Archive for category Corruption
Procurement: A call for transparency
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Good Governance, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Friday, 3 July 2009
By Tunku Abdul Aziz
JULY 2 — Public procurement is the single most important source of corruption in any country, including ours. This crucial process remains a great mystery to the public at large because it is shrouded in secrecy.
The mystery is heightened by the Official Secrets Act (OSA). The OSA has become a permanent fixture in many jurisdictions, and the Malaysian government is not about to toss it out of the window any time soon. The OSA hides a multitude of sins and it is an impediment to transparency.
The government finds comfort and safety by hiding all of its more questionable and corrupt actions that cannot stand close scrutiny behind the OSA. As we know, without transparency, there is no accountability.
Unethical public officials, including senior politicians whose numbers are growing according to independent surveys, stand to gain from a corrupt procurement system. They are not slow to create the entirely spurious impression that Malaysia operates a fair system, as good as any in the world, and they say that it should be left alone. Why, they point out, change a winning formula? But, is it really? In theory, yes, but the practice is an entirely different matter. The procurement system in Malaysia is more honoured in the breach than in the observance.
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RM12.5 billiion PKFZ scandal – Parliament entitled to know the reasons why the Cabinet chopped and changed week-by-week its decision in October/November 2002 on the PKFZ land issue
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Parliament, PKFZ on Thursday, 25 June 2009
Today’s Star under the report “PKFZ probe under wraps for now” reads:
Malaysian Anti-Corruption (MACC) is not obliged to disclose the progress of investigations into the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
PAC member William Leong (PKR-Selayang) said MACC Commissioner had informed the PAC that the PKFZ issue was still under probe and Section 29 of the MACC Act 2008 does not allow the commission to disclose any information about the investigation to the PAC.
Unfortunately we were unable to get any information as to the situation of the investigation, when the investigation will end and whether any action would be taken against anyone,” he said.
Leong said he was disappointed with MACC’s reply, adding that several reports over the PKFZ were lodged with MACC, or ACA, since w2004.
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Najib must deal with corruption
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Saturday, 13 June 2009
By Tunku Abdul Aziz | MySinchew
PRIME MINISTER Najib Abdul Razak has done it again. His high income vision for Malaysia, following so closely on the heels of his yet to be fully charted 1Malaysia has caught the nation off guard.
Najib, while remaining largely uninspiring as a leader, is at least aspirational. Nothing wrong with indulging in a little fantasy from time to time, but Najib has to learn to control his propensity for grandstanding. I don’t suppose it is too rude to ask Najib to spell out in the clearest possible terms what precisely he has in mind when he talks about 1Malaysia. Is it fair to ask us to support a concept that he has difficulty in articulating to our satisfaction?
Najib cannot be so naïve that he cannot see what the inherent problems are in the way of turning Malaysia into a high income nation. For starters, a country such as ours which has been so mismanaged these last thirty years in all the important areas of governance is a most unlikely candidate for the High Income Country Stake.
That does not mean that we have not the potential; indeed we have but, I am afraid we have squandered it beyond belief by putting in place investment, trade and industrialisation policies that have tended towards excessive, crippling control rather than encouragement to compete globally.
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PKFZ scandal – OTK should cancel overseas trip and not emulate Kong Choy to run overseas to avoid parliamentary accounting
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Parliament, PKFZ on Saturday, 13 June 2009
On Thursday, I gave notice to Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin that I will move an emergency motion in Parliament on Monday to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
The notice under S.O. (18)(2) to move a motion of urgent definite public importance in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday, 15th June 2009, is as follows:
“That the House gives leave to MP for Ipoh Timor YB Lim Kit Siang to adjourn the House under S.O. 18 (1) to discuss a definite matter of urgent public importance – the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
“The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) audit report into the PKFZ made public on May 28, 2009 was most unsatisfactory as its terms of reference were restricted to “a position review” instead of wide-ranging inquiry as to how a RM1.1 billion scandal in 2002 under Tun Ling Liong Sik as Transport Minister, could more than quadruple to RM4.6 billion under Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy as Transport Minister in 2007 and now further doubled to RM7.453 billion and heading towards the figure of RM12.5 billion under the present Transport Minister!
“Although the Prime Minister had on 29th May publicly directed the Transport Minister to answer every question raised by any party on the PwC report on PKFZ, and I had been posing three questions a day on the PKFZ since 30th May, no satisfactory answers had been forthcoming from the Transport Minister.
