Archive for November 22nd, 2009

No open tender for deal building RM628m Matrade Centre for RM15 billion 65-acre prime KL land – dare Tsu Koon raise in Cabinet warning of adverse KPI/NKRA combating corruption?

In his first month as Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak received praise and applause for his assurance that he would cut down on direct negotiations for government procurement contracts and instead adopt the tender system on efforts to curb corruption and restore public confidence in the government.

The award of the building-for-land deal to Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd involving 65 acres of prime land in Kuala Lumpur with a gross development value of RM15 billion for building a RM628 million Matrade expo centre has dashed public hopes and expectations that Najib is serious about open tenders, accountability, transparency and the war against corruption.

As combating corruption is one of the six National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) announced by Najib, is the Key Performance Index (KPI) Minister, dare Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon raise in Cabinet urging for a review and to ask for the Matrade building-for-land deal to be submitted to open tender to ensure that the government and the public obtains the best deal.
Read the rest of this entry »

56 Comments

Malaysia, no pass marks in the corruption index

By Tunku Aziz

About this time each year when Transparency International in Berlin releases its Corruption Perceptions Index, there are many in high places chewing their sticky, dirty fingers while keeping them crossed, hoping against hope, that the world would be kinder and Malaysia’s score on the corruption league table would come out more favourably than last year’s and all the previous years since the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index was first released in 1995. The prayers of the corrupt in government and politics have been ignored again. The predictability of it all is uncanny. The question is why are we continually perceived as corrupt, and are the perceptions justified?

The ambivalence of Tun Mahathir to corruption during his 22 year administration was never in dispute. In a perverse sort of way, he was charmingly honest and did not try to pretend that he was against corrupt practices. He was a great “in the national interest man” who saw corruption not in monochrome, but in glorious Technicolor which could even be made to look extremely attractive seen through his 20/20 Vision however sordid it is in reality.
Read the rest of this entry »

11 Comments

What the Greater Unity Plan involves and implies:

By Thomas Lee

(1) Ignoring and dismissing the majority will of the party central delegates in wanting to remove the top two leaders by claiming that they lack the two-third vote to effect the dismissal, but not acepting the fact that the top two lack the support of more than half of the grassroots delegates.

(2) The coming together of the two former enemies for the sole purpose of retaining power despite losing massive support from the grassroots members. One leader is a shameless person who has no intergrity and lost all credibility when he reneged on his pledge that he will resign even if he lost by a vote but shamelessly stays on and becoming the laughing stock of the country. Another leader has a soiled reputation the subject of ridicule and derision among the people, bringing disrepute to the party.
Read the rest of this entry »

19 Comments