I welcome the support given by the Gerakan President and Minister for KPI, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the “mother” of all scandals – RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
This is the first time since the long sorry saga of the PKFZ scandal, which ballooned from a RM1.08 billion scandal in 2002 under Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik as Transport Minister to a RM4.6 billion scandal in 2006 under Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy as Transport Minister and is now set to mushroom to become a RM12.5 billion scandal under Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as Transport Minister that a Federal Minister has acknowledged its gravity as to support the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Can Tsu Koon do what Tee Keat has failed – getting Cabinet approval for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to ensure that it will not go down in history as Barisan Nasional and the nation’s most “heinous crime without criminals”?
Or is Tsu Koon taking the easy way out from the mounting public pressure for “the whole truth and nothing but the truth” about the PKFZ scandal to be told, by publicly giving lip-service support to the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry, without doing his utmost as KPI Minister to get the Cabinet to make the crucial decision to set it up?
At present, the PKFZ scandal has become a political football in the Ong Tee Keat-Chua Soi Lek MCA power struggle but neither Ong nor Chua has evinced any full commitment to support the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to go far beyond the present limited inquiries which are restricted to the Port Klang Authority (PKA) and PKFZ levels instead of a no-holds-barred investigation going as high as necessary, even Ministerial and Cabinet levels.
Not only the former Transport Ministers Liong Sik and Kong Choy and former MCA PKA chairmen should be summoned as witnesses in the public inquiry, even former Prime Ministers Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah should be sub-poenaed too.
The Singapore Straits Times reported today that a confidential report by the government task force on the PKFZ scandal which had been handed over to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and will be on the agenda of the Cabinet tomorrow, had identified serious breaches on the part of several government officials, including former Transport Minister, Tan Sri Chong Kong Choy.
This has made a Cabinet decision tomorrow to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry even more imperative or the present Cabinet would be guilty of the biggest cover-up of the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history.
Tsu Koon, Tee Keat and all the other Ministers of the Najib Cabinet are facing their first and greatest test of integrity since April – whether they are prepared to send out a clear and unmistakable message that there will be no more cover-up of financial scandals in the country, particularly one which is five times bigger than the first big financial scandal of the Mahathir administration – the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance Scandal!
#1 by illuminati on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 12:36 pm
Let’s hope Koh can do it but to be honest, it looks like a steep uphill climb for him. As for integrity among the whole lot, there’ll be some who will try to wiggle their way out of this sticky situation. There are quite a lot of weasels inside there.
#2 by yhsiew on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 12:37 pm
Only the Big-brother has the final say. Who is Koh Tsu Koon to go against the Big-brother’s decision?
#3 by Loh on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 12:42 pm
PKFZ has created history even by Malaysian standard. What used to be making payment from public funds to goods or services values worth less than 10%, such as the renovation of a Chinese school valued at RM 3,000 was billed for RM 30,000. In PKFZ, payment amounting to RM a billion or more has been made for non-existent services or fictitious projects. One might close one eye on RM 3,000, but MACC mobilised the whole department to investigate on possible misappropriation amounting to RM 2,400 with harassment, hoping to bring down the Selangor state government.
Certainly for payment made involving millions let alone billion should have a mechanism for the staff of PKA to ensure that goods or services delivered were in accordance to agreed standards according to the contract. How could invoice be issued on work not done, and how was it possible that payment could be authorised based entirely on the signature of the CEO of PKA? Quite obviously there could not be any supporting documents to certify that goods and services have been received in accordance to the contract when payments were made for fictitious projects. It would appear that the signature of the CEO of PKA was more valuable than currency note printing machine.
A RCI report on PKFZ will be able to declare some modus operani of the project as intellectual property for frauds creation. It would certainly be Malaysian’s contribution to economic development in modern world.
#4 by OrangRojak on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 12:57 pm
The Singapore Straits Times reported today that a confidential report
I believe the report is available in full in this week’s HELLO! Magazine.
What? Is it confidential or not?
#5 by k1980 on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 1:39 pm
Koh TK grumbling to himself: “Yo, brader, you want me to lose my senatorship and cabinet post? You so bad one!”
#6 by the reds on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 1:42 pm
Don’t expect a back-door minister to convince his master to have RCI.
