Tengku Razaleigh Speaks.
19 June 2011
1. Malaysia's post-colonial history began with optimism and a grand hope in 1957. When Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, proclaimed our Independence at the Merdeka Stadium in the unforgettable words that "Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy with an independent judiciary," he had a vision of a happy people in spite of the formidable economic problems we needed to solve. After that dawn of independence, there was a search of how we could achieve this happy society, Fulfilling the needs and aspirations of all Malaysians which was to continue for the Generations to come. He symbolized the concept and conviction of generational responsibility in his vision.
2. Tunku Abdul Rahman and his generation were dedicated leaders, not for power but a sense of duty to the present and the future. They were not in politics for the money or for themselves. Indeed, even after they had assumed power, they never used their position to benefit themselves or their families, nor did they build loyal cronies who would act as their financiers or hold any wealth unlawfully earned at the expense of the people.
3. The guiding philosophy was responsibility of public office. Public office was seen as a duty, not as an opportunity. The public office was also part of their sense of political commitment to create a Malaysia that was fair, just, cohesive, and balanced. This was combined by a deep conviction of generational responsibility for those who would come after them.
4. One of the greatest losses in public life and in politics today in Malaysia is that loss of generational responsibility. Everything seems to be surrounded by greed and the desire to be billionaires. This had led to a pyramid of cronies within the incumbent political parties and their associates in business. It is this combination of the hierarchy of political cronies and business cronies that led to the centralization of power in the incumbent political leadership and in the office of the Prime Minister.
5. This power in one individual allowed the manipulation of the political system; I mean by this the institutions of power including the media. In exchange for the centralization of power greed and self-interest was encouraged by example and in the guise of racial loyalty deserving rewards. This is the case in all the parties within the power structure. This state of affairs is one of the most dangerous and difficult to dismantle because there has been three decades of centralized power.
6. The political style that has dominated in these lost three decades has been "double-think" and "double-talk". One of the features which is alarming in this plan to maintain status quo is the encouragement covertly of racial and religious obscurantism. The underlying theme was a policy of using a balance of racialism and religion on the one hand and talks of unity on the other hand in order to make the people hostage to the status quo of power. As a result, racialism and racial concerns seem to have a grip on all aspects of our lives, in politics, economics, education and employment, irrespective of the present reality which has got nothing to do with race or religion. We are deliberately made to feel that we are hostage to these forces.
7. Freedom of speech and expression of our political concerns to change the atmosphere are restrained by how it will be interpreted by those who want to deny us the right to differ. Article 10 of the Constitution which guarantees this freedom is almost non-existence or subject to fear of retaliation or defamation. Legal suits intended to silence legitimate concerns of public responsibility are increasingly used. Unfortunately, our judicial system has forgotten the fundamental importance of Article 10 to the democratic life of Malaysia. Common sense seems to have been taken out of the law.
8. On the economic front, income inequality in Malaysia has widened. Some studies suggest that Malaysia's inequality is wider than Thailand's or Indonesia's. Historically, the concern was about ownership and control of the economy. It was the view of some that if ownership was de-racialized or balanced at the top, economic justice would follow. It is no longer a valid premise for the future. Income inequality is no longer a problem between races; it crosses the racial divide and it is a problem of the majority of Malaysians who feel the pressure of inflation in almost every essential aspect of their lives, challenging their wellbeing of themselves, their families, and their future. Today and the in the near future, this is the most serious challenge we face. It is not an easy challenge to overcome. It is a time when Malaysia needs leadership of the highest quality and of those who have the moral courage to change and re-think our economic policies.
9. It is in these circumstances that we face the serious problem of rising food prices, inflation in price of houses compounded by shortage in housing for the vast majority of young Malaysians. Lack of economic expansion to give all levels an opportunity to use their talents to seek work that is commensurate with their contribution, their needs of daily life, and to narrow the inequality gap, is the threat of the future. Therefore, we should be concerned about the justification of the removal of subsidies that affects the low income because that will further widen the inequality and open the society to social disorder and disintegration, and increase social in cohesion. It is in this context that I raise the issue about Independent Power Production Companies (IPP). The privatization contracts are today protected by the Official Secrets Act, and therefore we are unable to really know whether or not the public and PETRONAS, as trustees of the public, are directly or indirectly subsidizing these companies and the tycoons who are benefitting at the expense of the public.
10. Related to the question of the withdrawal of subsidies is the deficit that the Government suffers from in managing the economy. This question cannot be separated from the way that the Government has managed the nation's finances. If the deficit is as a result of wastage, corruption and extravagance in the use of public funds, then the solution to the problem should not be passed on to the public. What is needed is a reexamination of the management of the country's finances before taking any drastic steps that would affect the well-being of the people. We need to know the reality behind the apparent subsidies that are given to the public and its relationship in the totality of the management of the public finance. Only after we know the truth – and the whole truth – should any change in the policy of subsidies be implemented, as the consequences would have life-changing impact on the livelihood of the people. In the circumstances of rising inflation in food, stagnation of the economy and income, we should not do anything that would widen the disparity of income which would cause social instability.
11. The challenge today is for the return to generational responsibility in politics and public office. This can only be achieved if we have democracy and parliamentary power which is responsible. Democracy was the basis of the founding of the state of Malaysia by the Constitution in 1957. When it was briefly suspended in 1969, the leaders of that generation were uneasy, and they restored democracy as soon as possible.
12. That is because they realized that democracy has an intrinsic value in creating a citizenship that is not made up of sheep but of responsible citizens. Only responsible citizenship that understands democracy can bring about stability, cohesion and economic prosperity. During those days, it was ingrained in that generation of leaders that democracy was not only a form but a value system that respected the essential institutions of democracy like the independence of judiciary, the supremacy of parliament subject to the Constitution, the respect for fundamental rights, and free speech. They also understood the meaning and primacy of the rule of law and not of men. They also knew that democracy is the common heritage of humanity that we inherited and have a duty to continue. The law that they understood was also from the common heritage of all civilized nations.
13. And one of our inheritances is the common law system of the rule of law which is enshrined in our constitution. They knew that the phrase "common law" meant the wisdom that is passed to us in the progress of law and the values that are encapsulated in the law governing public office and responsibility to society. That laws are meant to enhance democracy and freedom but not to maintain and continue political power that is inconsistent with the rule of law and the constitution.
14. Independence did not come with peace but with very difficult problems, particularly the management of the economy and transforming it to bring about a balance between all the racial groups. They realize that some of their problems had roots in the history of Malaysia. There was a serious imbalance between the countryside and the urban sector with racial dimensions which were too sharp. Indeed, poverty was also quite prevalent. There were open discussions and experiments.
15. Some of you may remember that one of the highlights of public debate was organized at the University of Malaya under the title, "The Great Economic Debate" every year. That disappeared with the changes in the University & Colleges Act and the decline of Universities' autonomy. The search was to eradicate a sense of inequality between the various peoples of Malaysia, whether because of one's identity and social origins, or for other reasons.
16. It was as part of this search that during Tun Abdul Razak's time, the Second Malaysia Plan was launched in 1971. We need to be reminded of the objective of that plan: "National unity is the over-riding objective of the country. A stage has been reached in the nation's economic and social development where greater emphasis must be placed on social integration and more equitable distribution of income and opportunities for national unity."
