Jessie Ooi: Vindictive or Victim?

Much has been made over the Selangor MCA Beliawanis Chief Jessie Ooi in light of her outburst against the Penang Chief Minister during the televised Chua-Lim Debate on Saturday last week. Although the debate is now history, her one-minute of fame has now given more her more notoriety than all of her previous public appearances put together.

She was not the only culprit for that evening, especially when MCA members began throwing highly charged and loaded questions against YAB Lim Guan Eng, who remained calm despite receiving tirade after tirade from the floor. However, Jessie Ooi received the spotlight not just by the aggressive nature of the question, but the content of it. The question remains as to whether it was a legitimate question out of genuine concern for the rakyat or was it completely senseless and she should have done better by keeping quiet?

"I am half a penangnite"

When one introduces oneself as half a penangnite, would one reasonably imply from that statement that she wanted to bring up an issue concerning Penang state? I do not want to go into how she is "half a penangnite", but Jessie Ooi in her own defence said that her question was misinterpreted by the public and the press. She wanted to question Lim Guan Eng as to why the Selangor State government had not reduced assessment rates (cukai pintu) when they have promised to do so. This is indeed a legitimate question, albeit posed to the wrong person and off-topic, but if it were in fact the crux of the question, why do you want bring up an irrelevant issue?

Furthermore, she would know that there are many other people who would want to ask questions and her time would most certainly be limited. If she wanted to give a ceramah and bring up all these issues, that would be perfectly fine in her own time. But to basically spend her time to ask about the MPPP towing cars after 10:30pm in Lebuh Pantai in Penang, can we reasonably expect to believe she intended to talk about assessment rates?

It is fine to be passionate about issues and it is fantastic that as a member of the Selangor state opposition, she should ask about the lack of follow-through in the policies of the state government. However, to go on a "shiok-sendiri" rant about an unrelated issue hardly does her justice. In all fairness, does that mean that Pakatan Rakyat representatives do not rant when they ask questions? Of course they do, and they do so often. However, if you want to prove to the people that you are more capable of governing, do not use the "they can do it, so why can't I?" excuse to justify raging and ranting on national television.

So let me rephrase and pose the question she failed to ask, to the Pakatan Rakyat State Government:

"The Selangor State Government has made a manifesto promise to lower assessment rates in the state in order to reduce the Rakyat's burden. However, despite these promises, the MCA is concerned with the lack of implementation of this promise. How does the Selangor State Government intend to address this issue?" 

Is this alright, Jessie?

Lack of Parking

Now let us come back to the question she did ask. Here is the transcript of her question below:

"CM Lim Guan Eng, I am half a penangnite. You just said that you want to reduce the people's burdens. Secondly, you have earned a lot of money. I want to say that you have been misleading the people. Cukai Pintu is going up and the cost of living is going up. Also at 10:30pm, I witnessed it twice. Despite there being no cars on the road, you have asked your enforcement officers to tow cars away, causing bloody fights. How do you intend to solve these kind of problems? Is this what you call reducing the people's burden?"

Yes, she had mentioned assessment rates. But why did she make an issue out of cars being towed in Penang? Of course every government wants to reduce the burden on the people, but the rule of law must be upheld. So what if it is 10:30pm at night? It is not uncommon in KL to receive summons for illegal parking at night! If it is Barisan Nasional policy to issues summons and tow cars only during the day, why not put it in their manifesto? Or is this Jessie Ooi's personal opinion? 

The MPPP has reacted by issuing a statement that they were merely carrying out their duties. When the question regarding the lack of parking was raised, this was somewhat puzzling as there are more than 1000 parking spaces in the Lebuh Pantai Area. As Jessie Ooi had already said, there were no cars around. So would it be reasonable to assume that there was ample parking available as well? 

Secondly, the brawl in question has been clarified by the MPPP to have been started by the individual, who assaulted the officer on duty. A police report has been filed and an investigation is under way. How can we equate a hot-headed individual's attack on an enforcement officer to the state government being unable to handle social ills? Incidents like these do happen, but we have laws in this country which deals with these kind of things. The government's responsibility is to ensure that the law is enforced. 

