulted him into the MBship of Selangor. Anyone with above average intelligence can become an MB. He was just a mechanic doing his thing on molars, premolars and other tooth types.

The message then, no one in UMNO is indispensable. In the coming weeks, I shall be exposing the goings on at another ministry which is a custodian of large scale projects. We shall see how public office is manipulated so as to drain the resources from this county. I promise you, it will be explosive. It shall be a tale of how project costs are inflated exorbitantly to shameless proportions. The worst thing, is the minister in charge of the ministry, knowingly supported a particular project which could be gotten as a much lower cause.

How shall UMNO treat these leaders even if they are MBs or ministers? PM Najib must let them go. Retire these people so that good men, winnable candidates and personalities can take over. No one person is indispensable and no one person can be so clever to the extent they cannot be replaced.

Let's get back to khir Toyo. He has come up with the disingenuous alibi as to how he has become rich. By selling the nutritious tempe.

Among the strange things Khir did in his capacity as MB:-

Approving land applications to 4 people between 2000-2001 who are known to have substantive relationship to either himself or to his polsec. Each of the 4 people who were given land of 100 acres each which was valued at RM 200k an acre were

1.    Ahmad Tarmizi Tajjeury,

2.    A.Rahman Mokhtar,

3.    Suzilawani Mustaphin and

4.    Ali Nordin.

A stranger case involving his executive position to grant land to some 20 year olds land of 50 acres each to

1.    Ahmad Azmir,

2.    Noor Ashikin

3.    Mardhiah

4.    Azril Yusri.

And one of them is the son to the DO of Kuala Langat.

Some of these wet behind the ears disco and club friendly 20 year olds didn't even know the land were given out in their names. Some of them were appointed 40 days as company directors prior to the companies submitting the land applications. It was also found out; some of the companies had the same shareholders.

The list is a long one. I don't have the enthusiasm to lay them down. It's so depressing.

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UMNO and Corruption

1. Corruption is caused as well as increased because of the change in the value system and ethical qualities of men who administer. The old ideals of morality, service and honesty are regarded as an anachronism.
   
2. Tolerance of people towards corruption, complete lack of intense public outcry against corruption and the absence of strong public forum to oppose corruption allow corruption to reign over people.
   

The stupidest mistake UMNO can make now is turning Khir Toyo's purely legal problem into a political one. That will mean making out UMNO as a victim of some sinister plot targeting its leaders. Of course it's targeting its leaders- the corrupt ones. We don't have to have pity on these. If we do, then we have confused our values system.

It's time we face the reality, that some crook UMNO leaders have become rich on their ill-gotten gains. Ordinary UMNO members are certainly interested to know the value of Khir's House. Dr Mahathir once said, even his house which is far modest than this dentist's already cost the value Khir used to advertise around. Dr Mahathir's house costs the same as the price Khir bought his land.

Its time leaders like Khir Toyo share the feelings of being given the usual unsolicited talk-down advice of "there's nothing to fear if you have done nothing wrong".

UMNO should not be apologetic if these things happen to its leaders. PM Najib wants to do house cleaning and he does embark on it seriously, his tasks are like cleaning the Augean Stables. But he must do it, as elections loom nearer. He needs support not apologetic pleadings.

I am ready to commend PM Najib when he takes a 'doing right' position. And it's here that I can explain something to the knuckleheads out there.

A political adversary asked me- why are you hitting at PM Najib at every chance you get? Weren't you his ADUN before and served as divisional committee member for a number of years and was also his information chief in UMNO Pekan? Let me state unequivocally here: I am an UMNO man. I hadn't abandoned the party. I support PM Najib. But I am critical of him and his policies. There are so many obsequious supporters around him that may prevent him from getting a reality check. So don't begrudge me from being my critical self. There are enough of you out there who can balance my trenchant criticisms.

