Sorry, off-topic
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KUOTA HAPUS
By Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on September 17, 2009 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBacks (0)

///1. Tidaklah penting kita tahu asal-usul kuota dalam pemilihan pemimpin UMNO. Namun demikian izinkan saya cerita sedikit berkenaan latar belakangnya.

2. Pada tahun 1986 Dato (Tun) Musa Hitam, musuh ketat Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah telah berjaya pujuk Tengku bertanding jawatan Presiden UMNO. Beliau sendiri sanggup jadi timbalannya./// –TDM

Enemy’s enemy is one’s friend. Even enemies became make friends when they have a common enemy.

///3. Seperti biasa bahagian-bahagian (UMNO), dalam mesyuarat telah namakan calon mereka. Hanya 20 peratus menamakan Tengku Razaleigh.

4. Tetapi dalam Mesyuarat Agong Tengku Razaleigh mendapat hampir 50 peratus daripada undi wakil-wakil yang hadir./// — TDM

Party elections are based on votes cast during the general assembly, and delegates vote in secrecy. The results show the collective decision of the persons who attended the meeting and voted. The number of nominations a candidate received has no influence on the result. That was why in the original UMNO constitution, a candidate needs only nomination from two Divisions to be qualified to stand for election, of any vacant position including the presidency. The fact that Tengku Razaleigh obtained 20% of the nominations but 50% of the votes cast would not change the outcome, if there was no blackout during vote counting, and Tengku Razaleigh had won with 50 votes. In fact TR needed only two nominations to stand under the original election rules.

///5. Tentang bagaimana terdapat kelainan ketara antara bahagian-bahagian dengan wakil-wakil mereka, wallahua’alam. ///– TDM

The delegates who had the right to vote knew very well that under the rules in place at that time, they did not have to show whom they wanted to vote in the party election, so long as they knew that their candidates had been nominated by other Divisions and was qualified to stand. There was no need to make life difficult for the Division chiefs who might want to pretend to be with the powers-that-be.

///6. Selepas itu mahkamah telah putuskan bahawa UMNO adalah parti haram. Walaupun UMNO dapat dipulih, sebilangan ahli dan pemimpin UMNO telah berpisah daripada parti untuk menubuh parti serpihan. Ternampak jelas pertandingan untuk jawatan tertinggi boleh memecah dan melemahkan parti. ///– TDM

The party’s strength depends to a large extent on the ability and the philosophy of the President. To the President, the strength depends on the number of obedient members. That was why when NEW UMNO was formed those who could stand up against Mahathir were out in the cold, and he enjoyed his exclusive new UMNO to the extent that he dismissed Tun Saleh Abas whom Mahathir considered a threat to revive the old UMNO of 1946. He certainly wants to pretend that UMNO now began 63 years ago rather than in 1988.

///7. Majlis Tertinggi UMNO, telah bincang kemungkinan perkara ini berlaku lagi dan memutuskan bagi mengelak perwakilan menidakkan keputusan Bahagian, sesiapa yang dicalon oleh Bahagian akan dapat 10 undi bonus.///– TDM

Since the election results have all along been based on secret votes held during the general assembly, the bonus point changed the entire system of UMNO party election to favour those who were able to control the Division chiefs. Since then UMNO leaders who have positions in government and were able to grant largesse to his supporters have advantage over others not appointed to government positions. The Prime Minister who has the power to appoint his supporters to lucrative positions, particularly with the convenient of easy money under NEP is like tiger with added wings. The change in the UMNO party election system introduced in New UMNO facilitated TDM’s long 22 years reign. He is certainly jealous that other UMNO Presidents enjoy the same advantage.

///8. Malangnya apabila Dato Seri Anwar mencabar Tun Ghaffar, entah bagaimana jumlah bahagian yang mencalonkan Anwar begitu tinggi sehingga undi bonus shaja pun boleh kalahkan Ghaffar. Tun Ghaffar terpaksa tarik diri dan Anwar pun naik jadi Timbalan Presiden dan Timbalan Perdana Menteri.///– TDM

Complicated games always reward the smart players.

///9. Ada sesuatu yang tidak kena yang telah berlaku kerana undi bonus. Nampaknya ada cara untuk menguasai bahagian sehingga perwakilan kehilangan hak mengundi sama sekali. Jelas sistem bonus boleh disalahgunakan.///– TDM

That was money politics at the Division level. If Mahathir was sincere in ensuring that the best leaders were elected, he should have allowed the old two-nomination rule to stay. But he would have reduced his influence on party elections when positions of party leaders in government did not exert excessive influence. He certainly knew about the emergence of money politics with that bonus votes; he could not be that naïve.

