The Selangor govt. under Khalid is showing why transparency is so important. Now taxpayers can see how their money has been spent or, in this case, mis-spent!This is exactly why we need the freedom of Information act. Similar act has been enacted by the central government in India. Which has seen a sea change since it’s enactment. Lifes a little more difficult for the cronnies over there.When will the UMNO/BN government follow Selangors bold move. Or do they lack the cajones to do it?No matter if the winds are fair we should see a change in government. No more shall we tolerate a big brother government. We shall take what’s rightly ours. We shall defend the constitution in it’s actual spirit. We shall not and will never accept your interpretation of the document.
Top politicians including former Agriculture Minister Tan Sri Sanusi Junid and former Executive Council member Datuk Abdul Rahman Palil were directors of companies involved in lopsided projects in Selangor, according to declassified documents marked secret by the previous administration.
The companies entered into joint venture projects with the Selangor Agriculture Development Corporation that brought little benefit to the people and and even less revenue to the state.
The documents showed former Mentri Besar Dr Khir Toyo claiming that the reforestation projects would bring in a revenue of RM800 million within 20 years, but so far the projects have contributed barely RM500,000 to the government coffers.
The projects were supposedly initiated to find a balance between physical development and the environment in Selangor.
Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (picture), who used provisions under the Officials Secret Act to declassify the documents, said they showed a pattern in which joint-venture projects were awarded to the same people, albeit in different companies.
He said some of the projects were given to dormant companies which did not have the expertise to carry out reforestation. Furthermore, they were awarded without any tenders called.
Four joint venture projects mentioned in the documents were signed between 2001 and 2007 and involved almost 11,000 hectares at the forest reserves in Bukit Tarek, Rantau Panjang, Sungai Jeloh and Bukit Belata.
The parcels of land were leased to the companies for between 50 and 60 years for several projects, including reforesting the areas with commercial trees such as teak, sentang and rubber.
Nothing was done to stop the joint ventures although several parties had raised concerns over the questionable deals.
Khalid said Selangor would have been better off without the one-sided reforestation projects, which he described as a “huge” loss to to taxpayers.
He remarked that the showed why a Freedom of Information law was important to prevent misuse of power by politicians.
IPOH, Nov 15 – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has kept an open mind over Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s suggestion for PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat to lead Pakatan Rakyat Malaysia but reminded the former Umno leader that for now, it was just his personal expression.
The PKR de facto leader took pains to stress in a press conference yesterday that if and when the PR gets registered as a formal coalition, the pro tem committee which Zaid chairs, would have to be surrendered to the leadership council.
Only then would the due process of determining the coalition’s leaders ensue, he added.
“If the (Zaid’s) suggestion is a serious one and follows the due party processes, then of course we will deliberate on it and listen to reasons and arguments.
“But for now however, it is a personal expression,” he said after attending the Perak PKR convention here yesterday evening.
The Opposition leader added that others in the PR leadership council, namely DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, had told him that the matter had not cropped up or been discussed to date.
Anwar also reiterated that all parties in the PR had made the decision to stay silent on the issue of the PR’s registration as a formal coalition.
“We decided that an announcement would only be made once the registration is formalised. The task of the pro tem committee is solely to register the coalition and surrender it over to the leadership council.
“That is why we decided that no announcement should be made, knowing the structure of the Registrar of Societies, under the Umno administration,” he said.
Meanwhile in a ceramah late last night, Anwar came to the defense of the frail but fiery Nik Aziz over allegations of corruption on the latter’s trips to Mecca to perform the haj.
He called on the allegations to stop, saying that there was no man who lived as simply and as humbly as the Kelantan Mentri Besar did.
“Look at him, how he dresses, so simply and humbly.
“Even I could not live like him, in a simple house, with a simple car. Look at my clothes, I still insist on style,” he told a large crowd outside the Perak PKR’s new headquarters in Medan Istana here.
As he spoke, Anwar gestured to his silky blue shirt, causing laughter in the crowd.
Mahathir’s Dodo Dynasty
I decided to turn these images into a blogpost and began editing the photos. When I was ready to upload I discovered my Streamyx connection down again (third time within two weeks!) – this time it was due to a dysfunctional phone line. That happened around 3:00PM Saturday.
It’s almost 2:00PM Monday as I type this and Telekom has been unable to get my line working. Each time this happens I think of Mahathir and his privatization program and vow to do everything within my power to prevent Mukhriz Mahathir from establishing a Mahathir dynasty.
We need another dynasty of arrogant mediocrity like we need a great big hole in our wallets!
This blogpost comes to you from the same cybercafe I had to use every day for 3 years, while waiting for Telekom to provide me a land line.
Back in 1975, when I was living at 7 Pesiaran Ampang Hilir, I applied for a phone and was made to wait nearly 3 years. Telekom’s monumental lack of enthusiasm over the notion of progress is perhaps a quaint and wonderful cultural trait – but I don’t think it does a telco’s public image any good.
Looking at the new mansion that Mukhriz Mahathir built, one can’t help but speculate about how much it might have cost…
A wild guess might put the overall cost between RM15-20 million.
Apart from shooting his mouth off at every opportunity and coming across as an overconfident moron (the worst type of moron, if you ask me), what DOES Mukhriz Mahathir actually do? Does he have any marketable skills or special talents?
Is he a financial whizkid, for instance? I doubt it. Mutual friends assure me that Mukhriz Mahathir can be quite a charming and affable fellow. Maybe so, but does being “charming and affable” mean you can afford to live in a multi-million ringgit mansion?
I know his elder brother Mirzan is ranked among the richest men in Asia (read somewhere he was worth USD8.5 billion a couple of years ago)… I guess when your daddy is Mahathir or Suharto it’s impossible to fail in business, no matter how hard you try.
So how do you suppose Mukhriz amassed his fortune? Surely not on his cabinet minister’s salary? Does he have a couple of hit albums on the charts?
I don’t have a problem with people who strike it rich by fortuitously stumbling on a cave filled with pirate treasure… or who inherited a fortune from their tycoon fathers… or who invented something the world finds useful – like the personal computer or iPhone or Google…
But Mukhriz Mahathir’s dad is a politician. To be precise, he was prime minister for 22 years. He has publicly lashed out against corruption and Umno-style money politics (while privately stashing his store of nuts away in offshore hiding places, no doubt). So did daddy give Mukhriz this mansion as a birthday present, for boldly speaking out against Abdullah Badawi’s lameness and making snide remarks about the seriousness of Anwar’s sodomy accusations?
Guess we’ll never know… unless Marina spills the beans!
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