I can say these things: - no one can say PM Najib hasn't got a good work ethics. This I personally know. He is a workaholic. He is also a personable fellow. Despite these endearing qualities, I would be remiss in my self-assumed duty if I were to hold back from giving honest criticisms. I have seen the near disastrous effects of people around him giving ear pleasing disinformation to Najib. In the 1999 GE, Najib won the Pekan seat with a majority of 241 votes. This was caused mainly by people around him giving lulling disinformation which created a false sense of invincibility. He has learnt an important lesson- that victory has to be won over and over again. And he must never trust those Malay-Greeks bringing gifts.

At the same time, there are also many good things he has done and will do.

He also has those qualities that aren't so good. Trying to be all things to all people, is one of them. Limiting himself from taking decisive and at times surgical measures is another. Mistaking loyalty for competence is another. The list is long. So I try to point these out in my style.

Now he has allowed the law to take its course on one leading UMNO leader. He has shown his resolve too when Anwar Ibrahim met up with him. You know Anwar Ibrahim- he still thinks Najib as his deputy as last time and spoke down on Najib. I don't have to elaborate on the subject of the conversation between Anwar and Najib. What Najib said must have jolted Anwar. That he doesn't control the judiciary and Anwar would have to allow the due process of law to take place. We have seen how Anwar has exploited every avenues permitted by law to beat the system.

Now, he has shown his resolve once again. Khir was MB for Selangor for a number of years. He is a leader of UMNO Selangor. But he is not getting any favorable treatment in the present case. And PM Najib has said this is a normal judicial process.

How do we treat Khir's case? First, avoid turning khir into a martyr. He is not. If he has gotten his wealth though ill-gotten means, he must suffer the punishment. As this case is expected to take up some time, his political career is dismal. If there is a taint of corruption, he will certainly not be fielded as candidate in the next election.

Khir's case can't be among the 18 high profile cases declared pompously by Rais Yatim a few years ago? It also can't be one of those hidden in the many boxes announced by Senator Ezam Mohd Noor some time ago. This case postdates whatever said by the two.

Yesterday we saw Khir Toyo, the former MB of Selangor being charged in court. He will answer charges of corruption. He has bought two pieces of land at half the value for which they were bought by the first vendor. The first vendor is a successful Malay contractor who cut his teeth since the time of Tan Sri Mohd Taib. He must have been very charitable.

The original price was over RM 6 million. Khir bought it at over 3 million. We will soon know why the vendor was willing to sell the land at such a big loss or discount. We will also know perhaps, the cost of the house. How was it possible for Khir to procure the land at such a huge discount? Is the seller a mental retard or was he charmed by some Javanese voodoo incantations that compelled him to underpriced his sale? Khir Toyo must have conjured something from his tempe. Maybe Khir can write a business manual, how to sell tempe and build a mansion.

In Singapore a few years ago, the sale of a number of units of upscale condominiums to Lee Kuan Yew and his family members caused such uproar and the person alleging improprieties subjected to defamation actions. If Khir is innocent he can sue the pants off his enemies.

Khir's case has validated our practical definition of corruption- it's the abuse of public office by holders of that office for personal and private gains. In general, there is always the possibility that any person placed in charge of sources of power, rules, regulations are in position to abuse them for personal gain. Those people in MCMC for example, having wide discretionary power to issue mobile phone licenses or air space or whatever they are called are able to manipulate the rules and regulations for personal gains.

As a general rule too, retired top civil servants now living beyond their means, aged 55 and above, driving around in the most expensive of cars have accumulated huge amounts of money through corruption. They weren't doing business and government pay wasn't large.

The next credibility making step PM Najib can take is to sanction charges on some recently retired top civil servant. In South Africa its former IGP was charged and found guilty of corruption. Here in Malaysia, in order to put to rest those wild accusations against former IGP Musa Hassan, the son of a venerable religious personality, allow MACC to investigate him.

That is why I say, Najib has an Augean Stable to clean.

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Give MCA the boot.