17. That dream was slowly eroded from the mid-1980. The hope that we had at that time is now challenged in the most serious way.
18. Recently, PETRONAS announced that it had made a 90.5 billion pre-tax profit. If we accumulate the profit of PETRONAS over the years, it would come to a mind-boggling figure of billions and billions. Yet, the greatest poverty is found in the petroleum producing states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Sarawak, and Sabah. This moral inconsistency in a way exemplifies how the nation's economy is mismanaged and how the institutions set up in the 1970's have lost their objective and commitment to solving the immediate and pressing problems of the nation.
19. PETRONAS was set up with the objective of serving the nation's interest as a priority. It was never intended to give PETRONAS a life of its own as an incorporated company for selected individuals to profit at the expense of the national interest, nor was it the objective to allow PETRONAS a cooperate existence independent of national interest. 20. What is needed is for institutions like PETRONAS is to have a national focus rather than maintain a multinational status. The aim of making PETRONAS a multinational cooperation at the expense of national interest is contrary to the Petroleum Development Act. PETRONAS should have a Petroleum Advisory Council to advise the Prime Minister on the operation of the law as well as the management and utilization of its resources as spelt out in the Petroleum Development Act.
21. Another example of the abuse of power is the privatization of certain government institutions which were set up as a public service to serve the people. Bernas is one example of a privatization of an essential commodity as a monopoly for a group of people and owned partially by two companies in Hong Kong. An essential commodity such as rice should not have been privatized for business purposes. We are the only rice producing country that has privatized and given as a monopoly to one company the importation and distribution of all rice products.
22. The reality today is Thailand and Indonesia are self-sufficient in rice and we are dependent on 30% of imported rice. But because it is a monopoly, imported rice is cheaper in Singapore than Malaysia. Privatization for the benefit of private individuals to profit from such an essential commodity is a clear abuse of power. It would not have happened in those days. But with the centralization of power in the office of the prime Minister who had the party under his absolute control, anything was possible!
23. I will suggest to you that there was a deliberate plan to centralize power in the leadership in a surreptitious manner. Unfortunately the nature of racial politics blinded us of the reality behind certain policies and conduct of leaders at that time. The decline of democracy, the abuse of power, and the mismanagement of our economy and the nation's finances, the economic waste, the lack of national cohesion in our economic policies led to the flight of capital in the region of RM880 billion over the years from the 1980s. That was the beginning the lost decades and the full impact of the consequences of the economic policies which has continued since then, is yet to have its full impact on our national lives. And when it does the consequences are unpredictable.
24. The centralization of power in the office of the Prime Minister and the Attorney general had a major role in this state of affairs. The challenge today is to reverse the centralization of power and restore the check and balance of a genuine democracy.
25. We need to reclaim as citizens of Malaysia our rights in a democracy; that power and authority are positions of trust and responsibility, not to serve personal interest or as an opportunity for personal enrichment. We need to reassert as politically active and responsible citizens the concept of social obligation and public service in those who seek political office. Power is duty, NOT a prize.
26. We need to rethink our economic policies. Particularly in the focusing on the national objectives that are urgent; economic policies is not only about wealth creation but needs to have a moral dimension which takes into account the wellbeing of all citizens as the ultimate priority over profits.
27. I have given you a broad sweep of the past and a bird's eye view of the looming problems of managing our economy as it is today. I hope this will open a dialogue which benefits all of us.
Friday, 24 June 2011
Monday, 20 June 2011
Projek Hospital Shah Alam: Nilai pembidaan semula melebihi baki peruntukan
Projek Hospital Shah Alam: Nilai pembidaan semula melebihi baki peruntukan
Neo Chee Hua Jun 14, 2011 01:18:04 pm
Merdeka Review
Baki peruntukan kerajaan untuk Projek Hospital Shah Alam hanya tinggal RM350 juta, namun enam syarikat yang terlibat dalam pembidaan semula menawarkan harga tender antara RM422.14 juta hingga RM489.65 juta. Dengan kata lain, kerajaan terpaksa membayar lebihan kos antara RM72.14 juta hingga RM139.65 juta - walau mana-mana syarikat yang berjaya membida projek tersebut.
Sumber yang dipercayai menunjukkan senarai harga pembidaan kepada MerdekaReview, bahawa Kementerian Kerja Raya pada asalnya ingin menyerahkan projek ini kepada Gadang Holdings Bhd. Namun demikian, kontraktor utama yang asal - Sunshine Fleet Sdn Bhd yang dikuasai anggota kerabat diraja Selangor - disyaki melobi Kementerian Kewangan di sebaliknya. Akhirnya Kementerian Kewangan mengarahkan Kementerian Kerja Raya untuk membatalkan keputusan pembidaan ini, malah meminta agar pembidaan semula dijalankan, untuk memberi laluan kepada sebuah syarikat yang tidak memenuhi kelayakan untuk dimasukkan ke dalam senarai pembidaan semula.
Dalam satu surat daripada Frontier Structure kepada Sunshine Fleet pada 23 Ogos 2010, Sunshine Fleet ditawarkan sub-kontrak bernilai RM30 juta seandainya Sunshine Fleet sudi membantu Frontier Structure untuk mendapatkan projek pembinaan. Ahli parlimen Shah Alam, Khalid Samad tampil untuk menyerahkan dokumen tersebut kepada Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) Selangor pada 10 Jun 2011, mempercayai bahawa ini adalah "insentif" kepada Sunshine Fleet.
Projek Hospital Shah Alam tergendala lantaran daripada skandal kewangan yang melibatkan anggota kerabat diraja Selangor, yang mengakibatkan kes ini dibawa ke mahkamah. Kementerian Kerja Raya membekukan kesemua projek kontraktor, dan memulakan pembidaan semula pada November tahun lalu. Pembidaan semula ditamatkan pada Disember 2011, untuk memilih kontraktor yang layak bagi meneruskan projek ini.
Kerajaan menanggung kos lebihan
Menurut sumber, walaupun Kementerian Kerja Raya mengajak lapan syarikat untuk menyertai pembidaan semula ini, namun akhirnya hanya enam daripadanya yang menyerahkan harga pembidaan secara rasmi, dengan harga tawaran dan tempoh projek yang dijanjikan seperti berikut:
IJM (RM489,650,000; 24 bulan)
Gadang Holdings Bhd (RM431,668,000; 24 bulan)
Fajar Baru Capital Bhd (RM429,888,000; 24bulan)
Limbungan Setia (RM449,282,000; 28 bulan)
Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd (RM422,143,410, 24 bulan)
Gamuda (RM478,800,000; 27 bulan)
Seorang yang mengetahui maklumat dalaman berhubung pembidaan ini memberitahu MerdekaReview, Gadang Holdings yang dimahukan Kementerian Kerja Raya telah berjaya untuk membida projek Hospital Shah Alam, menurut keputusan asal. Sebagaimana yang diketahui, harga bidaan yang dikemukakan Gadang Holdings pada asalnya berjumlah RM431.668 juta; dikurangkan menjadi RM410.87 juta kemudiannya, dengan tempoh pembinaan 24 bulan.
