I may be wrong, but aren't all those refered to by the PM businessmen and contrractors who are in UMNO? There is an unwritten ruling where many of the government projects awarded be given to UMNO related companies and businessmen. Some of the reasons for doing so are, though not necessarily in the order:
1. To gain more support.
2. In return of a favour or show of support.
3. To provide financial support in times of...election.
If such are true then, should not the PM be asking himself or UMNO the very same question? Just look around at the major and mega projects...
Raja Petra Kamarudin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
(Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today criticised bumiputeras who passed on opportunities given by the government for them to succeed, to a third party.
The Prime Minister said: "When they choose to pass it on to somebody else, perhaps for a small fee, that is something that I am concerned about.
"There are already talks that such `leakages' are very serious," he told reporters after opening the Mass Media Conference 2005 organised by the Internal Security Ministry here, Friday.
Abdullah questioned why bumiputeras were not taking advantage of the various licences and opportunities earmarked for them so that that they could gain better income and improve their livelihood.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Mustapa Mohamed was reported as saying today that the government had asked the Economic Planning Unit under the department to conduct checks on several ministries in connection with the "leakages" of tenders meant for bumiputeras, to non-bumiputeras.
It was alleged that such incidents were rampant and that the ministries were not taking any action to curb them although they knew about it.
Abdullah said: "A lot of privileges have been given to bumiputeras but, somehow, they have been leakages in the sense that licences, opportunities have been passed on to somebody else.
"So, I want Mustapa to do some checking for me...I want to know what is actually happening."
On efforts to fight corruption, he said the government had adopted a two-pronged strategy which emphasised on preventive and punitive measures.
Abdullah said the government was not in the business of "fixing" someone with corruption charges and, in the process, turned the prime minister into a popular figure.
He said that somehow, the people wanted to see "action" in the sense that they would like to see a few people be brought to court and spend years in jail after being convicted for corruption.
Abdullah reminded that in bringing people to court for suspected involvement in graft, it was justice that the government was concerned about.
Taking punitive actions would be time-consuming, he said, and this was why equal emphasis was given to preventive measures so that the people would hate the scourge.
The Prime Minister said punitive measures would continue as investigations into reports of corruption were conducted by the Anti-Corruption Agency.
"We leave it to the agency to carry out investigations. If it finds that there is enough evidence to bring a person to court, then of course he or she will be brought to court," he added.
Abdullah said the people must get the message that all forms of bribery was not good for them and the country.
--
Posted by Raja Petra Kamarudin to MT-news at 7/16/2005 08:09:00 AM
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