Abuse of power: PM's Dept funding defeated BN candidates

Viktor Wong,

The BN - under the guise and funding of the Prime Minister's Department - has appointed all the defeated BN election candidates as parliamentary and state constituency coordinators.

The landmark 2008 general election saw the Barisan Nasional losing many seats in both the federal Parliament and the state legislative assemblies. Needless to say, the ruling coalition also lost a few prized states to the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

But although more than two years have passed, the BN federal government is insistent on not recognizing the mandates given by the people.

And to avenge the people's mandates, the BN under the guise of the Prime Minister's Department has appointed all the defeated BN election candidates as parliamentary and state constituency coordinators.

The job of these coordinators is to manage their respective "constituencies", with the PM's Department providing them annual grants and allocations similar to those enjoyed by the sitting BN MPs and state assemblymen.

It goes without saying that such generosity has resulted in smaller annual grants, allocations and other funding for the Pakatan elected representatives, even though this is clearly a violation of the people's wishes and against their constitutional rights.

And to make sure that the defeated BN candidates are motivated to serve their respective "constituencies" and not laze around, the PM's department has allocated a large amount of funds in the form of salaries and given them grand titles such as "Federal Representative to the parliamentary/KADUN" or "the Prime Minister's Department representative to the parliamentary/KADUN" areas.

Such a move by the BN clearly reflects their refusal to recognize the democratic process. Is it not also an improper use of government funds and taxpayers' money? If BN wants to maintain their "lost" consituencies, should not the money come from their own coffers?

Instead of using public money to finance these so-called coordinators, would not the funds be put to better use to help the poor, finance a much-needed project or community development. Mind you, the final bill is quite staggering because we are talking about hundreds of lost seats.

No wonder, allocations for the PM’s Department alone for 2010 has been escalating and is now a whopping RM12 billion. The huge increases in the Department’s budget in 2009 and 2010 have never been seen before. The combined operating and development expenditure for 2009 was RM14 billion or nearly double the RM7.1 billion allocated for 2008. The total for 2005 was a mere RM4.1 billion in comparison.

It is time for the BN federal government to come clean and make public the accounts and transactions of these allocations to their defeated candidates now posing as coordinators.

The practice should be stopped immediately and the funds diverted to them so far must be accounted for. Steps should also be taken to make sure that those who are really elected by the people get access to the people's money and rightful allocations made to them so that they can carry out projects for their constituents.

RM300mil loss for S'wak from land 'sold' to Taib's children

(Malaysiakini) - A company owned by Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's children has obtained land in Kuching at a very low price, causing the state to lose at least RM300 million in potential revenue.

Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen said the state government had alienated 269 acres of land within the city to Monarda Sdn Bhd at a "grossly and obscenely under-priced" rate of RM291,000 per acre on average.

"The market rate is between RM1.5 million and RM2 million per acre. Had the government gone for public tender, the state could have (earned) RM400 million to RM500 million," he told Malaysiakini today.

Instead, Monarda, which has a paid-up capital of RM100, only paid about RM78.28 million for the three parcels of land, he said.

"We demand that the state government gives a full explanation and be accountable to the people of Sarawak," said Chong (left), who is also Sarawak DAP secretary.

The three parcels are located next to the Kuching International Airport near Stutong. There is a military base located in the same area.

Monarda is headed by Taib's eldest son Abu Bekir, who holds 52 shares, and one Choong Sun Nam, who holds 12 shares.

Other shareholders include Taib's daughters Jamilah and Hanifah Hajar, and Taib's daughter-in-law Anisa Hamidah Abdullah, all of whom hold 12 shares respectively.


Unusual alienation exercise



Chong, who traced the Taib connection through land and companies registry searches, said this was one of the largest parcels of city land to be alienated in any one exercise.

"The land is currently vacant and Monarda has not done any business since it was founded," he said.

Earlier this year, three complaints were lodged with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission against Taib, alleging that he and his family had used corrupt means to build a property empire valued in excess of RM3 billion.

Two documents surfaced this month in the Sarawak Report website alleging that Taib had used proxies in 1987 to take control of a US-based property company, Sakti International Corporation, then worth at least US$80 million (RM250 million).

Inquest video of MACC lawyer buylling Pornthip not uploaded

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng has thrown the book at the Attorney-General for not uploading the latest video clip of the inquest proceedings of the late Teoh Beng Hock, accusing his chambers of trying to hide the way it tried to bully Thai forensic expert Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand.

“Why not the latest recording? The latest recording is supposed to be the funniest, full of surprises and our government lawyer will be the laughing stock in the whole legal profession and the whole world. So they purposely tried to hide it,” Lim told a press conference on Wednesday.

Lim was among the lawyers involved in the Teoh Beng Hock case since his body was discovered on July 16, 2009, after overnight interrogation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in connection with a graft probe on several DAP leaders.

Amid public outcry and accusations of a government cover-up, the AG had last year promised transparency and that it would upload the video tape of each inquest proceeding on its website at www.agc.gov.my .However, it has not done so for the latest hearing which took place on August 18.



Making a mockery of themselves and the country

Last week, Dr Pornthip flew in to testify at Teoh's inquest, flustering the MACC because her forensic findings show Teoh’s death was homicide while the federal-government agency has been insistent it was suicide.

The MACC, together with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, has tried hard to discredit Pornthip because of her popularity with the Malaysian public. In her country, Pornthip is rated as the most trusted individual in the whole of Thailand, according to a recent Reader’s Digest poll.

But Malaysian authorities have mocked her, and a Cabinet minister even called her a liar. Few Malaysians were surprised when at last week’s inquest, she was subjected to brutal cross-examination.

The MACC prosecutor Abdul Razak Musa denigrated her academic qualifications and at one point even asked her where the weapon was if it was not suicide. But Pornthip held up well despite Abdul Razak’s belligerence.

She also impressed Malaysians by the way she answered his questions and stole the day when she refused to retaliate to his needling that her testimony was biased because she was hired by Beng Hock’s employers - the Selangor government,

"You have to understand. I work for the rights of the dead, not the Selangor government. My objective is to help the dead," said Pornthip, drawing loud applause from the courtroom.

A result of Umno's racial incitement

KUALA LUMPUR (Harakahdaily) - UMNO and Barisan Nasional must take responsibility over the racist remarks uttered by a secondary school principal in Kulai Jaya, Johor.

PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub said the action by the principal was the result of "continuous racial incitement whether through government agencies under Barisan Nasional control or the main stream media dominated by them".

Siti Inshah Mansor, the headmistress of SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, had allegedly told Chinese students to go back to China.

"For the Indian students, the prayer string tied around their neck and wrist makes them look like dogs because only dogs are tied like that," she had alleged said, as reported by several angry parents who lodged police reports against her.

Salahuddin said many people had fallen into "UMNO-BN’s racist incitement and it cannot be denied that the principle is one of them."

“She dared to utter those remarks because most likely she felt confident that she won’t be punished because she saw UMNO leaders, including Prime Minister's special officer, who got off scot-free,” added Salahuddin referring to Nasir Safar who created a stir last February when he called Indians "beggars" and Chinese women as "prostitutes".

Salahuddin, the Kubang Kerian member of parliament, also called for an end to racist incitements found in government programmes especially the Biro Tata Negara (BTN).

Salahuddin also took a shot at UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, saying it was hypocritical of him to condemn the headmistress, saying the latter's action was encouraged by Barisan Nasional whose leaders had been "fanning racial hatred".

"Don’t just punish those subordinates while UMNO leaders are let off,' he said.