"Kementerian Kerja Raya pada asalnya mahukan IJM sebagai kontraktor, namun harga pembidaannya terlalu tinggi (RM489.65 juta), dan Kementerian Kerja Raya terpaksa menggugurkan pilihan ini. Walaupun harga yang ditawarkan Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd adalah paling rendah (RM422.144 juta), namun projek yang dikendalikan syarikat ini sering bermasalah, maka ia tidak dipertimbangkan. Akhirnya, Kementerian Kerja Raya memilih Gadang Holdings Bhd," kata sumber.
Kementerian Kerja Raya telah memilih Gadang Holdings Bhd daripada enam buah syarikat ini selepas tamatnya pembidaan semula, dan menyerahkan nama ini kepada Kementerian Kewangan. Namun demikian, Kementerian Kewangan menghantar surat kepada Kementerian Kerja Raya pada 22 Mac 2011, menyatakan bahawa Kementerian Kewangan tidak meluluskan cadangan Kementerian Kerja Raya untuk memilih Gadang Holdings Bhd sebagai kontraktor untuk Projek Hospital Shah Alam.
MerdekaReview telah memperolehi satu surat rasmi bertarikh 22 Mac 2011, daripada Fauziah Yaacob dari Bahagian Perolehan Kerajaan di bawah Kementerian Kewangan, kepada Ketua Pengarah Kerja Raya. Kandungan surat tersebut menunjukkan bahawa Kementerian Kewangan enggan meluluskan Gadang Engineering Sdn Bhd (subsidiari kepada Gadang Holdings) untuk membida projek Hospital Shah Alam dengan RM410.87 juta.
Kos lebih tinggi
Pada masa yang sama, Fauziah Yaacob juga mengarahkan Jabatan Kerja Raya agar projek Hospital Shah Alam ditender semula secara tender terhad konvensional. Selain mengekalkan enam syarikat yang asal, Kementerian Kewangan juga meminta untuk memasukkan dua lagi syarikat, iaitu GM Healthcare Sdn Bhd dan Frontier Structure Sdn Bhd.
Sumber maklumat yang fasih dengan proses pembidaan projek memberitahu MerdekaReview, bahawa syarat untuk menjalankan tender terhad konvensional adalah lebih ketat, malah kos pembinaan akan menjadi lebih tinggi. Menurut sumber yang dipercayai, Jabatan Kerja Raya telah mengumpulkan pakar dalam bidang berkenaan dalam satu seminar yang berlangsung untuk empat hari berturut-turut- untuk mengkaji tender terhad konvensional ini.
Ia berakhir dengan kesudahan bahawa kos projek Hospital Shah Alam tidak akan kurang daripada RM450 juta dengan tender terhad konvensional. Ia bukan sahaja lebih tinggi daripada nilai baki peruntukan yang tinggal, iaitu RM350 juta, malah lebih tinggi daripada harga pembidaan yang ditawarkan Gadang Holdings, iaitu RM410.87 juta.
Apa yang menarik, GM Healthcare Sdn Bhd dan Frontier Structure Sdn Bhd yang disenaraikan Kementerian Kewangan - adalah bekas sub-kontraktor untuk projek Hospital Shah Alam. Kedua-dua syarikat ini bergabung untuk mengusahakan projek hospital ini. Bagaimanapun, setelah Sunshine Fleet menamatkan kontrak sub-kontraktor dengan GM Healthcare pada 11 Ogos 2010, dan selepas Sunshine Fleet kehilangan kedudukannya sebagai kontraktor utama, kedua-dua syarikat tersebut tidak lagi terlibat dalam projek ini.
Syarikat yang tidak layak masuk dalam senarai?
Ironinya, walaupun Frontier Structure dari Pulau Pinang adalah syarikat Gred-7 dengan kualiti pengurusan yang diiktiraf, namun ia tidak mempunyai pendaftaran sebagai kontraktor dengan Pusat Khidmat Kontraktor (PKK), dan tidak mempunyai kedudukan sebagai kontraktor kelas A. Namun, syarat kelayakan asas untuk projek Hospital Shah Alam adalah kontraktor tersebut mesti dari kelas - A. Satu lagi syarikat GM Healthcare mempunyai kedudukan sebagai kontraktor bumiputera kelas-A.
Persoalannya, mengapa Kementerian Kewangan meminta Jabatan Kerja Raya untuk menerima Frontier Structure Sdn Bhd untuk menjadi salah satu pembida, walaupun tidak berkelayakan?
Khalid Samad mendedahkan pada 10 Jun 2011, bahawa Frontier Structure telah menulis surat kepada Sunshine Fleet pada 23 Ogos 2010, menawarkan sub-kontrak bernilai RM30 juta kepada Sunshine Fleet, seandainya Sunshine Fleet membantunya untuk mendapatkan kontrak projek tersebut.
Dokumen yang diperolehi MerdekaReview menunjukkan Pengerusi Eksekutif Frontier Structure, Zainol Che Mamat benar mengutus surat kepada Pengerusi Eksekutif Sunshine Fleet, iaitu Tengku Arafiah (Adinda Sultan Selangor), menjanjikan bayaran wang yang tidak melebihi RM30 juta, sebagai "balasan dan pembiayaan bagi kos-kos yang berkaitan bagi YAM Tengku Putri untuk mencalon dan mencadang kepada Kementerian Kewangan Malaysia supaya kontrak di atas (Hospital Shah Alam) diberikan kepada Frontier Structure secara terus".
Wang berjumlah RM30 juta ini akan "dibayar secara berperingkat dalam bentuk pemberian sub-kontrak" kembali kepada Sunshine Fleet, mahupun mana-mana individu atau syarikat yang dicalonkan Sunshine Fleet atau Tengku Arafiah, menurut surat tersebut.
Pertemuan dengan pegawai kanan Kementerian Kewangan
Pada masa yang sama, dalam satu surat daripada Pengerusi Eksekutif Frontier Structure, Zainol Che Mamat kepada Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Kewangan Najib Razak, juga menyatakan bahawa syarikatnya pernah pada 26 Ogos 2010, bertemu dengan Ketua Setiausaha Perbandaharaan Wan Abdul Aziz, Setiausaha Bahagian Perolehan Kerajaan Fauziah Yaacob dan tiga orang lagi pegawai Kementerian Kewangan.
Sebagaimana yang diketahui, selepas Sunshine Fleet menamatkan kedudukan GM Healthcare sebagai sub-kontraktor, kedudukannya sebagai kontraktor utama projek juga ditamatkan Jabatan Kerja Raya kemudiannya. Frontier Structure sebagai rakan perniagaan terus berunding dengan Sunshine Fleet, berharap agar Sunshine Fleet membantu syarikatnya untuk mendapat kontrak Hospital Shah Alam secara terus.
Namun demikian, dalam satu surat daripada Pengarah Cawangan Kerja Kesihatan JKR, Husnani Abd Karim kepada Ketua Pengarah Kerja Raya pada 29 September 2010, Frontier Structure didakwa tidak mempunyai pendaftaran sebagai kontraktor dengan Pusat Khidmat Kontraktor (PKK), tidak pernah mendapat surat setuju terima tender terus dari JKR, tidak mempunyai pengalaman yang luas dan terbukti di dalam pembinaan hospital, tidak mempunyai staf dan kakitangan yang berpengalaman dalam pembinaan hospital dan sebagainya, sebagai alasan untuk menolak permohonan Frontier Structure untuk dilantik sebagai "kontraktor penyelamat".