 

My blogger friend Aspan Alias has written a very penetrating article. See here. If we can characterize the speech given by the BN chairman, we can likely say it's a speech with all the gegak gempita and goga. With all the pomp and aplomb and browbeating.

The problem here is: the people voting for us are not only those in the dewan. Those in the dewan number a miniscule portion of the voting masses. The voting masses are those who have to incur rising commodity prices and petrol and those who are revolted and repulsed by the cancerous corruption that has permeated all levels of our country's governance.

If there's value in the speech, it is because it meant more for the mosquito BN parties- the parties who have nothing. They'd better sing to the tune of Shirley Bassey's famous hit.

The Gerakans, the PPP, the MIC. For them, the speech may be uplifting. These are hoping for the crumbs for having something is better than nothing. The PPP's Kaveas wants only a ministerial post. That would be his personal fin-de siècle. (End of his life chapter, the climax of his climaxes). Koh Tsu Koon will be eternally grateful if he can have a safe seat. His loss of Penang has exposed the emptiness of his rule over Penang those years. These are the people who get wet dreams during daytime.

Meanwhile, the mother to the Penang Gerakan Youth Head in Penang is a fan of Anwar Ibrahim. She never misses the Permatang Pauh feller sodomy charges notwithstanding. What can we do if some people derive pleasure from pain? What do you call this? Sadomasochism? One person derives pleasure from giving pain to the public; the public gets high from being pained by that person. How can Gerakan even win Penang again?

So Najib's spirited talk can only bring cheers to the mosquito parties.

The MCA would have none of that. They don't want UMNO to big-brother them. They want to decide equally. Chua Soi Lek's MCA flails against anything UMNO these days. Decision making at UMNO Supreme Council, the 30% wealth owned by Malays, but never on who owns the 70% wealth. Indeed with everything UMNO has accomplished, does and will do.

So why do we keep MCA around anymore? Send it to pasture and let's see what those MCA ministers without office and governmental power can do. Let's see what Ng Yen Yen can do in Raub or Leow the unhealthy health minister can do. By the way, why hasn't he been given the big stick for allowing dengue fever to reach epidemic levels and he hasn't come out openly about it. What happens to the millions of Ringgit purchases for H1N1 antidote when the disease is under control? Why did he insist H1N1 is still around as if to justify the millions of Ringgit spent to purchase the medicine?

Since the MCA cannot deliver anything to the BN, it should be let loose. Probably its time for UMNO and BN to cultivate allegiance with other Chinese centric parties. Or from the Chinese directly. They are a practical and pragmatic lot. Just show and implement what they want and MCA is irrelevant.

The bigger problem is with Najib himself. Is he made of sterner constitution to have that fortitude to tell MCA, go and fly kite? He says different things to different audience. To the Malays there is no one who loves the Malay more than he does. To the nons- he is the quintessential liberal, accommodating and inclusive.

He wants to be all things to all people. I don't know what term people use to describe such a personality. But the term that is widespread now is ihelpyouyouhelpme personality. Maybe they should add this to the Psychology lexicon.

The UMNO president can remain to be the benevolent father figure. But let him be surrounded by people with sterner stuff who are not afraid to do battle with the likes of Chua Soi Lek.

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The scourge of corruption

I read somewhere; people are saying that FDI is avoiding Malaysia because of overt Malay supremacist tendencies. Politicians are quick to apportion blame to insignificant NGOs like Perkasa. Well, if the blame game is to be played fairly, then it should also be apportioned to Chinese based NGOs. Many of the same politicians who are quick draw McGraw when it comes to Malay NGOs are slothful when it comes to Chinese based NGOs.

The same duplicitous tendency is reflected in discussing wealth ownership in this country. We are over eager to discuss the ownership of 65% of this country's population of the elusive 30% wealth of this country; but we are dreadfully silent and seemed hesitant to debate the ownership of 70% of the wealth of this country by 35% of the people underscored with our readiness to ignore their ethnic origins. I am advocating we damn the 35% without caring whether there are Malays, Chinese or Indians. They are our common enemy NOT the 65% eking out a meaningful life.

