http://www.malaysia-today.net/Raja_Petra/2006/09/hellobrader.html#comments
Tuesday, September 12, 2006 Hello....brader.... Raja Petra Kamarudin On 7 August 2006, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi flatly denied that his son, Kamaluddin, is beneficiary to Malaysian government contracts. When the interviewer asked Abdullah about the talk in town that his family members have benefited from their relationship with the highest office in the land, Abdullah acted perturbed and demonstrated how upset he was at such blatantly lies and innuendoes. On 17 August, Malaysia Today revealed that Abdullah was lying in an article carried in The Corridors of Power called Read my lips! Kamal DID NOT get any Malaysian government jobs. Someone picked up the points in this article and translated it into Bahasa Malaysia. It was then sent to Abdullah and in that same letter the writer accused Abdullah of lying to the nation. The person who conducted the interview then became the whipping boy for the 7 August interview disaster. They had already cut out 20 minutes from the interview. The part that was aired was damaging enough. One wonders what was in the part that they snipped. If what they left in was bad enough, imagine the part that was cut out. The blame for this fiasco was shouldered by the hapless interviewer. They blamed him for it. He should have known that Abdullah was not that sharp and would not have been able to handle the interview. Why allow Abdullah to make a fool of himself? After all, this was not a live interview but a recorded show. This means they could control the content and not allow anything damaging to get onto the air. But it was not so easy. What they left in was considered the safe parts. The dangerous parts had already been censored. If they want to play real safe then they would have to remove the entire interview and there would be nothing left. Was Abdullah not given the questions prior to the interview? Did he not rehearse what he was going to say? Did he not conduct a trial run or dress rehearsal in front of his advisers so that they could coach him and guide him on what he should and should not say? Or did they assume that it matters not what Abdullah says for Abdullah is the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister can do and say no wrong? Anyway, that is all water under the bridge now. Abdullah denied before the nation that his sons company, Scomi, is beneficiary to billions of Ringgit worth of government contracts. Abdullah did not address Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamads allegation against him. He defended himself of course. But he defended himself not by telling his side of the story or by explaining his actions. He just said that he is answerable to God and is the Prime Minister as the trustee of God, and as a religious man he would not violate this trust from God. Granted, Muslims believe that nothing happens without Gods will, but you are also answerable to man as much as you are to God. Yes, sure, man proposes but God disposes. You must be grateful (syukur) to God for whatever God gives you. But you must also be thankful to man. Abdullah talks as a religious man. He talks about trust from God. He talks about God entrusting him with the job of Prime Minister. But God did not vote him in as Prime Minister. Man did. And he is answerable to man before he is answerable to God. I am not religious man. But even I in my ignorance know this. How come Abdullah, a man of the cloth, does not? Islam teaches us that if one has sinned against God, then God will forgive you, for God is ever-forgiving. But if one has sinned against man, then God will not forgive you, for God will not forgive you for any sins against man. You have to beg forgiveness from the one you have sinned against and only if that person forgives you will God do so as well. Abdullah is a religious man, I am not. How come Abdullah does not know this while I do? Now, back to the 7 August 2006 interview on TV3, Abdullah either lied or he is ignorant of the facts. Either way that is bad -- for Malaysia cannot afford to have a chief executive who is either a liar or an ignoramus. Abdullah said that his son does not report to him so he does not know what his son does. But in the same breath he went into great detail on his sons business activities. So which is it? Does he know or does he not? When Abdullah received a letter accusing him of lying, he said he has asked Scomi for a report and if it is true that he was mistaken then he will apologise. Does this make sense? Do you ask the fox to tell you what happened to the chickens? Would the fox admit that it ate all the chickens? Anyway, finally the report from Scomi came in though we were never told when that happened or what was stated in the report. Then Abdullah announced that there was nothing untoward as Scomi had won the contracts in a competitive bid. So that is the end of the story. Scomi is clean. So Abdullah is clean. He did not lie. Hello....brader....come again! You said on 7 August 2006 that Scomi DID NOT get any Malaysian government contracts. We are saying that you are either stupid or a liar. That is the issue. We did not say that Scomi breached any laws by getting contacts without the benefit of a competitive bid. Did we say that? Today, you admit that they did get Malaysian government contracts after denying on 7 August 2006 that they had. Now you too admit that they did. Does this not make your 7 August 2006 statement in error? And did you err because you did not know or because you were lying? That is the issue here. Which is it Mr Prime Minister? Are you stupid or a liar? Thats what we want to know. Okay, let us look at the admission that Scomi DID get Malaysian government contracts after all -- and we are not talking about one but many, and we are not talking about thousands of Ringgit but more than RM1 billion. You say that they got the contracts through competitive bidding. How many companies tendered? Who was the lowest bidder? Was Scomi the best price? Did the tender board recommend Scomi? Or did the tender board recommend another company. And was the tender board recommendation overridden by the Second Finance Minister? Where are all these details? Abdullah is talking about the legality of how Scomi got these contracts. We are not talking about that. We did not even suggest that anything illegal transpired. We are talking about the morality issue. It is morally wrong for the son of the Prime Minister to get Malaysian government contracts. A police report was made against Rafidah Aziz because her ministry awarded some shares to her son-in-law. The Anti-Corruption Agency investigated the matter and recommended prosecution. The Attorney-General concurred and endorsed the recommendation. But Rafidah did not commit any crime did she? She declared to the committee that the applicant was her son-in-law and that she will abstain from voting. So she is clean. But the ACA and AG did not think so. Legally she may be clean. But morally she was wrong and should be indicted and sent to jail. What is the difference between Rafidahs case and Abdullahs? Same thing, different situation. Abdullah admitted that Scomi is beneficiary to Malaysian government contracts. This he does not deny. He only denies that they were awarded these contracts without the benefit of a competitive bid. Hello....brader....this is Malaysia lah. You do not need to worry about competitive bidding if you are well connected. Things can be sorted out in Malaysia. The lowest bid does not necessarily get the tender. The most qualified company does not necessarily get the tender. Those who get it are those the Minister asks it be given to. You dont need to break the law to get by in Malaysia. You can stay clean and still get your way. All you need to do is bypass the system. Thats how things work in Malaysia. Brader, where have you been all this while? We are Malaysians, not lembu. We know how the system works. And we feel that Abdullah is not as stupid as he looks. We feel he is just a crook. He is the fox that ate the chickens. But he is a fox wearing chicken feathers as a camouflage. That kind of fox is worse. I rather have a fox that looks like a fox that one that looks like a chicken. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com Alternatif-Net : A Discussion Forum Focusing on Issues Related to Justice Forum Perbincangan Maya Yang Fokus Kepada Isu Keadilan Disclaimer: Messages sent do not represent the stand of the Barisan Alternatif (BA) unless otherwise stated Complaint : Send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Sub : Send blank e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsub : Send blank e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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