Jadi, adalah sesuatu yang amat meragukan, apabila Kementerian Kewangan mengarahkan Jabatan Kerja Raya untuk menyenaraikan Frontier Structure sebagai salah satu pembida - setelah dikenalpasti bahawa syarikat ini tidak berkelayakan untuk menjadi kontraktor.
Neo Chee Hua Jun 14, 2011 01:18:04 pm
Merdeka Review
Baki peruntukan kerajaan untuk Projek Hospital Shah Alam hanya tinggal RM350 juta, namun enam syarikat yang terlibat dalam pembidaan semula menawarkan harga tender antara RM422.14 juta hingga RM489.65 juta. Dengan kata lain, kerajaan terpaksa membayar lebihan kos antara RM72.14 juta hingga RM139.65 juta - walau mana-mana syarikat yang berjaya membida projek tersebut.
Sumber yang dipercayai menunjukkan senarai harga pembidaan kepada MerdekaReview, bahawa Kementerian Kerja Raya pada asalnya ingin menyerahkan projek ini kepada Gadang Holdings Bhd. Namun demikian, kontraktor utama yang asal - Sunshine Fleet Sdn Bhd yang dikuasai anggota kerabat diraja Selangor - disyaki melobi Kementerian Kewangan di sebaliknya. Akhirnya Kementerian Kewangan mengarahkan Kementerian Kerja Raya untuk membatalkan keputusan pembidaan ini, malah meminta agar pembidaan semula dijalankan, untuk memberi laluan kepada sebuah syarikat yang tidak memenuhi kelayakan untuk dimasukkan ke dalam senarai pembidaan semula.
Dalam satu surat daripada Frontier Structure kepada Sunshine Fleet pada 23 Ogos 2010, Sunshine Fleet ditawarkan sub-kontrak bernilai RM30 juta seandainya Sunshine Fleet sudi membantu Frontier Structure untuk mendapatkan projek pembinaan. Ahli parlimen Shah Alam, Khalid Samad tampil untuk menyerahkan dokumen tersebut kepada Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) Selangor pada 10 Jun 2011, mempercayai bahawa ini adalah "insentif" kepada Sunshine Fleet.
Projek Hospital Shah Alam tergendala lantaran daripada skandal kewangan yang melibatkan anggota kerabat diraja Selangor, yang mengakibatkan kes ini dibawa ke mahkamah. Kementerian Kerja Raya membekukan kesemua projek kontraktor, dan memulakan pembidaan semula pada November tahun lalu. Pembidaan semula ditamatkan pada Disember 2011, untuk memilih kontraktor yang layak bagi meneruskan projek ini.
Kerajaan menanggung kos lebihan
Menurut sumber, walaupun Kementerian Kerja Raya mengajak lapan syarikat untuk menyertai pembidaan semula ini, namun akhirnya hanya enam daripadanya yang menyerahkan harga pembidaan secara rasmi, dengan harga tawaran dan tempoh projek yang dijanjikan seperti berikut:
IJM (RM489,650,000; 24 bulan)
Gadang Holdings Bhd (RM431,668,000; 24 bulan)
Fajar Baru Capital Bhd (RM429,888,000; 24bulan)
Limbungan Setia (RM449,282,000; 28 bulan)
Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd (RM422,143,410, 24 bulan)
Gamuda (RM478,800,000; 27 bulan)
Seorang yang mengetahui maklumat dalaman berhubung pembidaan ini memberitahu MerdekaReview, Gadang Holdings yang dimahukan Kementerian Kerja Raya telah berjaya untuk membida projek Hospital Shah Alam, menurut keputusan asal. Sebagaimana yang diketahui, harga bidaan yang dikemukakan Gadang Holdings pada asalnya berjumlah RM431.668 juta; dikurangkan menjadi RM410.87 juta kemudiannya, dengan tempoh pembinaan 24 bulan.
"Kementerian Kerja Raya pada asalnya mahukan IJM sebagai kontraktor, namun harga pembidaannya terlalu tinggi (RM489.65 juta), dan Kementerian Kerja Raya terpaksa menggugurkan pilihan ini. Walaupun harga yang ditawarkan Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd adalah paling rendah (RM422.144 juta), namun projek yang dikendalikan syarikat ini sering bermasalah, maka ia tidak dipertimbangkan. Akhirnya, Kementerian Kerja Raya memilih Gadang Holdings Bhd," kata sumber.
Kementerian Kerja Raya telah memilih Gadang Holdings Bhd daripada enam buah syarikat ini selepas tamatnya pembidaan semula, dan menyerahkan nama ini kepada Kementerian Kewangan. Namun demikian, Kementerian Kewangan menghantar surat kepada Kementerian Kerja Raya pada 22 Mac 2011, menyatakan bahawa Kementerian Kewangan tidak meluluskan cadangan Kementerian Kerja Raya untuk memilih Gadang Holdings Bhd sebagai kontraktor untuk Projek Hospital Shah Alam.
MerdekaReview telah memperolehi satu surat rasmi bertarikh 22 Mac 2011, daripada Fauziah Yaacob dari Bahagian Perolehan Kerajaan di bawah Kementerian Kewangan, kepada Ketua Pengarah Kerja Raya. Kandungan surat tersebut menunjukkan bahawa Kementerian Kewangan enggan meluluskan Gadang Engineering Sdn Bhd (subsidiari kepada Gadang Holdings) untuk membida projek Hospital Shah Alam dengan RM410.87 juta.
Kos lebih tinggi
Pada masa yang sama, Fauziah Yaacob juga mengarahkan Jabatan Kerja Raya agar projek Hospital Shah Alam ditender semula secara tender terhad konvensional. Selain mengekalkan enam syarikat yang asal, Kementerian Kewangan juga meminta untuk memasukkan dua lagi syarikat, iaitu GM Healthcare Sdn Bhd dan Frontier Structure Sdn Bhd.
Sumber maklumat yang fasih dengan proses pembidaan projek memberitahu MerdekaReview, bahawa syarat untuk menjalankan tender terhad konvensional adalah lebih ketat, malah kos pembinaan akan menjadi lebih tinggi. Menurut sumber yang dipercayai, Jabatan Kerja Raya telah mengumpulkan pakar dalam bidang berkenaan dalam satu seminar yang berlangsung untuk empat hari berturut-turut- untuk mengkaji tender terhad konvensional ini.
Ia berakhir dengan kesudahan bahawa kos projek Hospital Shah Alam tidak akan kurang daripada RM450 juta dengan tender terhad konvensional. Ia bukan sahaja lebih tinggi daripada nilai baki peruntukan yang tinggal, iaitu RM350 juta, malah lebih tinggi daripada harga pembidaan yang ditawarkan Gadang Holdings, iaitu RM410.87 juta.
Apa yang menarik, GM Healthcare Sdn Bhd dan Frontier Structure Sdn Bhd yang disenaraikan Kementerian Kewangan - adalah bekas sub-kontraktor untuk projek Hospital Shah Alam. Kedua-dua syarikat ini bergabung untuk mengusahakan projek hospital ini. Bagaimanapun, setelah Sunshine Fleet menamatkan kontrak sub-kontraktor dengan GM Healthcare pada 11 Ogos 2010, dan selepas Sunshine Fleet kehilangan kedudukannya sebagai kontraktor utama, kedua-dua syarikat tersebut tidak lagi terlibat dalam projek ini.
