Regina Lee | May 28, 11
Malaysiakini

The DAP has challenged the BN-led federal government to declassify the Independent Power Producer (IPP) agreements amidst the massive subsidy cutting exercise in the country.

The party’s publicity secretary and Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said that this should be done to “justify the government’s refusal to restructure these wildly unfair contracts which allow them to make astronomical returns at the expense of the people”.

Earlier this week, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek had waved off opposition insistence that the government stop subsidising independent power plants (IPPs) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd before slashing those covering fuel and sugar.

He said that this cannot be done as the government had signed deals with various power producers many years ago and this can only be renegotiated after the contracts lapse.

“As the government is tied to lots of agreements, the subsidies for IPPs cannot be immediately abolished, (just because) DAP says or Anwar (Ibrahim) says,” he was reported to have said at a press conference.

To that, Pua said that there is little point in arguing with Chua on the Purchasing Power Agreements (PPA) that nobody outside the cabinet has access to.

“I’d instead challenge Chua to prove his point that the government is completely helpless after signing the PPAs by demanding that these agreements be declassified for public scrutiny,” said Pua in a statement this morning.

He also said that the government should follow the precedent set by the 2009 declassification of the highway toll concession agreements.

That move opened the opportunity for close scrutiny of the agreements by researchers as well as Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers.

“The declassification of the highway toll concession agreements also proved the lies of the former works minister Samy Vellu who had for years claimed that the government would have to pay hundreds of billions of ringgit in compensation should these contracts be terminated.

“He hid his arguments behind the Official Secrets Act (OSA) which prevents the public from finding out the real truth,” said Pua.

‘Chua, don’t be another Samy’

“It is only with the declassification of the PPAs from the OSA that Chua can prove that he is not another Samy Vellu who tried to protect the interest of the crony concessionaires while hiding behind the OSA.”

He also declared that they have no confidence that the BN has the political will to ‘negotiate’ with these IPPs to restructure the terms of their contracts as announced by Minister in the Prime Minister’s department Idris Jala.

“The BN government had talked about renegotiating these contracts for more than six years now with absolutely nothing to show,” Pua said.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had earlier claimed that the government dishes out RM19 billion in fuel subsidies to IPPs as well as government-owned Tenaga, gobbling up the majority of fuel subsidies given out by the government.

However, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui denied the estimation, saying that the RM19 billion is instead the profit that Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) had to forgo for having to sell gas below the market price to the IPPs and Tenaga.

“If the Najib administration has the political will and is really sincere about renegotiating these contracts, it would not have taken him more than two years.

“It is only after being placed under pressure by the rakyat over the government’s attempts to cut subsidies for the man-on-the-street and not those for the large corporate cronies like the IPPs recently, that the recycled ‘renegotiation’ announcement was made,” said Pua.