Najib makes him a minister, and Najib also can make him an ordinary citizen! The more Tsu Koon talks, the likelier he is downgraded to the latter position!
#7 by FY Lim on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 1:48 pm
If Koh Tsu Koon cannot even perform effectively as a CM in Penang and also needs an assistant to bolster him halfway through his KPI project, do you expect him to clamour for a RCI for PKFZ fiasco ?
What the spineless KTK can do is just shout and if challenged retract back into his UMNO shell.
Anyway, the verdict is clear from the government official side which is to corner former PKFZ GM , OC Phang and put the blame on her for mismanagement and neglect of duty; the collective Board of Directors for being negligent in their fiduciary duties and Tiong King Sing for fraudulent practices by collaborating with OC Phang and the Quantity Surveyor and Consultant.
All in all, maybe OC Phang will stand in for all the politicians and get a light jail sentence.
All the politicians involved, Ling Liong Sik, Chan Kong Choy , UMNO leaders will either get a chiding for failure to act in their nominated capacity and get scot-free.
#8 by HJ Angus on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 2:26 pm
To me the PR will gain more if it keeps the PKFZ scandal on the boil for the next GE .
After all we had no results after 2 RCIs.
#9 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 2:57 pm
Tan Sri KTK must BEGIN to undesrtand that there is no KPI to speak of if there is no integrity to the process.
Tan Sri shud know that there are statistics, damned statistics and BLATANT LIES (sugar-coated as statistics. Well, so far, under UMNO’s leadership, ther ehave been nothing but fricking lies. Chew on that, Tan Sri and Najib. (by the way, nice submarine called into Port Klang. Was that the first of the Mongolian scorpenes?)
#10 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 2:59 pm
My question is: why didn’t the Minister of Defence and the PM welcome our billion dollar investment or was it too small an investment?
Or did they? Did i miss it?
#11 by Loh on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 3:39 pm
The King inspected the submarine. It is not known whether the King got to ask what services would be needed on the submarine where a RM 500 million services contract was given to the acquitted murder suspect.
The submarine will never see active service in war. It cannot be replaced unless it is lost. For the RM 500 million service opportunity, would the submarine run away on its own?
#12 by vsp on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 3:46 pm
I don’t think KSK is able to get the Cabinet’s nod for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the PKZR scandal. What has already been known now is just scratching the surface; the rot lies deeper and it would open up a festering can of worms and expose more high-level shenanigans in UMNO itself. KSK has to first convince Najib of the imperativeness for the government to come clean of this mess.
But unfortunately, Najib himself has a load of heavy baggages hanging around his neck. Just imagine if he were to give the go-ahead to the setting of the RCI: pandemonium and hell would break out among the UMNOputras. They expect to be protected and Najib, being the godfather of this mafia organization, has to think carefully about his own survival. The recent extension of the IGP for another 1-year term is the definitive guide of how Najib will act. My verdict is no way Najib will agree to this. This stuff is too explosive to handle.
#13 by monsterballssgoh on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 6:27 pm
Koh Tsu Koon never had power and will never have any influence over UMNO.
He survived being a nice “yes man” and puppet to Mahathir and now to Najib.
Right now…UMNO brought in another man to replace him..which diplomatically saying.. to assist him.
He knew that…so try to pick a quarrel with Lim Guan Eng..recently…to show he can shout and act like KerisMoonDin too.
This guy is very happy to be second class citizen.
He is most useless Malaysian Chinese minister..totally selfish…mind his own business…got voted out….now trying to save Gerakan….which is actually…dead and gone.
He made Penang…”The Pearl of the Orient”…into a city for gangsters…dirty…unsystematic…a conman paradise.
He has no shame over his clear failures…selling the souks of Chinese to UMNO.
#14 by dawsheng on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 6:42 pm
When UMNO openly courting PAS under the guise of Malay and Islam unity the writings already on the wall, UMNO knew it cannot depends on MCA and Gerakan to stay in power, it’s puzzling why MCA or Gerakan still stick to UMNO despite findings suggest that members prefer that they leave the coalition. Could it be that the PKFZ scandal is the catalyst that bound the BN coalition in one piece, without it there would be no reasons to stick together? The recent development between Ong and Tiong suggested otherwise. Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead, why would Najib want a RCI, or did Koh Tsu Koon or Gerakan also received donation from Tiong?