Syarikat yang tidak layak masuk dalam senarai?
Ironinya, walaupun Frontier Structure dari Pulau Pinang adalah syarikat Gred-7 dengan kualiti pengurusan yang diiktiraf, namun ia tidak mempunyai pendaftaran sebagai kontraktor dengan Pusat Khidmat Kontraktor (PKK), dan tidak mempunyai kedudukan sebagai kontraktor kelas A. Namun, syarat kelayakan asas untuk projek Hospital Shah Alam adalah kontraktor tersebut mesti dari kelas - A. Satu lagi syarikat GM Healthcare mempunyai kedudukan sebagai kontraktor bumiputera kelas-A.
Persoalannya, mengapa Kementerian Kewangan meminta Jabatan Kerja Raya untuk menerima Frontier Structure Sdn Bhd untuk menjadi salah satu pembida, walaupun tidak berkelayakan?
Khalid Samad mendedahkan pada 10 Jun 2011, bahawa Frontier Structure telah menulis surat kepada Sunshine Fleet pada 23 Ogos 2010, menawarkan sub-kontrak bernilai RM30 juta kepada Sunshine Fleet, seandainya Sunshine Fleet membantunya untuk mendapatkan kontrak projek tersebut.
Dokumen yang diperolehi MerdekaReview menunjukkan Pengerusi Eksekutif Frontier Structure, Zainol Che Mamat benar mengutus surat kepada Pengerusi Eksekutif Sunshine Fleet, iaitu Tengku Arafiah (Adinda Sultan Selangor), menjanjikan bayaran wang yang tidak melebihi RM30 juta, sebagai "balasan dan pembiayaan bagi kos-kos yang berkaitan bagi YAM Tengku Putri untuk mencalon dan mencadang kepada Kementerian Kewangan Malaysia supaya kontrak di atas (Hospital Shah Alam) diberikan kepada Frontier Structure secara terus".
Wang berjumlah RM30 juta ini akan "dibayar secara berperingkat dalam bentuk pemberian sub-kontrak" kembali kepada Sunshine Fleet, mahupun mana-mana individu atau syarikat yang dicalonkan Sunshine Fleet atau Tengku Arafiah, menurut surat tersebut.
Pertemuan dengan pegawai kanan Kementerian Kewangan
Pada masa yang sama, dalam satu surat daripada Pengerusi Eksekutif Frontier Structure, Zainol Che Mamat kepada Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Kewangan Najib Razak, juga menyatakan bahawa syarikatnya pernah pada 26 Ogos 2010, bertemu dengan Ketua Setiausaha Perbandaharaan Wan Abdul Aziz, Setiausaha Bahagian Perolehan Kerajaan Fauziah Yaacob dan tiga orang lagi pegawai Kementerian Kewangan.
Sebagaimana yang diketahui, selepas Sunshine Fleet menamatkan kedudukan GM Healthcare sebagai sub-kontraktor, kedudukannya sebagai kontraktor utama projek juga ditamatkan Jabatan Kerja Raya kemudiannya. Frontier Structure sebagai rakan perniagaan terus berunding dengan Sunshine Fleet, berharap agar Sunshine Fleet membantu syarikatnya untuk mendapat kontrak Hospital Shah Alam secara terus.
Namun demikian, dalam satu surat daripada Pengarah Cawangan Kerja Kesihatan JKR, Husnani Abd Karim kepada Ketua Pengarah Kerja Raya pada 29 September 2010, Frontier Structure didakwa tidak mempunyai pendaftaran sebagai kontraktor dengan Pusat Khidmat Kontraktor (PKK), tidak pernah mendapat surat setuju terima tender terus dari JKR, tidak mempunyai pengalaman yang luas dan terbukti di dalam pembinaan hospital, tidak mempunyai staf dan kakitangan yang berpengalaman dalam pembinaan hospital dan sebagainya, sebagai alasan untuk menolak permohonan Frontier Structure untuk dilantik sebagai "kontraktor penyelamat".
Jadi, adalah sesuatu yang amat meragukan, apabila Kementerian Kewangan mengarahkan Jabatan Kerja Raya untuk menyenaraikan Frontier Structure sebagai salah satu pembida - setelah dikenalpasti bahawa syarikat ini tidak berkelayakan untuk menjadi kontraktor.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Tengku Razaleigh exellence speech to the Youth (MSLS) :Make BN and PR a multiracial Party
Tengku Razaleigh : Make BN and PR a Multiracial Party
(A speech at the 4th Malaysia Student Leader Summit)
Thank you for inviting me to speak with you. I am truly honoured. I have played some small role in the life of this nation, but having been on the wrong side of one or two political fights with the powers that be, I am not as close to the young people of this country as I would hope to be. History, and the 8 o’clock news, are written by the victors. In recent years the government’s monopoly of the media has been destroyed by the technology revolution.
You could say I was also a member of the UKEC. Well I was, except that belonged to the predecessor of the UKEC by more than fifty years, The Malayan Students Union of the UK and Eire. I led this organization in 1958/59. I was then a student of Queen’s University at Belfast, as well as at Lincoln’s Inn. In a rather cooler climate than Kota Bharu’s. We campaigned for decolonization. We demonstrated in Trafalgar Square and even in Paris. We made posters and participated in British elections.
Your invitation to participate in the MSLS was prefaced by a an essay which calls for an intellectually informed activism. I congratulate you on this. The Youth of today, you note, “will chart the future of Malaysia.” You say you “no longer want to be ignored and leave the future of our Malaysia at the hands of the current generation.” You “want to grab the bull by the horns… and have a say in where we go as a society and as a nation.”I feel the same, actually. A lot of Malaysians feel the same. They are tired of being ignored and talked down to.
You are right. The present generation in power has let Malaysia down. But also you cite two things as testimony of the importance of youth and of student activism to this country, the election results of 2008 and “the Prime Minister’s acknowledgement of the role of youth in the development of the country.”
So perhaps you are a little way yet from thinking for yourselves. The first step in “grabbing the bull by the horns” is not to required the endorsement of the Prime Minister, or any Minister, for your activism. Politicians are not your parents. They are your servants. You don’t need a government slogan coined by a foreign PR agency to wrap your project in. You just go ahead and do it.
When I was a student our newly formed country was already a leader in the postcolonial world. We were sought out as a leader in the Afro-Asian Conference which inaugurated the Non-Aligned Movement and the G-77. The Afro-Asian movement was led by such luminaries as Zhou En-lai, Nehru, Kwame Nkrumah, Soekarno. Malaysians were seen as moderate leaders capable of mediating between these more radical leaders and the West. We were known for our moderation, good sense and reliability.
We were a leader in the islamic world as ourselves and as we were, without our leaders having to put up false displays of piety. His memory has been scrubbed out quite systematically from our national consciousness, so you might not know this or much else about him, but it was Tengku Abdul Rahman established our leadership in the Islamic world by coming up with the idea of the OIC and making it happen. Under his leadership Malaysia led the way in taking up the anti-apartheid cause in the Commonwealth and in the United Nations, resulting in South Africa’s expulsion from these bodies.