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Will OTK clip the wings and tie the hands of Paul Low and his corporate governance committee to prevent them from conducting a full probe into past PKFZ misdeeds, corrupt practices and abuses of power?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, PKFZ on Friday, 12 June 2009
My three questions (No.40 to No. 42 on the 14th day in the current series) to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal today are:
No. 1. Does Ong agree that Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid should disqualify himself and step aside in the PAC inquiry into the PKFZ scandal because of conflict of interest as Azmi was Minister in the Cabinet which decided on the RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout in July 2007 and that the entire PAC inquiry into the PKFZ scandal should be conducted under the leadership of the PAC Deputy Chairman, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw?
No. 2. I have given notice to the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin to move an urgent motion of definite public importance when Parliament reconvenes on Monday on the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the PKFZ scandal.
Does Ong agree that Parliament should have a special urgent debate on the PKFZ scandal on Monday?
No. 3. Speaking at the DAP Public Forum “The RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal – Will Heads Roll?” in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and commenting on the special task force and two committees which Ong had set up as a follow-up to the PwC report on the PKFZ, I had described the PKFZ scandal not just “a can of worms” but “a swamp of crocodiles”. I added:
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The PwC report on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal which PKA has taken off the Internet
Posted by Kit in Corruption, PKFZ on Thursday, 11 June 2009
Since yesterday, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report on RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) has been taken off the Port Klang Authority (PKA) website.
As a national service, the PwC report on the PKFZ scandal is hereby restored online and available here (Malaysia-mirror).
As I said, the PwC report is most unsatisfactory with its very narrow and restricted terms of reference, as noted by the PwC in its “Important Notice”, viz:
“The report is limited in scope. It is restricted to a position review of Port Klang Free Zone and Port Klang Free Zone Sdn. Bhd as set out in our Letter of Engagement dated 8th October 2008. We were not asked to and we have not advised on any strategy, valuation, legal implications, tax, operational effectiveness, staff competencies or process improvement. No investigation to detect any wrongdoing or audit to form an opinion on any financial information, including any forecasts and projections, has been undertaken.” (p.1)
Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has not been able to explain why he had decided on such a limited and restricted term of reference for the PwC study, deliberately excluding from inquiry the conduct or misconduct of previous Transport Ministers, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik and Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy in the PKFZ scandal, as well as not asking PwC to detect any wrong doing or render advice on “any strategy, valuation, legal implications, tax, operational effectiveness, staff competencies or process improvement”?
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RM12.5b PKFZ Rip-off – OTK should apologise on behalf of MCA as scandal occurred under watch of 3 MCA Transport Ministers/4 PKA Chairmen
Posted by Kit in Corruption, PKFZ on Monday, 8 June 2009
My three questions (No.28 to No. 30 on the 10th day in the current series) to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal today are:
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Is Ong prepared as MCA President to make a public apology on behalf of MCA to the nation and Malaysians for the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal as it occurred under the watch of three MCA Transport Ministers and four MCA Port Klang Authority (PKA) Chairmen?
From a RM1.1 billion scandal in 2002 under Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik as Transport Minister, it has more then quadrupled to RM4.6 billion under Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy as Transport Minister, and now skyrocketed to RM7.453 billion under Ong’s watch, and likely to require another RM5 billion bailout with public funds to reach the astronomical total cost of RM12.5 billion.
If everyone of the three MCA Transport Ministers and the four MCA PKA Chairmen (Tan Sri Ting Chew Peh, Datuk Yap Pian Hon, Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung and Datuk Lee Hwa Beng) had acted fully conscious of their public trust and responsibilities, the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal would not have reached the present proportion and magnitude!
PKFZ scandal — suspend Chor as deputy finance minister until he is cleared of conflict-of-interest
Posted by Kit in Corruption, PKFZ on Sunday, 7 June 2009
My three questions to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal today are:
Question No. 1 (No. 25 in series): What are the real reasons for the sudden resignation of Ong’s hand-picked Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager and Port Klang Free Zone Sdn. Bhd (PKFZSB) executive chairman Lim Thean Shiang.
Is it because of his failure to perform in his two positions to bring in investors and tenants to PKFZ, which continues to be a “ghost town” and a white elephant?
Is it also because of the special briefing of Barisan Nasional MPs on the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) audit report on the PKFZ, allegedly without the knowledge or authority of the Transport Minister?
