BEHIND EVERY INDONESIAN GENERAL stands a successful "cukung" (Chinese businessman). That is as true today as at the fight for independence from the Dutch, when supplies and money was scarce. A link forged through decades, the cukung betting on the young officer getting to be a general and higher; a relationship in which the general holds the trump cards. In Malaysia, we have the Ali Baba system, in which Ali, the Malay, gets the licences for the Baba, the Chinese businessman, to run riot. Over the years, this relationship has prospered beyond the wildest dreams of both, in which the greed of one outstrips the other in an entrenched system in which the Baba has the upper hand. Nowhere is this as stark as when the bright young kids of the establishment flex their muscles for naked cash.
This is the norm. The bright young Oxonian UMNO kid, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, appoints his coterie of self-appointed bright young kinds, to create havoc on all he touches. Smaller ripples of the coterie's coterie rape their way to wealth in similar ways, all to prove that the Ali Baba system has gone high tech and is at the cutting edge of greed and power. No where is this as blatant as in Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the plaything of Mr Khairy. One of the subspecies of coterie is controlled by two former TNB staff, the Baba conduit for an outside Ali cartel to work with the TNB Ali cartel within to rape and pillage.
The two well-educated and highly-connected men are neither registered contractors nor independent consultants, but they have a hold on TNB few staffers have. Their names are Mr Lau Beng Wu, 38, and Mr Liew Theng Shuen, 36, and close to a deputy minister who oversees TNB affairs. The pair are the link between the outside cartel led by the CEO of Jimah Energy Ventures, Mr Zulkifli Ibrahim, in his mid-40s, and the TNB cartel of Khairy appointed officers led by the CEO, Mr Che' Khalib Mohamed, to raise the cost of the Jimah transmission from RM260 million to RM335 million, who got the TNB board to approve it without the relevant paper work, and is before the Ministry of Finance for approval. TNB sources say this RM75 million will be shared by those who got the project through, including a senior general manager, Ms Zainab Abdullah, who is often mistaken, by foreign contractors, as a senior vice-president.
The minister in-charge, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik, is fed up of this, and puts up a feeble battle, with little success, to stop the rot. He is out on a limb as the TNB cartel buys its way to staff loyalty with annual bonuses of three-to-three-and-a-half month bonuses, an immediate five to ten per cent higher salaries, and other perks. Insiders insist this is unjustified and that you don't raise tariffs to pay for pay rises and bonuses. Power outages and blackout continue to happen without warning, the latest lauded in the media for having lasted only 20 minutes. It shut down KLCC and the Bukit Bintang area for reasons its top managements cannot explain. It should not occur, but it would when maintenance of power transmission lines takes second place in TNB to senior management's wheeling and dealing. And more blackouts are on the cards.
Its top management, there to wheel and deal for greed, are appointed by Mr Khairy and putty in his hands. He is known to SMS to the CEO to order contracts issued to those who had earlier been disqualified. It came to a head when Mr Che' Khalib informed a tender committee that Mr Khairy had ordered him by SMS to award the contract to someone else. When this became an issue, Mr Khairy admitted this to his close friends, one of whom promptly sent this admission on by SMS to all and sundry. Among those short-listed was a tender from Pak Lah's brother, who complained bitterly he was overlooked. It is routine for the TNB CEO to dismiss requests from Pak Lah if one to the contrary comes from his son-in-law.
Far more serious is TNB handing projects meant for local contractors to foreign, usually Japanese, contractors. The local contractors are furious and up in arms, but they are ignored. Fujikura, a Japanese contractor, is given the part of the Tanjong Bin power project meant for local contractors. The TNB head of planning, Ms Zainab Abdullah, writes up the proposal, which is immediately accepted, and the contracts issued before anyone could protest. This is not unusual. One former general manager, now a deputy minister, signed a contract in 2002 - on a whim and before he quit to enter politics - to begin in 2012, and which lawyers insist TNB must honour.
Meanwhile, other misuse of power is revealed. The vice-president for generation (of power), Mr Razak Majid, informed the senior management and the TNB Board that only 500 tonnes of copper wire and steel were recovered from RP Jaya, which broke into the Tuanku Jaffar power station in Port Dickson illegally, prevented even TNB staff from entering, and promptly started dismantling the power station. When news of it leaked, they were evicted. He lied. It was 8,000 tonnes. The shortfall between the two figures is about RM30 million. Why did he lie? Is this part of a scam, which got scuppered when what TNB dismissed as a pliant Indonesian company turned out not to be? Why did the TNB board and top management keep quiet about it?
This rape and pillage is justified, besides power and greed, for a larger national purpose: the need for UMNO contestants for office to build up a slush fund. It is not said so crudely but that is what it is. One UMNO divisional leader insisted the only way he could remain in politics was to buy off his opponents in the party, fuelled by the fear of the anonymity that beckons if he lost. This view pervades all the way up to the cabinet. It is understood, unmentioned. Which is also why the UMNO treasurer is a wheeler and dealer. But the once rich UMNO is now bereft of its wealth, siphoned off to private companies controlled by one appointed treasurer. The chairman of the National Savings Bank, BSN, Dato' Azim Zabidi, is UMNO treasurer, and tipped to replace Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcob, as the second minister of finance in the expected cabinet reshuffle (or rather, realignments) next month. It is fair to assume he would tilt towards the power-generation contracting firm whose chairman he now is. I could be wrong. But not if the recent past is any guide.
Dato' Azim is a Khairy crony. But he is certain to clash, if he is appointed, with another Khairy crony and his likely political secretary as second finance minister. The infighting amongst the Khairy cronies is real, and is often worse, metaphorically, than between the Sunnis and the Shias. Each wants to strike while the iron is hot, and in the current political climate, he must kill before he is cast aside. And each knows his future is linked to Mr Khairy's political longevity. Would he have the same clout under a different prime minister? Fear of the future now is not now an option; it is a constant companion in the quest for greed and power. It is the movers and shakers of TNB's movers and shakers who live a charmed life at the expense of Malaysia and its citzens. And no one in the government cares a hoot.