Here was a man at ease with himself, made it a policy goal that Malaysia be “a happy country”. He loved sport and encouraged sporting achievement among Malaysians. He was owner of many a fine race horse. He called a press conference with his stewards when his horse won at the Melbourne Cup. He had nothing to hide because his great integrity in service was clear to all. Now we have religious and moral hypocrites who cheat, lie and steal in office, who propagate an ideologically shackled education system for all Malaysians while they send their own kids to elite academies in the West.
Speaking of football. You’re too young to have experienced the Merdeka Cup, which Tunku started. We had a respectable side in the sixties and seventies. Teams from across Asia would come to play in Kuala Lumpur. Teams such as South Korea and Japan, whom we defeated routinely. We were one of the better sides in Asia. We won the Bronze medal at the Asian games in 1974 and qualified for the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Today our FIFA ranking is 157 out of 203 countries. That puts us in the lowest quartile, below Maldives (149), the smallest country in Asia, with just 400,000 people living about 1.5 metres above sea level who have to worry that their country may soon be swallowed up by climate change. Here in ASEAN we are behind Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, whom we used to dominate, and our one spot above basketball-playing Philippines.
The captain of our illustrious 1970’s side was Soh Chin Aun. Arumugam, Isa Bakar, Santokh Singh, James Wong and Mokhtar Dahari were heroes whose names rolled off the tongues of our schoolchildren as they copied them on the school field. It wasn’t about being the best in the world, but about being passionate and united and devoted to the game.
It was the same in badminton, except at one time we were the best in the world. I remember Wong Peng Soon, the first Asian to win the All-England Championship, and then just dominated it throughout the 1950. Back home every kid who played badminton in every little kampung wanted to call himself Wong Peng Soon. There was no tinge of anybody identifying themselves exclusively as Chinese, Malays, Indian. Peng Soon was a Malaysian hero. Just like each of our football heroes. Now we do not have an iota of that feeling. Where has it all gone?
I don’t think it’s mere nostalgia that that makes us think there was a time when the sun shone more brightly upon Malaysia. I bring up sport because it has been a mirror of our more general performance as a nation. When we were at ease with who we were and didn’t need slogans to do our best together, we did well. When race and money entered our game, we declined. The same applies to our political and economic life
Soon after independence we were already a highly successful developing country. We had begun the infrastructure building and diversification of our economy that would be the foundation for further growth. We carried out an import-substitution programme that stimulated local productive capacity. From there we started an infrastructure buildup which enabled a diversification of the economy leading to rapid industrialization. We carried out effective programmes to raise rural income and help the landless with programmes such as FELDA. Our achievements in achieving growth with equity were recognized around the world. Our peer group in economic development were South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, and we led the pack. I remember we used to send technical consultants to advise the South Koreans.
By the lates nineties, however, we had fallen far behind this group and were competing with Thailand and Indonesia. Today, according to the latest World Investment Report, FDI into Malaysia is at a twenty year low. We are entering the peer group of Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines as an investment destination. Thailand, despite a monthlong siege of the capital, attracted more FDI than we did last year. Indonesia and Vietnam far outperform us, not as a statistical blip but consistently. Soon we shall have difficulty keeping up with The Philippines. This, I believe, is called relegation. If we take into account FDI outflow, the picture is even more depressing. Last year we received USD1.38Billion in investments but USD 8.04 Billion flowed out. We are the only country in Southeast Asia which has suffered nett FDI outflow. I am not against outward investment. It can be a good thing for the country. But an imbalance on this scale indicates capital flight, not mere investment overseas.
Without a doubt, Malaysia is slipping. Billions have been looted from this country, and Billions more are being siphoned out as our entire political structure crumbles. Yet we are gathered here in comfort, in a country that still seems to ‘work.’ Most of the time. This is due less to good management than to the extraordinary wealth of this country. You were born into a country of immense resources both natural, cultural and social. We have been wearing down this advantage with mismanagement and corruption. With lies, tall tales and theft. We have a political class unwilling or unable to address the central issue of the day because they have grown fat and comfortable with a system built on lies and theft.
It is time to wake up. That waking up can begin here, right here, at this conference. Not tomorrow or the day after but today. So let me, as I have the honour of opening this conference, suggest the following:
Overcome the urge to have our hopes for the future endorsed by the Prime Minister. He will have retired, and I’ll be long gone when your future arrives. The shape of your future is being determined now.
1) Resist the temptation to say “in line with” when we do something. Your projects, believe it or not, don’t have to be in line with any government campaign for them to be meaningful. You don’t need to polish anyone’s apple. Just get on with what you plan to do.
2) Do not put a lid on certain issues as “sensitive”because someone said they are. Or it is against the Social Contract. Or it is “politicisation”. You don’t need to have your conversation delimited by the hyper-sensitive among us. Sensitivity is often a club people use to hit each other with. Reasoned discussion of contentious issues builds understanding and trust. Test this idea.
3) It’s not “conservative” or “liberal” to ask for an end to having politics, economic policy, education policy and everything and the kitchen sink determined by race. It’s called growing up.
Don’t let the politicians you have invited here talk down to you. Don’t let them tell you how bright and “exuberant” you are, that you are the future of the nation, etc. If you close your eyes and flow with their flattery you have safely joined the caravan, a caravan taking the nation down a sink hole. If they tell you the future is in your hands kindly request that they hand that future over first. Ask them how come the youngest member of our cabinet is 45 and is full of discredited hacks? Our Merdeka cabinet had an average age below thirty. You’re not the first generation to be bright. Mine wasn’t too stupid. But you could be the first generation of students and young graduates in fifty years to push this nation through a major transformation. And it is a transformation we need desperately.
You will be told that much is expected of you, much has been given to you, and so forth. This is all true. Actually much has also been stolen from you. Over the last twenty five years, much of the immense wealth generated by our productive people and our vast resources has been looted. This was supposed to have been your patrimony. The uncomplicated sense of belonging fully, wholeheartedly, unreservedly, to this country, in all it diversity, that has been taken from you. Our sense of ourselves as Malaysians, a free and united people, has been replaced by a tale of racial strife and resentment that continues to haunt us. The thing is, this tale is false.
The most precious thing you have been deprived of has been your history. Someone of my generation finds it hard to describe what must seem like a completely different country to you now. Malaysia was not born in strife but in unity. Our independence was achieved through a demonstration of unity by the people in supporting a multiracial government led by Tengku Abdul Rahman. That show of unity, demonstrated first through the municipal elections of 1952 and then through the Alliance’s landslide victory in the elections of 1955, showed that the people of Malaya were united in wanting their freedom. We surprised the British, who thought we could not do this.
Today we are no longer as united as we were then. We are also less free. I don’t think this is a coincidence. It takes free people to have the psychological strength to overcome the confines of a racialised worldview. It takes free people to overcome those politicians bent on hanging on to power gained by racializing every feature of our life including our football teams.
Hence while you are at this conference, let me argue, that as an absolute minimum, we should call for the repeal of unjust and much abused Acts of Parliament which are reversals of freedoms that we won at Merdeka.
1) I ask you in joining me in calling for the repeal of the ISA and the OSA. These draconian laws have been used, more often than not, as political tools rather than instruments of national security. They create a climate of fear.