Who organized the mysterious briefing of BN MPs on the PKFZ, was it the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club Chairman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, who is also the main stakeholder of the PKFZ turnkey developer Kuala Dimensi Sdn.Bhd?
How many BN MPs attended the special briefing and can the Minister give a full list of the MPs concerned, or is it covered by the Official Secrets Act?
What exactly transpired at the “special briefing”?
Question No. 2: Read the rest of this entry »
Question No. 21 to OTK – what would have been the fate of MCA/BN leaders responsible for creating the RM12.5 billion PKFZ Rip-Off if this had happened in China?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, PKFZ on Friday, 5 June 2009
This is the seventh day of my “three questions a day” to the Transport Minister and MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) Rip-off.
Question No. 1 (No. 19 in series):
Last Saturday’s New Straits Times (30.5.09) carried the following report headlined: “Port Klang Free Zone Scandal: Najib tells Ong to provide the answers”:
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has directed Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat to respond to queries involving the audit report on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ).
He said Ong would provide the necessary information on the report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that was released on Thursday.
“I have asked Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat to provide answers on every question raised by any party on the audit report. You can refer to him.
“He will provide the explanation,” Najib said after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting here yesterday.
In his blog on the same day, Ong said: Read the rest of this entry »
Ong Tee Keat’s “roadmap to recovery of PKFZ” reminds me eerily of Myanmar military junta’s “seven-step roadmap to democracy” which leads to nowhere!
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Good Governance, PKFZ on Thursday, 4 June 2009
Transport Minister and MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat blogged a response from Beijing to my 15 questions (three per day) on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) Rip-Off but he was forced to camouflage his failure to honour the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s directive and promise of a question-by-question reply as well as very weak and insipid contents by very harsh language and distractions.
“…a knee jerk reaction which spells of political agenda and defeatist attitude”.
“It will save people a lot of time not to repeat ourselves for the benefit of self-serving politicians”.
“I see no reason to waste valuable time to engage in fruitless public debates of any form that does not help to solve the problems”.
“… public debates are the opposition’s obvious idea of resolving all the country’s ills”.
Just four quotes from his short statement. What character of the man, at least for this moment, do they reveal?
Pompous. Arrogant. Quite insufferable. Worse than Najib on all three scores!
Read the rest of this entry »
RM12 billion PKFZ “can of worms” – Ong Tee Keat and MACC, what games are you playing?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, PKFZ on Thursday, 21 May 2009
Malaysians today are entitled to ask the MCA President/Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) – What games are you playing with regard to the RM12 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) “can of worms”?
In the latest twist to an unprecedented long catalogue of twists, Ong now says that the question of whether the PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) report on the PKFZ scandal will be made public rests with the cabinet.
This is most unbelievable! Wasn’t it Ong himself who issued a categorical, even commanding, instruction to the Port Klang Authority (PKA) on April 29 to release the PwC audit report on the PKFZ to the public “within seven days”?
Why one excuse after another since then to justify why the PwC report on the PKFZ has not yet seen the light of day, until the whole responsibility is thrown back to the Cabinet – when Malaysians had been told that the Cabinet had given Ong the greenlight to release the PwC report, which was the reason for Ong’s command on April 29 to the PKA to make public the PwC report within seven days?
Read the rest of this entry »
RM12 billion PKFZ can of worms – time for it to be fully opened to the glare of Malaysian public and bring to book the culprits
Posted by Kit in Corruption, PKFZ on Wednesday, 20 May 2009
The RM12 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal took another twist when it is reported today that there is a fall-out between the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and the man he appointed to clean up and salvage the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) – Lim Thean Shiang, the Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager and PKFZ chief executive.
According to the Sun, Lim tendered his resignation last week which was accepted by Ong on Thursday. In a SMS to the Sun, Lim said his resignation must first be tabled before the PKA board meeting tomorrow for it to take effect.
Is there a suggestion that there might be a coup at the PKA Board meeting tomorrow and that Lim’s resignation might be rejected?
It is reported that the fallout between Ong and Lim was over the handling of the PKFZ scandal, both on the publication of the PwC audit as well as Lim’s briefing to Barisan Nasional backbenchers on May 5 on the project, which was made without Ong’s approval.
The “secret” briefing by Lim to the Barisan Nasional MPs is most improper and irregular. Read the rest of this entry »
RM12 billion PKFZ scandal – six times bigger than RM2.5 billion BMF scandal of Mahathir
Posted by Kit in Corruption, MCA, PKFZ on Sunday, 10 May 2009
MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat should stop running from the question why he had failed to honour his repeated public undertakings to “tell all” and make public the full report of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit into the mega-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal. Malaysians want to know what he is hiding.