I would like to ask Ms Jessie Ooi, can she tell me how it would reduce social ills and the rakyat's burden if we allow social responsibility to be diminished? In other words, it is alright to sin, just do it after hours? Despite her moral high ground, the complete lack of respect for the rule of law is concerning and she came crashing down as a result of this. 

Deeper Problems

It would be unfair to blame Jessie Ooi's outburst solely on her. The MCA has been languishing in the doldrums and unfamiliarity of being an opposition party for the first time in history in the state of Selangor. Wanita MCA Beliawanis Chief Tee Hooi Ling has also jumped to Ooi's defence saying that netizens and bloggers have been overly obsessed about the "tow-truck" issue and should instead focus on the debate itself. 

This is a good point from Tee, but only if the MCA that day would follow their own advice. Despite the persistent, off-topic, personal attacks toward the DAP and the Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng did not level a single personal attack at his opponent or the floor. It is essential that Pakatan MPs do not get sucked into gutter politics which the Barisan Nasional government is so fond of. 

MCA Youth Secretary General Chai Kim Sen also attacked Lim Guan Eng by saying the latter side-stepped a lot of issues raised including the lack of a socio-economic plan to be implemented. He went on to say that Pakatan lacked ideas as to how to govern. I say to him, all evidence points to the contrary. 

The Pakatan run states of Penang and Selangor are the top two investment destinations in Malaysia despite having their federal allocations severely cut by the Federal Government. Local developers and businessmen can testify to the incredible changes under the Lim Guan Eng government in contrast to the Koh Tsu Koon government. Singaporeans are now flocking to Penang which is now cleaner and greener than before, and the international accolades continue to pour in. 

Naturally the Federal Government downplay the statistics by saying that Penang topped the foreign direct investment list due to the hard work of the Ministry in promoting the state. Well indeed, but in that case how about the increased allocations into Johor but still the under-par performance? Why then reduce the federal allocation to Pakatan states if you want to flourish? The Barisan Nasional government are good at giving excuses and taking credit for things they do not do, and are shamed when others can prove that they are incompetent. 

The Rule of Law 

A final point to ponder would be whether or not Malaysia has gotten to the point of moral bankruptcy that flouting the law is allowable as it is now ingrained in our culture? Coffee shop conversations can revolve around the amount of the bribe one has to prepare when stopped by a traffic cop: RM20 for a Kancil, RM30 for a Saga or Myvi, RM50 for a Vios and RM100 for a BMW. 

Tony Pua has already publicly declared that he is no longer interested in corruption scandals amounting to less than one billion ringgit as he is already so busy dealing with the billion ringgit scandals! No wonder people like Jessie Ooi believes that the law is there to be flouted, because it is not just that the Barisan Nasional government believes that it is alright to flout the law, but it has become an ingrained habit!

Take Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia as an example. The oyster sauce was proven to have no oyster extract in it, the ice cream did not have enough milk fat to qualify as ice cream and the milk was ridden by E. Coli bacteria. This was all proven by the Ministry of Health to be true. 

So what action was taking against Mydin? None whatsoever. No fine, no trial, no investigation. Why? Because the Ministry felt that since Mydin decided to recall the product, and no harm was done, it is all ok. How can we accept this or stand by this? What happens if there was an outbreak of E. Coli and people suffer and die from it? Or we have a repeat of the China Melamine scandal in Malaysia? The Health Ministry and Liow Tiong Lai would sweep it under the carpet simply because Mydin is an Umno crony? 

Because of the millions of ringgit in contribution which Ali Ameer Mydin gives to Umno-BN, he gets free publicity, a RM40 million subsidy and ensures that the Umno politicians are in his pocket to prevent free market competition in the hypermarket industry. In short, we get screwed while he lines his pockets. Who's interests do they have at heart? Their own! 

When Jessie Ooi's boss Liow Tiong Lai is as impotent as any other MCA minister to uphold the rule of law, how can we possibly give our trust back to them? They are not even consistent or constructive with their criticism! 

My message to the MCA is to pull yourselves together, uphold the rule of law, develop a work ethic and get back to work in restoring the people's trust. As for Jessie, please get comfortable being the opposition as I fear you and your colleagues would soon be sitting on the other side of the fence come the general elections.