///10. Untuk meringkaskan cerita Majlis Tertinggi UMNO memutuskan untuk mengganti bonus dengan kuota. Jika seseorang calon betul-betul layak maka dia tentu mampu mendapat pencalonan secukupnya dari Bahagian. Bagi jawatan presiden tokoh yang layak perlu mendapat 60 pencalonan oleh Bahagian. Dengan cara ini hanya calon yang buruk, termasuk Presiden yang tidak akan dapat pencalonan yang mencukupi. /// –TDM

AAB must have been quite useless to withdraw from the contest fearing that he could not muster enough nominations to qualify, and is now being referred to by his best friend by enemy standard. That was the results of cold war among friends; those who had government ministerial positions. Those who are out of the government stand no chance, however bright and capable he might be; Tengku Razaleigh is a case in point. He is undoubtedly a better candidate for president than Mahathir but obtained only one nomination from the division he headed. He might not have been nominated otherwise.

///11. Malangnya penguasaan parti oleh Presiden yang juga Perdana Menteri amatlah kuat. Dengan cara-cara tertentu Presiden boleh memaksa supaya hanya dia sahaja yang dicalon. Pencabarnya bukan sahaja tidak akan dapat 60 bahagian tetapi dilihat hanya bahagiannya sendiri sahaja yang mencalonnya.

12. Sekali lagi sistem ini gagal untuk membebaskan bahagian dan ahli untuk bertindak mengikut kehendak mereka yang sebenar. Justeru itu memanglah baik sistem kuota ini dihapuskan./// — TDM

The people however few there may be once offered unfair advantage would not want to give it up. Mahathir started the system, and he should have known about the defects in it. Why did he not abolish it during his term? A double standard or jealousy which is it, or both?

///13. Saya berdoa selepas ini penyalahgunaan kuasa oleh Presiden akan dihapuskan dan pencabarnya akan dapat bertanding. Tetapi setakat ini belum ada keputusan tentang cara mana seseorang dapat dicalonkan.

14. Sebenarnya tidak ada sistem yang tidak cacat. Samada sesuatu sistem berkesan atau tidak bergantung kepada pengamalnya. Apabila pengamal dipelbagai peringkat mudah di suap, sistem apa pun tidak akan menghasilkan yang terbaik.///– TDM

There had been suggestion that a person must have held a lower position for two terms before he could be qualified to stand for a higher post. A youngest person having been a vice-president for two terms would certainly make it to be the President, when old vice Presidents die in due cause. UMNO election enters the era of longevity rather than capability.

Why can’t they go back to the system of UMNO 1946 rather than Mahathir’s system of UMNO 1988?

PKFZ is a project for wealth creation, of the persons who developed it.

The land where PKFZ stands was alienated to a cooperative society for a specific purpose. If the land was not utilized as asked for, it should have been returned to the state government.

The land was sold to Kuala Dimensi most probably after the government has decided that PKFZ would be developed in that area. It is the usual practice that the government acquires land even owned by private individuals when the land is needed for development purposes, such as it is needed for PKFZ. The compensation would be the market value assessed based on the use put to the land. Kuala Dimensi acquired the land at RM 1.5 per square foot. Since the land had not been approved for housing, the value of the land could be valued at most at what it could be used for, such as for coconut plantation. At RM 1.5 a square foot or RM 63,840 an acre, the land is over priced for plantation use.

When PKFZ forcibly acquired the land from Kuala Dimensi, it should be at the price the government is willing to pay Kuala Dimensi as compensation. Since Kuala Dimensi purchased the land for a year before it was forcibly acquired by PKFZ, the compensation paid for the land by the government should be at cost plus financial charges. Kuala Dimensi has the right to appeal to the court for fair compensation.

PKFZ sits on a thousand acres of land, and Kuala Dimensi might have developed some areas of it when it was sold, but not the entire land areas of 1,000 acres. RM 25 a square foot might be the price for a housing land in the remote area, but that price should not have been applicable to areas, 99% of which remained undeveloped. At RM 25 a square foot, the 1000-acre land costs RM 1.064 billion. How can the Minister or the Finance Minister, including the Prime Minister believe that the project could be self-financing with a budget of RM 1088 billion when it had only RM 24 million left for developing it after paying 97.8% of it for land? PKFZ has failed to be operational within the approved budget 1.088 billion the moment it bought the land from Kuala Dimensi. Why did the project continue, and who had approved the proposal to acquire the land at that price?

The government would have saved 90% of the cost of land had they allowed the court to decide fair compensation rather than purchasing it on the negotiated basis. Why were the ministers and the PKA general manager became so generous with paying for the land at that price when they were aware that with 2.8 % of funds left in the approved budget, they were not able to implement the project on self-financing basis. In that case, RM 1,064 would be wasted on a land which could offer no other use than to be sold off, and with obviously no taker at that price? Did the Prime Minster tell PKA and the minister-in-charge to go ahead even when he was told that 97% of the approved budget was spent on useless land if it remains undeveloped? Or was the PM not informed of the actual situation?

What had been the plan of Kuala Dimensi on the use of the 1,000 acres of land when it bought the land? Was Kuala Dimensi privy to the knowledge of PKFZ plan before it acquired the land? Why was the function of PKA when turn-key contractor did all the development work? Was PKA only a cashier?