The PwC audit report into the PKFZ scandal has been described in the media as “a damning disclosure of mismanagement, clandestine deals, conflicts of interest and a total disregard for transparency and accountability” for a project which was supposed to cost RM1.845 billion in 2002 under the then MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik but ended up at RM4.6 billion under MCA Deputy President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy.
Now, horror of horrors, it is reported that the final cost of the PKFZ scandal under MCA President and the third MCA Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat is the frightening figure of RM12 billion, which would have to be borne by the Malaysian taxpayers although the Cabinet had been assured in 2002 that the PKFZ project was a feasible, self-financing project that would not require a single sen of government financing!
If the PKFZ scandal had ballooned from RM1.8 billion in 2002 to RM12 billion in seven years under three MCA Ministers, it will be six times bigger than the first Mahathir mega financial scandal – RM2.5 billion BMF scandal! Read the rest of this entry »
RM8 bil PKFZ scandal? – Cabinet tomorrow should overrule OTK’s “passing-the-buck” game and direct immediate release of PwC Report
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Economics, Finance, Financial Scandals, Good Governance, PKFZ on Tuesday, 28 April 2009
The Cabinet tomorrow should overrule Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s “passing-the-buck” game and direct the immediate and full publication of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Report on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal and to respond to the Edge cover report that the cost of PKFZ had escalated fourfold from the original RM1.8 billion to RM8 billion.
Ong should not try to distract public attention from the real issues about the PKFZ scandal by threatening that he would be “checking with his legal adviser and see if the article carried in the weekly was libellous”. (Star April 27, 2009)
Let him respond fully, frankly and forthrightly to two issues:
Firstly, why as the Transport Minister he had reneged on his promise made in April last year, as reported by Star (April 8, 2008) headlined: ”Ong to tell all on Port Klang Free Zone” quoting him:
“I wish to inform the rakyat about the true situation – whether it was actually squandered, not squandered, and whether it has gone to, as well as the breakdown of the budget.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Khir Toyo – “I am actually a very simple man”
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Media on Sunday, 19 April 2009
[Marina Mahathir’s blog drew my attention to the Sunday Star reporter Shahanaaz Habib’s interview with former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Khir Toyo on the can of worms opened up by the Selangor Select Committee on Competence, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) hearings on the financial scandals of Balkis (the former Selangor Elected Representatives Wives Welfare Association) and that the interview online has more in it than the one in the print version.
Marina is right, there is indeed more in the online interview with Khir who described himself as: “I’m actually a very simple man”. It is a must read (below)
Malaysians would be assured of a better future for themselves and future generations if they could be spared of such “simple men” and their ilk!
I agree with Marina when she asked: “I’m just wondering why the MACC hasn’t pulled him up for questioning yet. Or do they actually find his explanations plausible?”
Can we have an answer from the MACC Chief Commissioner, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan, if he can spare a moment from his preoccupation with “car and cows”?
Shahanaaz deserves credit for a most extraordinarily insightful and revealing interview. I don’t think there has been another interview in the history of Malaysian journalism which has been so self-incriminating as well as exposing the hypocrisy, shallowness and pomposity of the person interviewed. Shabas. ] Read the rest of this entry »
BN not contesting Penanti by-election unconvincing unless Najib ends all “political games” and holds Perak state-wide polls
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat on Sunday, 19 April 2009
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is advocating that Umno and Barisan Nasional not contest the Penanti state by-election in Penang following the resignation of Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Mohamad Fairus Khairuddin as Penanti state assemblyman, giving as reasons that such a by-election was not in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution and a waste of public funds.
Led by the Gerakan “Super Minister” Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, who praised Najib for the “good idea for BN not to participate in a by-election caused by strategic intrigue or aimed at resolving Pakatan Rakyat’s internal predicament”, the other Barisan Nasional parties quickly competed to express support for Najib.
The only lone voice was MIC President, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu who said BN should contest in Penanti to safeguard its integrity, prestige and image as the BN should not be “frightened of the opposition”. Samy’s views must have panicked the other MIC leaders, causing the MIC secretary-general and Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam to openly declare support for Najib’s “no contest” idea to contain Samy’s “damage”.