M.G.G. Pillai
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
This is the norm. The bright young Oxonian UMNO kid, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, appoints his coterie of self-appointed bright young kinds, to create havoc on all he touches. Smaller ripples of the coterie's coterie rape their way to wealth in similar ways, all to prove that the Ali Baba system has gone high tech and is at the cutting edge of greed and power. No where is this as blatant as in Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the plaything of Mr Khairy. One of the subspecies of coterie is controlled by two former TNB staff, the Baba conduit for an outside Ali cartel to work with the TNB Ali cartel within to rape and pillage.
The two well-educated and highly-connected men are neither registered contractors nor independent consultants, but they have a hold on TNB few staffers have. Their names are Mr Lau Beng Wu, 38, and Mr Liew Theng Shuen, 36, and close to a deputy minister who oversees TNB affairs. The pair are the link between the outside cartel led by the CEO of Jimah Energy Ventures, Mr Zulkifli Ibrahim, in his mid-40s, and the TNB cartel of Khairy appointed officers led by the CEO, Mr Che' Khalib Mohamed, to raise the cost of the Jimah transmission from RM260 million to RM335 million, who got the TNB board to approve it without the relevant paper work, and is before the Ministry of Finance for approval. TNB sources say this RM75 million will be shared by those who got the project through, including a senior general manager, Ms Zainab Abdullah, who is often mistaken, by foreign contractors, as a senior vice-president.
The minister in-charge, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik, is fed up of this, and puts up a feeble battle, with little success, to stop the rot. He is out on a limb as the TNB cartel buys its way to staff loyalty with annual bonuses of three-to-three-and-a-half month bonuses, an immediate five to ten per cent higher salaries, and other perks. Insiders insist this is unjustified and that you don't raise tariffs to pay for pay rises and bonuses. Power outages and blackout continue to happen without warning, the latest lauded in the media for having lasted only 20 minutes. It shut down KLCC and the Bukit Bintang area for reasons its top managements cannot explain. It should not occur, but it would when maintenance of power transmission lines takes second place in TNB to senior management's wheeling and dealing. And more blackouts are on the cards.
Its top management, there to wheel and deal for greed, are appointed by Mr Khairy and putty in his hands. He is known to SMS to the CEO to order contracts issued to those who had earlier been disqualified. It came to a head when Mr Che' Khalib informed a tender committee that Mr Khairy had ordered him by SMS to award the contract to someone else. When this became an issue, Mr Khairy admitted this to his close friends, one of whom promptly sent this admission on by SMS to all and sundry. Among those short-listed was a tender from Pak Lah's brother, who complained bitterly he was overlooked. It is routine for the TNB CEO to dismiss requests from Pak Lah if one to the contrary comes from his son-in-law.
Far more serious is TNB handing projects meant for local contractors to foreign, usually Japanese, contractors. The local contractors are furious and up in arms, but they are ignored. Fujikura, a Japanese contractor, is given the part of the Tanjong Bin power project meant for local contractors. The TNB head of planning, Ms Zainab Abdullah, writes up the proposal, which is immediately accepted, and the contracts issued before anyone could protest. This is not unusual. One former general manager, now a deputy minister, signed a contract in 2002 - on a whim and before he quit to enter politics - to begin in 2012, and which lawyers insist TNB must honour.
Meanwhile, other misuse of power is revealed. The vice-president for generation (of power), Mr Razak Majid, informed the senior management and the TNB Board that only 500 tonnes of copper wire and steel were recovered from RP Jaya, which broke into the Tuanku Jaffar power station in Port Dickson illegally, prevented even TNB staff from entering, and promptly started dismantling the power station. When news of it leaked, they were evicted. He lied. It was 8,000 tonnes. The shortfall between the two figures is about RM30 million. Why did he lie? Is this part of a scam, which got scuppered when what TNB dismissed as a pliant Indonesian company turned out not to be? Why did the TNB board and top management keep quiet about it?
This rape and pillage is justified, besides power and greed, for a larger national purpose: the need for UMNO contestants for office to build up a slush fund. It is not said so crudely but that is what it is. One UMNO divisional leader insisted the only way he could remain in politics was to buy off his opponents in the party, fuelled by the fear of the anonymity that beckons if he lost. This view pervades all the way up to the cabinet. It is understood, unmentioned. Which is also why the UMNO treasurer is a wheeler and dealer. But the once rich UMNO is now bereft of its wealth, siphoned off to private companies controlled by one appointed treasurer. The chairman of the National Savings Bank, BSN, Dato' Azim Zabidi, is UMNO treasurer, and tipped to replace Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcob, as the second minister of finance in the expected cabinet reshuffle (or rather, realignments) next month. It is fair to assume he would tilt towards the power-generation contracting firm whose chairman he now is. I could be wrong. But not if the recent past is any guide.
Dato' Azim is a Khairy crony. But he is certain to clash, if he is appointed, with another Khairy crony and his likely political secretary as second finance minister. The infighting amongst the Khairy cronies is real, and is often worse, metaphorically, than between the Sunnis and the Shias. Each wants to strike while the iron is hot, and in the current political climate, he must kill before he is cast aside. And each knows his future is linked to Mr Khairy's political longevity. Would he have the same clout under a different prime minister? Fear of the future now is not now an option; it is a constant companion in the quest for greed and power. It is the movers and shakers of TNB's movers and shakers who live a charmed life at the expense of Malaysia and its citzens. And no one in the government cares a hoot.
M.G.G. Pillai
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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