2) I ask you to join me in calling for the repeal of the Printing and Publications Act, and above all, the Universities and Colleges Act. I don’t see how you can pursue your student activism with such freedom and support in the UK and Eire while forgetting that your brethren at home are deprived of their basic rights of association and expression by the UCA. The UCA has done immense harm in dumbing down our universities.
We must have freedom as guaranteed under our Constitution. Freedom to assemble, associate, speak, write, move. This is basic. Even on matters of race and even on religious matters we should be able to speak freely, and we shall educate each other.
It is time to realize the dream of Dato’ Onn and the spirit of the Alliance and of Tunku Abdul Rahman. That dream was one of unity and a single Malaysian people. They went as far as they could with it in their time. Instead of taking on the torch we have reversed course. The next step for us as a country is to move beyond the infancy of race-based parties to a non-racial party system. Our race-based party system is the key political reason why we are a sick country, declining before our own eyes, with money fleeing and people telling their children not to come home after their studies.
So let us try to take 1Malaysia seriously. Millions have been spent putting up billboards and adding the term to every conceivable thing. We even have Cuti-cuti 1Malaysia. Can’t take a normal holiday anymore. This is all fine. Now let us see if it means anything. Let us see the Government of the day lead by example. 1Malaysia is empty because it is propagated by a
Government supported by a racially-based party system that is the chief cause of our inability to grow up in our race relations. Our inability to grow up in our race relations is the chief reason why investors, and we ourselves, no longer have confidence in our economy. The reasons why we are behind Maldives in football, and behind the Philippines in FDI, are linked.
So let us take 1Malaysia seriously, and convert Barisan Nasional into a party open to all citizens.
Let it be a multiracial party open to direct membership. Pakatan Rakyat will be forced to do the same or be left behind the times. Then we shall have the vehicles for a two party, non-race-based system.
If UMNO, MIC or MCA are afraid of losing supporters, let them get their members to join this new multiracial party. Pakatan Rakyata should do the same. Nobody need feel left out. UMNO members can join en masse. The Hainanese Kopitiam Owners’ Association can join whichever party they want, or both parties en masse if they like. We can maintain our cherished civil associations, however we choose to associate. But we drop all communalism when we compete for the ballot. When our candidates stand for Elections, let them ever after stand only as Malaysians, better or worse.
Now let’s have a discussion
* Speech delivered at the Fourth Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit, Nikko Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
(A speech at the 4th Malaysia Student Leader Summit)
Thank you for inviting me to speak with you. I am truly honoured. I have played some small role in the life of this nation, but having been on the wrong side of one or two political fights with the powers that be, I am not as close to the young people of this country as I would hope to be. History, and the 8 o’clock news, are written by the victors. In recent years the government’s monopoly of the media has been destroyed by the technology revolution.
You could say I was also a member of the UKEC. Well I was, except that belonged to the predecessor of the UKEC by more than fifty years, The Malayan Students Union of the UK and Eire. I led this organization in 1958/59. I was then a student of Queen’s University at Belfast, as well as at Lincoln’s Inn. In a rather cooler climate than Kota Bharu’s. We campaigned for decolonization. We demonstrated in Trafalgar Square and even in Paris. We made posters and participated in British elections.
Your invitation to participate in the MSLS was prefaced by a an essay which calls for an intellectually informed activism. I congratulate you on this. The Youth of today, you note, “will chart the future of Malaysia.” You say you “no longer want to be ignored and leave the future of our Malaysia at the hands of the current generation.” You “want to grab the bull by the horns… and have a say in where we go as a society and as a nation.”I feel the same, actually. A lot of Malaysians feel the same. They are tired of being ignored and talked down to.
You are right. The present generation in power has let Malaysia down. But also you cite two things as testimony of the importance of youth and of student activism to this country, the election results of 2008 and “the Prime Minister’s acknowledgement of the role of youth in the development of the country.”
So perhaps you are a little way yet from thinking for yourselves. The first step in “grabbing the bull by the horns” is not to required the endorsement of the Prime Minister, or any Minister, for your activism. Politicians are not your parents. They are your servants. You don’t need a government slogan coined by a foreign PR agency to wrap your project in. You just go ahead and do it.
When I was a student our newly formed country was already a leader in the postcolonial world. We were sought out as a leader in the Afro-Asian Conference which inaugurated the Non-Aligned Movement and the G-77. The Afro-Asian movement was led by such luminaries as Zhou En-lai, Nehru, Kwame Nkrumah, Soekarno. Malaysians were seen as moderate leaders capable of mediating between these more radical leaders and the West. We were known for our moderation, good sense and reliability.
We were a leader in the islamic world as ourselves and as we were, without our leaders having to put up false displays of piety. His memory has been scrubbed out quite systematically from our national consciousness, so you might not know this or much else about him, but it was Tengku Abdul Rahman established our leadership in the Islamic world by coming up with the idea of the OIC and making it happen. Under his leadership Malaysia led the way in taking up the anti-apartheid cause in the Commonwealth and in the United Nations, resulting in South Africa’s expulsion from these bodies.
Here was a man at ease with himself, made it a policy goal that Malaysia be “a happy country”. He loved sport and encouraged sporting achievement among Malaysians. He was owner of many a fine race horse. He called a press conference with his stewards when his horse won at the Melbourne Cup. He had nothing to hide because his great integrity in service was clear to all. Now we have religious and moral hypocrites who cheat, lie and steal in office, who propagate an ideologically shackled education system for all Malaysians while they send their own kids to elite academies in the West.
Speaking of football. You’re too young to have experienced the Merdeka Cup, which Tunku started. We had a respectable side in the sixties and seventies. Teams from across Asia would come to play in Kuala Lumpur. Teams such as South Korea and Japan, whom we defeated routinely. We were one of the better sides in Asia. We won the Bronze medal at the Asian games in 1974 and qualified for the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Today our FIFA ranking is 157 out of 203 countries. That puts us in the lowest quartile, below Maldives (149), the smallest country in Asia, with just 400,000 people living about 1.5 metres above sea level who have to worry that their country may soon be swallowed up by climate change. Here in ASEAN we are behind Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, whom we used to dominate, and our one spot above basketball-playing Philippines.
The captain of our illustrious 1970’s side was Soh Chin Aun. Arumugam, Isa Bakar, Santokh Singh, James Wong and Mokhtar Dahari were heroes whose names rolled off the tongues of our schoolchildren as they copied them on the school field. It wasn’t about being the best in the world, but about being passionate and united and devoted to the game.
It was the same in badminton, except at one time we were the best in the world. I remember Wong Peng Soon, the first Asian to win the All-England Championship, and then just dominated it throughout the 1950. Back home every kid who played badminton in every little kampung wanted to call himself Wong Peng Soon. There was no tinge of anybody identifying themselves exclusively as Chinese, Malays, Indian. Peng Soon was a Malaysian hero. Just like each of our football heroes. Now we do not have an iota of that feeling. Where has it all gone?
I don’t think it’s mere nostalgia that that makes us think there was a time when the sun shone more brightly upon Malaysia. I bring up sport because it has been a mirror of our more general performance as a nation. When we were at ease with who we were and didn’t need slogans to do our best together, we did well. When race and money entered our game, we declined. The same applies to our political and economic life
Soon after independence we were already a highly successful developing country. We had begun the infrastructure building and diversification of our economy that would be the foundation for further growth. We carried out an import-substitution programme that stimulated local productive capacity. From there we started an infrastructure buildup which enabled a diversification of the economy leading to rapid industrialization. We carried out effective programmes to raise rural income and help the landless with programmes such as FELDA. Our achievements in achieving growth with equity were recognized around the world. Our peer group in economic development were South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, and we led the pack. I remember we used to send technical consultants to advise the South Koreans.