The mainstream media also swung into action to support Najib by reporting that the five by-elections since the March general elections last year have cost Malaysian taxpayers RM33.4 million, comprising: Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir playing for very high stakes – attacks “several unsavoury characters” in Najib Cabinet
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Friday, 17 April 2009
Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has opened fire on the Najib premiership, expressing his disappointment that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet appointments include several “unsavoury characters”.
In his blog, Mahathir said the inclusion of these “unsavoury characters who had been accused of being corrupt while in the previous government” had negated any desire to rid Umno of blatantly corrupt politicians.
Mahathir said the Najib administration should be aware it has less than three years to regain the support of the public and that it had missed a good opportunity for regaining public backing for BN by “excluding dubious characters.”
Mahathir’s disapproval of the Najib Cabinet has intensified in a matter of days. Read the rest of this entry »
8 tests for Najib Cabinet
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Crime, Economics, Good Governance, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Open Letter to Prime Minister and Cabinet
YAB Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Cabinet Ministers, Putrajaya.
YAB/YB,
Firstly, let me start by congratulating Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his appointment as Prime Minister and all the Ministers of the first Najib Cabinet.
The Najib Cabinet saw the removal of seven Ministers in the old Abdullah Cabinet, namely Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar (Home); Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (Tourism), Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib (Rural and Regional Development), Senator Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz (Prime Minister’s Department), Datuk Ong Ka Chuan (Housing and Local Government), Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed (Works) and Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique (Federal Territories).
No one shed any tears for the dropping of the seven Ministers in the Abdullah Cabinet.
However, Malaysians are outraged at the new set of Ministers in the Najib Cabinet, for they are not only another set of “old faces” but include 11 new Ministers or Deputy Ministers who entered Parliament from the backdoor of the Senate.
Worse still, they include “political rejects” like Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun and Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussin who were trounced by the electorate in last year’s political tsunami in the March 8 general elections, making the Najib Cabinet even more unrepresentative and unpopular than the second and last Abdullah Cabinet.
As a result, no new Cabinet in the nation’s 52-year history could have got off with a worse start than the present one.
Najib’s first task is to get rid of the corrupt in his Cabinet whether Minister or Deputy Minister
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Friday, 10 April 2009
The first task of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is to get rid of the corrupt in his new Cabinet team – whether Minister or Deputy Minister.
He should seek an appointment with former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who though praised the new cabinet as “more or less graft-free” nonetheless qualified his praise when he said that Najib “did very well by dropping most of the people who have been accused of corruption, although one or two slipped in”.
“One or two” corrupt Ministers or Deputy Ministers succeeded in slipping through the integrity scrutiny and firewall to get into Najib’s first Cabinet?
This is clearly unacceptable if Najib is to lead a clean and incorruptible administration with zero tolerance for corruption.
As Prime Minister for 22 years, Mahathir had shown great tolerance for corruption – as demonstrated by the fact that in the last seven years of his premiership, Malaysia’s ranking on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index fell from No. 23 in 1995 to No. 37 to 2003 – which could only mean that more than “one or two” corrupt Ministers and Deputy Ministers had got onto his government without any protest or action by the longest-serving Prime Minister of the country!
If by Mahathir’s very lenient attitude towards corruption – after all, it was the new Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who a decade ago had stood up as Umno Youth Leader at the Umno Youth General Assembly in 1998 to denounce Mahathir as the “father” of Malaysian KKN, corruption, cronyism and nepotism – he could still talk about “one or two” corrupt members of the new cabinet, a more stringent integrity standard would have faulted many more members of the Najib Cabinet. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang: Najib should clear his name first
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Crime, Election, Najib Razak on Thursday, 2 April 2009
Malaysiakini
Athi Veeranggan | Apr 2, 09 12:58pm
Never before has a premier designate’s credibility to assume the country’s top job has come under such intense public scrutiny as in the case of Najib Abdul Razak.
Veteran opposition parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang said Najib therefore should first address the unprecedented phenomenon of Malaysians doubting his integrity in taking over the premiership.
“Najib must first come out clean from all the public accusations and allegations against him before assuming the country’s top job.
“He cannot assume the premiership with a tainted character and frail credibility. He must first clear his name,” said Lim in his Bukit Selambau by-election campaign speech at a rally in Sungai Petani last night.
The DAP supremo opined that it would be “morally and politically incorrect” for Najib to become the country’s sixth prime minister tomorrow when the jury was still out on whether the newly-elected Umno president was the ‘right man’ to helm Putrajaya.
Read the rest of this entry »
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