But it's not this shameless duplicity that I want to debate at the moment. I only wish to point out that the more sinister cause for the plight of FDI is corruption. Corruption is like a plague; everyone dreads it, knows the danger but AVOID going into serious discussion as to the causes behind corruption.

In the Asia Sentinel, there was an interesting article about the rising scourge of corruption. Among the cases that were the object of public scorn are:-

1. The Commonwealth Games sporting extravaganza brought to light the murky dealings of politicians and sports officials who had forged papers, bought equipment and materials at inflated prices and generally cooked the books. The budget eventually ballooned to around US$6 billion, even as it was hit by delayed venues and organizational problems.
   
2. Another scam has been the most mind-boggling of the lot. In this, the Telecommunications Minister Andimuthu Raja, who was recently forced to resign, undersold 2G spectrum mobile licenses to 85-odd global firms at a throw-away price, losing the exchequer Rs1.76 trillion. Wags point out that the number of suitcases Raja would have needed to fill that loot, if laid end-to-end, would reach from Delhi to the southern city to Chennai (a distance of 2,177 km).
   

Using the two cases above, we note the following:-

1. Corruption occurs when people in authority are vested with powers to make purchases or who are able to commit funds.
   
2. Two, corruption is most often associated with people holding public office and who inhabit officious positions.
   

It is also interesting to see a detailed breakdown of the major players of corruption. For instance in India, the main players in corruption are found to be categorised as follows:-
The bulk of the corruption cases involved government officials and leaders. The greatest sources of bribe demands were from national level Government officials (33%), the police (30%), state/provincial officials and employees (16%), and city officials (10%) respectively.

This leads us to ask the question, why is it, the public sector is the sector most prone to corruption?

These observations also lead us to evolve a practical definition of corruption. Essentially it is the misuse of public office positions for private gain.

Hence, from the standpoint of public perception, corruption almost always involved those holding public positions- government positions, politicians and all those holding any levers of power, rules and regulations.

As a general rule, corruption usually involves some sort of link between bureaucracy, politics and criminals. If we are not careful Malaysia will not only be considered a soft state, but is slowly becoming a consideration state where everything can be had for a consideration. Soft state in the sense, even the PM appears powerless to stop the rot and is therefore sucked into the whirlpool of complicity. I have written elsewhere that in order to acquire credibility, the PM must have his Voltaire moment. 'Execute' some admirals so that other admirals fall into line. Translation: prosecute 2-3 ministers for corruption.

Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers. At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right things done at right time.

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TM sells its shares in a sunrise business

Here are two interesting comments to my short article regarding TM's intention of selling its shares in the mobile phone business.

Telekom Malaysia took over ailing CELCOM and renamed it TM International. Telekom was split into two units: one to focus in fived lines and TMI to expand into cellular mobile services in Sri lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh etc...

It was losing money badly. The share price dropped from $ 7.00 to $ 2.80 in 2008. Ha.. They hired the retired CEO from Maxis. He is still there. Yesterday they announced big profit for the quarter. Hence, TM wants to reduce its holding in Axiata.

Poor business acumen. This is growth industry not the sunset fixed line collecting monthly rental for infra done 30 years ago. Many houses still keep their fixed lines and cursing paying monthly rentals. Easy money for TM. Their CEO gets pays and perks and gets rotated within khazanah group.Wonderful life. Whenever they need any business proposal, just hire the consultants. No need to think at all; no stress and just keep playing golf the corporate way!

This was a comment by a person named Umar. Another below, was a comment from One Malaysian.

…… Rather, there are 2 questions that need to be answered. First, was it a good idea for Telecom Malaysia to split itself into 2 parts in 2007 by creating TM (to house all the fixed line business plus broad band i.e. HSSB), and spin off all the mobile business into TMI, now renamed Axiata?

Second, after already selling a portion of TMI in 2007 when TMI was listed, is it a good idea to now sell some more shares to the public?