#15 by Onlooker Politics on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 7:44 pm
//Can Tsu Koon do what Tee Keat has failed – getting Cabinet approval for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to ensure that it will not go down in history as Barisan Nasional and the nation’s most “heinous crime without criminals”?// (YB Kit)
As a KPI Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon sometimes could not even get to meet a certain Umno Minister even when a meeting appointment had been fixed in advance! If Dr. Koh was not even able to accomplish the job of common goal setting for KPI measurement purpose, how is he going to create a report card for each and every individual cabinet minister for submission to the perusal of the PM Najib?
And now YB Kit is asking Dr. Koh Tsu Koon to take over the duty of Ong Tee Keat for persuading Najib to form an RCI to make inquiry into the PKFZ scandal! Isn’t it something overmuch to be asked from a lame duck politician like Dr. Koh Tsu Koon?
And I think the most important question for every one of us to ponder now is “whether Dr. Koh Tsu Koon has ever been patronized by the Malaysia’s most generous money-squandering philantropist Dato Seri Tiong Keng Sing?”! If the answer is “Yes”, then how do we expect Dr. Koh to behave like a betrayer to his paymaster??? Trust me, PKFZ scandal will never have a convicted criminal. This is an Umno legacy — scot-free corruption with such magic words of ego-centric mantra “BN Party Unity” as the panacea!
#16 by katdog on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 9:06 pm
The criminals (scapegoats) already identified.
It is OC Phang and Chan Kong Choy. Maybe Tiong King Sing. But i doubt TKS will get anything. Will probably get the not enough evidence shit like how Eric Chia got off.
Of course the there are likely other criminals involved that have not been named.
Lets just see, can they trace where all the money actually went to? Or will they merely charge CKC and OC Phang for a relatively minor ‘not discharging duties responsibly’ instead of what it should really be: “conspiracy to defraud and embezzle millions”.
let just see shall we.
#17 by k1980 on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 9:21 pm
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/37135-damning-pkfz-report-singles-out-kong-choy
A fall guy has already been chosen to take the rap for the PKFZ fiasco. How many millions will he be given to take the blame?
#18 by GilaPolitic on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 9:29 pm
The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2009-2010 released today said :-
1. Malaysia’s global competitiveness ranking dropped 3 positions to 24.
The PKFZ scandal of RM12.5 billion, UMNO money politics, abuse of power and many corrupted BN goons, injustice by MACC and failed police force to fight crimes are taken into consideration to down grade Malaysia’a global competitiveness ranking.
2. “SECURITY” was of particular concern in Malaysia with its ranking dropped 25 levels to 85th.
Foreign tourists and investors will shy away if the crime rates are too high! A tremendous security downgraded of 60 levels look like Malaysia is non safe heaven nation now.
Najib should revise his security KPI to reduce nation crime by 60% instead of reducing 20% street crimes only.
What a laughing stock and bad omen is haunting Najib regime ? quoted by a Western Arabian Investor after reading the Malaysia report in Singapore recently.
Any comment from 1 Malaysia’s Najib ?
#19 by cinaindiamelayubersatu on Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 10:27 pm
> This list is a common knowledge to a lot of Malaysians,
> especially those non-Malays (Chinese, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang
> Asli, Tamils, etc.) who have been racially discriminated
> against.
>
>
> Figures in this list are merely estimates, so please take
> it as a guide only. The government of Malaysia has the most
> correct figures. Is government of Malaysia too ashamed to
> publish their racist acts by publishing racial statistics?
>
>
> This list covers a period of about 48 years since
> independence (1957).
>
> List of racial discriminations (Malaysia):
>
> (1) Of the five major banks, only one is multi-racial, the
> rest are controlled by Malays.
>
>
> (2) 99% of Petronas directors are Malays.
>
> (3) 3% of Petronas employees are Chinese.
>
> (4) 99% of 2000 Petronas gasoline stations are owned by
> Malays.
>
> (5) 100% all contractors working under Petronas projects
> must be of Bumis status.