By the lates nineties, however, we had fallen far behind this group and were competing with Thailand and Indonesia. Today, according to the latest World Investment Report, FDI into Malaysia is at a twenty year low. We are entering the peer group of Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines as an investment destination. Thailand, despite a monthlong siege of the capital, attracted more FDI than we did last year. Indonesia and Vietnam far outperform us, not as a statistical blip but consistently. Soon we shall have difficulty keeping up with The Philippines. This, I believe, is called relegation. If we take into account FDI outflow, the picture is even more depressing. Last year we received USD1.38Billion in investments but USD 8.04 Billion flowed out. We are the only country in Southeast Asia which has suffered nett FDI outflow. I am not against outward investment. It can be a good thing for the country. But an imbalance on this scale indicates capital flight, not mere investment overseas.
Without a doubt, Malaysia is slipping. Billions have been looted from this country, and Billions more are being siphoned out as our entire political structure crumbles. Yet we are gathered here in comfort, in a country that still seems to ‘work.’ Most of the time. This is due less to good management than to the extraordinary wealth of this country. You were born into a country of immense resources both natural, cultural and social. We have been wearing down this advantage with mismanagement and corruption. With lies, tall tales and theft. We have a political class unwilling or unable to address the central issue of the day because they have grown fat and comfortable with a system built on lies and theft.
It is time to wake up. That waking up can begin here, right here, at this conference. Not tomorrow or the day after but today. So let me, as I have the honour of opening this conference, suggest the following:
Overcome the urge to have our hopes for the future endorsed by the Prime Minister. He will have retired, and I’ll be long gone when your future arrives. The shape of your future is being determined now.
1) Resist the temptation to say “in line with” when we do something. Your projects, believe it or not, don’t have to be in line with any government campaign for them to be meaningful. You don’t need to polish anyone’s apple. Just get on with what you plan to do.
2) Do not put a lid on certain issues as “sensitive”because someone said they are. Or it is against the Social Contract. Or it is “politicisation”. You don’t need to have your conversation delimited by the hyper-sensitive among us. Sensitivity is often a club people use to hit each other with. Reasoned discussion of contentious issues builds understanding and trust. Test this idea.
3) It’s not “conservative” or “liberal” to ask for an end to having politics, economic policy, education policy and everything and the kitchen sink determined by race. It’s called growing up.
Don’t let the politicians you have invited here talk down to you. Don’t let them tell you how bright and “exuberant” you are, that you are the future of the nation, etc. If you close your eyes and flow with their flattery you have safely joined the caravan, a caravan taking the nation down a sink hole. If they tell you the future is in your hands kindly request that they hand that future over first. Ask them how come the youngest member of our cabinet is 45 and is full of discredited hacks? Our Merdeka cabinet had an average age below thirty. You’re not the first generation to be bright. Mine wasn’t too stupid. But you could be the first generation of students and young graduates in fifty years to push this nation through a major transformation. And it is a transformation we need desperately.
You will be told that much is expected of you, much has been given to you, and so forth. This is all true. Actually much has also been stolen from you. Over the last twenty five years, much of the immense wealth generated by our productive people and our vast resources has been looted. This was supposed to have been your patrimony. The uncomplicated sense of belonging fully, wholeheartedly, unreservedly, to this country, in all it diversity, that has been taken from you. Our sense of ourselves as Malaysians, a free and united people, has been replaced by a tale of racial strife and resentment that continues to haunt us. The thing is, this tale is false.
The most precious thing you have been deprived of has been your history. Someone of my generation finds it hard to describe what must seem like a completely different country to you now. Malaysia was not born in strife but in unity. Our independence was achieved through a demonstration of unity by the people in supporting a multiracial government led by Tengku Abdul Rahman. That show of unity, demonstrated first through the municipal elections of 1952 and then through the Alliance’s landslide victory in the elections of 1955, showed that the people of Malaya were united in wanting their freedom. We surprised the British, who thought we could not do this.
Today we are no longer as united as we were then. We are also less free. I don’t think this is a coincidence. It takes free people to have the psychological strength to overcome the confines of a racialised worldview. It takes free people to overcome those politicians bent on hanging on to power gained by racializing every feature of our life including our football teams.
Hence while you are at this conference, let me argue, that as an absolute minimum, we should call for the repeal of unjust and much abused Acts of Parliament which are reversals of freedoms that we won at Merdeka.
1) I ask you in joining me in calling for the repeal of the ISA and the OSA. These draconian laws have been used, more often than not, as political tools rather than instruments of national security. They create a climate of fear.
2) I ask you to join me in calling for the repeal of the Printing and Publications Act, and above all, the Universities and Colleges Act. I don’t see how you can pursue your student activism with such freedom and support in the UK and Eire while forgetting that your brethren at home are deprived of their basic rights of association and expression by the UCA. The UCA has done immense harm in dumbing down our universities.
We must have freedom as guaranteed under our Constitution. Freedom to assemble, associate, speak, write, move. This is basic. Even on matters of race and even on religious matters we should be able to speak freely, and we shall educate each other.
It is time to realize the dream of Dato’ Onn and the spirit of the Alliance and of Tunku Abdul Rahman. That dream was one of unity and a single Malaysian people. They went as far as they could with it in their time. Instead of taking on the torch we have reversed course. The next step for us as a country is to move beyond the infancy of race-based parties to a non-racial party system. Our race-based party system is the key political reason why we are a sick country, declining before our own eyes, with money fleeing and people telling their children not to come home after their studies.
So let us try to take 1Malaysia seriously. Millions have been spent putting up billboards and adding the term to every conceivable thing. We even have Cuti-cuti 1Malaysia. Can’t take a normal holiday anymore. This is all fine. Now let us see if it means anything. Let us see the Government of the day lead by example. 1Malaysia is empty because it is propagated by a
Government supported by a racially-based party system that is the chief cause of our inability to grow up in our race relations. Our inability to grow up in our race relations is the chief reason why investors, and we ourselves, no longer have confidence in our economy. The reasons why we are behind Maldives in football, and behind the Philippines in FDI, are linked.
So let us take 1Malaysia seriously, and convert Barisan Nasional into a party open to all citizens.
Let it be a multiracial party open to direct membership. Pakatan Rakyat will be forced to do the same or be left behind the times. Then we shall have the vehicles for a two party, non-race-based system.
If UMNO, MIC or MCA are afraid of losing supporters, let them get their members to join this new multiracial party. Pakatan Rakyata should do the same. Nobody need feel left out. UMNO members can join en masse. The Hainanese Kopitiam Owners’ Association can join whichever party they want, or both parties en masse if they like. We can maintain our cherished civil associations, however we choose to associate. But we drop all communalism when we compete for the ballot. When our candidates stand for Elections, let them ever after stand only as Malaysians, better or worse.
Now let’s have a discussion
* Speech delivered at the Fourth Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit, Nikko Hotel, Kuala Lumpur