MACC's latest 'comedy circus' no laughing matter

Mariam Mokhtar

The inquest into Teoh Beng Hock’s death is at the forefront of our minds. The cross-examination last week, of Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand by Abdul Razak Musa, the lawyer representing the MACC, was not worthy of a government counsel, or any lawyer for that matter.

A further disappointment is the article which was posted on the MACC official blog on Monday.

The entry described Dr Pornthip as a fortune-teller, with a doctored picture of her as a gypsy, complete with crystal ball. It was not complimentary and was intended to smear her character.

A Saga of Corruption Ignored, Tajudin escapes.

(Asia Sentinel) - On June 4, 1995, Tajudin Ramli, then one of Malaysia's brightest Bumiputra, or native Malay stars, was named a Tan Sri, the country's second highest honor, by the country's reigning sultan. At the time he had been the managing director of Malaysian Airline System, Malaysia's nationally owned flag carrier, since July 1, 1994.

Like his friend and former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the then 49-year-old Tajudin was a native of Alor Setar in Kedah state. He would be the recipient of a long list of national honors including being president of the Malay Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia. He was regarded as a shining example of the bumi businessman that Mahathir wanted to foster to run the country and take the commanding heights of the economy back from the ethnic Chinese who ran it.

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).