The main reason for splitting itself into TM and TMI in 2007 (Wahid's idea) was so that the 2 very different businesses (fixed and mobile) could be run by different people because they had different business dynamics - the fixed line was a declining business (and dull) and the mobile business was growing and represented the future of telephony.

The stock market gives a low price earnings ratio to dull, slow growing business and rewards the mobile business with much higher PE ratios. Thus it made sense both from value creation and business dynamics and management to split them. So today, the market value of Axiata far exceeds that of TM. So this split was good.

Now, was it necessary to list TMI (i.e. Axiata) in 2007? This is debatable. On the one hand by selling a portion, TM raised a substantial sum of money to pay down debts and also enabled it to pursue the HSSB project. It now transpires that this HSSB project costing about RM10 billion (60%) funded by government may not be so fantastic after all. Wimax (really 3G) and later true LTE 4G wireless BB will probably kill it. Lets wait and see.

Should TM now sell even more shares, that is, dilute its holding further?

What might be its motive? Pay down more debts, or simply to comply with Khazanah thinking to increase liquidity of GLC counters to create a more attractive stock market? It is said that Khazanah holds too many shares in listed GLCs and this kind of makes the market illiquid and so big funds stay away. Different people have different ideas about this subject. Personally, if I had a gold mine I would want 100% of it if I could afford to. Why share?

Some issues troubled me. Is there some conspiracy somewhere that this idea of slowly killing off Telekom Malaysia is becoming an official policy? Are some consultants somewhere advising the cerebrally deficient Malaysian bureaucrats that an integral part of the Economic Transformation Plan is to cannibalize Telekom Malaysia?

Then, there is this question. If mobile services is the sunrise business and fixed line is the sunset business, wouldn't it be logical for TM to be acquiring more control over the mobile communications business and not selling a profitable source of business?

So far what we know is, TM is paring down its equity in mobile cellular services. We are not yet told whether this sale will be done in an open tender basis or TM has already talked to some parties.

The 3rd question is: what is the role of Khazanah and the consultants leeching themselves on huge fees in this deal? I mean both business entities are owned by Khazanah. Khazanah owns some 30% of TM and probably almost 50% of Axiata.

Isn't there a conflict of interest issue somewhere? Khazanah people sit in the board of both companies. Some will know of the decision in one company and know the destination of the sale.

Let's see where the sale is directed and see whether the shares in that target company have been mopped up in recent days. What if the buyer of the TM shares is Axiata itself?

Its sunshine everyday baby!

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Madness in the heavens

 

 

Telekom Malaysia is selling 90 million shares in Axiata Group for about RM412-426 million, according to a term sheet obtained by Reuters. State-owned Telekom Malaysia will sell the shares at a price range of RM4.58-4.74 a share. The joint book runners for the placement exercise are CIMB and Credit Suisse. Shares of telecom operator Axiata closed at RM4.74 on Thursday

 

Sell to who? The report wasn't clear. Last week we were shocked by the revelation by none other than the PM himself that the award of the 700 MHZ spectrum wasn't made known to the cabinet.

Two, it wasn't done through the proper channels. These kind of political-speake cerates all sorts of innuendos that are easily responded with by any kind of unkind remarks labeled as fair comment. Rais Yatim can't blame anyone.

Now, this. What's happening to Telekom Malaysia? I presumed Telekom is selling its interests in mobile telecom services? People all over the world are scrambling to get a piece of action in mobile telephone services. Here we have Telekom Malaysia ditching whatever that remains in its portfolio that can bring in good business. This is madness!

Just wait, let me try to trace the history behind the emergence of Axiata. For now, let people know, this wasn't any added value creation. Telekom Malaysia, after the mindless cost cutting measures by Wahid had nothing else to cut. He came upon the brilliant idea of selling its mobile phone business and sold this business to Axiata. After creating the entire infrastructure, this asset was sold to Axiata. Axiata did nothing other than raising the necessary financing to buy the business.

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