>
>
> (6) 0% of non-Malay staff are legally required in Malay
> companies. But there must be 30% Malay staffs in Chinese
> companies.
>
> (7) 5% of all new intake for government police, nurses,
> army, are non-Malays.
>
>
> (8) 2% is the present Chinese staff in Royal Malaysian Air
> Force (RMAF), a drop from 40% in 1960.
>
> (9) 2% is the percentage of non-Malay government servants
> in Putrajaya, but Malays make up 98%.
>
> (10) 7% is the percentage of Chinese government servants in
> the entire government (in 2004); a drop from 30% in 1960.
>
>
> (11) 95% of government contracts are given to Malays.
>
> (12) 100% all business licensees are controlled by Malay
> government, e..g. Taxi permits, Approved permits, etc.
>
> (13) 80% of the Chinese rice millers in Kedah had to be
> sold to Malay controlled Bernas in 1980s. Otherwise, life is
> made difficult for Chinese rice millers.
>
>
> (14) 100 big companies set up, owned and managed by Chinese
> Malaysians were taken over by government, and later managed
> by Malays since 1970s, e.g. UTC, UMBC, MISC, Southern Bank
> etc..
>
> (15) At least 10 Chinese owned bus companies (throughout
> Malaysia in the past 40 years) had to be sold to MARA or
> other Malay transport companies due to rejection by Malay
> authorities to Chinese applications for bus routes and
> rejection for their applications for new buses..
>
>
> (16) Two Chinese taxi drivers were barred from driving in
> Johor Larkin bus station. There are about 30 taxi drivers
> and three were Chinese in Oct. 2004. Spoiling taxi club
> properties was the reason given.
>
> (17) 0 non-Malays are allowed to get shop lots in the new
> Muar bus station (Nov.. 2004).
>
>
> (18) 8000 billion ringgitis the total amount the
> government channeled to Malay pockets through ASB, ASN,
> MARA, privatization of government agencies, Tabung Haji etc,
> through NEP over a 34 years period.
>
>
> (19) 48 Chinese primary schools closed down from 1968 –
> 2000.
>
> (20) 144 Indian primary schools closed down from 1968 –
> 2000.
>
> (21) 2637 Malay primary schools built from 1968 – 2000.
>
> (22) 2.5% is government budget for Chinese primary schools.
> Indian schools got only 1%, Malay schools got 96.5%.
>
>
> (23) While a Chinese parent with RM1000 salary (monthly)
> cannot get school textbook loan, a Malay parent with RM2000
> salary is eligible.
>
> (24) All 10 public university vice chancellors are Malays.
>
>
> (25) 5% of the government universities’ lecturers are
> of non-Malay origins. This percentage has been reduced from
> about 70% in 1965 to only 5% in 2004.
>
>
> (26) Only 5% has been given to non-Malays for government
> scholarships in over 40 years.
>
> (27) 0 Chinese or Indians were sent to Japan and Korea
> under the ‘Look East Policy.’
>
> (28) 128 STPM Chinese top students could not get into the
> course to which they aspired, i.e. Medicine (in 2004).
>
>
> (29) 10% quotas are in place for non-Bumi students for MARA
> science schools beginning in 2003, but only 7% are filled.
> Before that it was 100% Malays.
>
> (30) 50 cases in which Chinese and Indian Malaysians are
> beaten up in the National Service program in 2003.
>
>
> (31) 25% of the Malaysian population was Chinese in 2004, a
> drop from 45% in 1957.
>
> (32) 7% of the Malaysian population is Indian (2004), a
> drop from 12% in 1957.
>
> (33) 2 million Chinese Malaysians have emigrated in the
> past 40 years.
>
>
> (34) 0.5 million Indian Malaysians have emigrated overseas.
>
>
> (35) 3 millions Indonesians have migrated to Malaysia and
> become Malaysian citizens with Bumis status.
>
> (36) 600,000 Chinese and Indian Malaysians with red IC were
> rejected repeatedly when applying for citizenship in the
> past 40 years. Perhaps 60% of them had already passed away
> due to old age. This shows racism, based on how easily
> Indonesians got their citizenships compared with the Chinese
> and Indians.
>
>
> (37) 5% – 15% discount for a Malay to buy a house,
> regardless whether the Malay is rich or poor.
>
> (38) 2% is what new Chinese villages get, compared with 98%
> – what Malay villages got for rural development budget.
>
>
> (41) 0 temples/churches were built for each housing estate.
> But every housing estate got at least one mosque/surau
> built.
>
> (42) 3000 mosques/surau were built in all housing estates
> throughout Malaysia since 1970. No temples or churches are
> required to be built in housing estates.
>
>
> (43) 1 Catholic church in Shah Alam took 20 years to apply
> to have a building constructed. But they were told by Malay
> authority that it must look like a factory and not like a
> church. As of 2004 the application still have not been
> approved.
>
>
> (44) 1 publishing of Bible in Iban language banned (in
> 2002).
>
> (45) 0 of the government TV stations (RTM1, RTM2, TV3) are
> directors of non-Malay origin.
>
> (46) 30 government produced TV dramas and films always
> showed that the bad guys had Chinese faces, and the good
> guys had Malay faces. You can check it out since 1970s.
> Recent years, this has become less of a tendency.
>
>
> (47) 10 times, at least, Malays (especially Umno) had
> threatened to massacre the Chinese Malaysians using May 13,
> since 1969.
>
> (48) 20 constituencies won by DAP would not get funds from
> the government to develop. These Chinese majority
> constituencies would be the last to be developed.
>
>
> (49) 100 constituencies (parliaments and states) had been
> racially re-delineated so Chinese votes were diluted for
> Chinese candidates. This is one of the main reasons why DAP
> candidates have consistently lost in elections since the
> 1970s. (update to 2008 needed)
>
>
> (50) Only 3 out of 12 human rights items are ratified by
> the Malaysian government since 1960.
>
> (51) 0 – elimination of all forms of racial discrimination
> (UN Human Rights) has not been ratified by Malaysian
> government since 1960s.
>
>
> (52) 20 reported cases whereby Malay ambulance attendances
> treated Chinese patients inhumanely, and Malay government
> hospital staffs purposely delayed attending to Chinese
> patients in 2003. Unreported cases may be 200.
>
>
> (54) 20 cases every year whereby Chinese drivers who
> accidentally knocked down Malays were seriously assaulted or
> killed by Malays.
>
> (55) 12% is what ASB/ASN got per annum while banks fixed
> deposits are only about 3.5% per annum.
>
>
> There are hundreds more examples of racial discrimination
> in Malaysia to add to this list of ‘colossal’
> racism. It is hoped that the victims of racism will write in
> to help expose this situation.
>
> The Malaysian government should publish statistics showing
> how much Malays had benefited from the ‘special
> rights’ of Malays and at the same time release the
> statistics which show how minority races are being
> discriminated against.
>
>
> Hence, the responsibility lies in the Malaysia government
> itself to publish unadulterated statistics of racial
> discrimination.
>
> If the Malaysia government hides the statistics above, then
> there must be some evil doings, immoral doings, shameful
> doings and sinful doings, like the Nazis, going on with the
> non-Malays of Malaysia.
>
>
> Civilized nations, unlike the evil Nazis, must publish
> statistics to show its treatment of its minority races. This
> is what Malaysia must publish.
>
> We are asking for the publication of the statistics showing
> how ‘implementation of special rights of Malays’ had
> inflicted colossal racial discrimination onto non-Malays.
>
>
> Human Book
#20 by jamalmalikslumdog on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 - 2:07 pm
I agree with FY Lim.
Najib need a Pavlov’s dog like KSK around that will respond to his beckons.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comforts and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy!”
If you look carefully, KSK walks with his head bow all the time. A man without dignity cannot be expected to have the courage to push for an RCI. A sorry figure of a man.
#21 by ktteokt on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 - 11:03 pm
If what cinaindiamelayubersatu has stated is true, Najis should certainly consult the famous RUKUNEGARA which says “…membina sebuah masyarakat yang ADIL….” Is this at all ADIL????? Then the RUKUNEGARA might as well be taken as a piece of TOILET PAPER for wiping asses!
#22 by monsterballssgoh on Thursday, 10 September 2009 - 12:56 am
Ghost month do bring out the best and worst commentators.