Published in the Malaysia Chronicle (23rd February 2012) and Free Malaysia Today (24th February 2012)
(http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=28601:jessie-ooi-victim-or-vindictive?&Itemid=2)
(http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2012/02/24/jessie-ooi-vindictive-or-a-just-victim/)

KR1M: The cold hard facts

I truly appreciate Dato' Ameer Ali Mydin writing to Free Malaysia Today and giving his side of story after my column "Kedai Rakyat: Pulling a fast one". Once again, it truly is an honour that my articles have drawn the attention of Ministries and now Mydin, and I hope it would continue to do so as the rakyat deserves to know the facts. 

Let me first clarify that I do not write on behalf of the DAP and my views do not necessary reflect that of the DAP. What interests me more is the truth, or whether or not arguments and explanations put forth on certain issues can be substantiated. In this day and age, public scrutiny is always a good thing in order to ensure that the rakyat's money is spent fairly and wisely. 

Therefore, I was only able to base my facts on a combination of what is public knowledge and press releases on the Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia website. I am glad that KR1M has decided to give us the facts directly so that we are able to do a more indepth analysis of the whole issue. 

Refurbishment Costs

Firstly, I would like to apologise to Mydin for my remark that renovations of the KR1M stores could be renovated for RM70,000. What this assumption did not take into consideration were cost such as the chillers and freezers, in addition to the CCTV and POS system costs. 

Taking Mydin's advice to 'do my homework', I went around to interview several contractors and they revealed several interesting points during our discussions. At the cost of RM250,000 to RM750,000 for a space of 1,500 square feet to 5,000 square feet, the cost of doing the renovation would be between RM150 to RM167 per square foot.

At first glance, these quotes are very good for these contractors and they would want to do the project. However to avoid misunderstanding, would Mydin be so kind to provide the Bill of Quantities (B.Q) so that contractors can send in their quotes? This would be to the benefit of Mydin and the rakyat to save cost, wouldn't you agree? 

Store openings

I clearly explained how I derived the number of stores to be 31 in my article. I took it that 6 outlets were opened with 25 more to open next year, therefore we would come to a total of 31 outlets. Perhaps I could humbly request that KR1M keeps their website up to date to avoid misunderstanding. 

After the clarification, we now understand that the subsidy of RM40 million is for 85 outlets to be opened across the country by 2012. This includes the seven stores already opened and 25 more to be opened this year. We shall watch this space to see whether it really happens. 

However, I have a feeling the money has already been paid out in full. Can Mydin clarify this point? With so many other scandals going on, we do not want Mydin's reputation to be tarnished if they remain silent on the matter. I am happy to give them the benefit of the doubt.

KR1M Product Quality

Unfortunately, when it comes to defending the quality of KR1M products, perhaps Mydin could have done a little more checking before being so enthusiastic to defend his products. I can accept that the generic KR1M products to be equivalent in quality to their branded counterparts, but please forgive me and the public of being sceptical in light of the new evidence. 

Ameer Ali Mydin wrote in his letter, I quote "It baffles me as to whoever gave you the idea that generic products are of lower quality. Please read up the meaning of generic products before you make such assumptions and in this case, allegations." He went on to target Tony Pua by saying "To date we have only unfounded, unsubstantiated allegations by Tony Pua. If he can so kindly provide his test reports to the ministry, I'm sure they would take appropriate action."

I think that the report from the Ministry of Health on Friday would be absolutely devastating as the "allegations" have proven to be true. Dato' Hassan Abdul Rahman agreed that the KR1M items tested by Tony Pua, Dr Dzukefly Ahmad and Nurul Izzah failed the standards set by the government, except for the creamer which is pending further investigation. 

Items specifically include the following findings as tweeted by Tony Pua:

1. MoH concedes that ice-cream product was wrongly labeled and has instructed re-labelling as "frozen confection

2. MoH accepted that "frozen confection" is still being sold as ice-cream after being given proof of receipt & price label

3. MoH admitted that own test on Krimer Pekat Manis showed 1Msia product exceeded maximum 76% sugar content

4.  MoH agreed that evaporated krimer is wrongly sold as "evaporated MILK" and will take necessary action

5. MoH admitted that when 155g sardine tins were tested, 3 out of 5 did not meet 55% net fish weight requirement

6. MoH agreed the Kari Ayam tin was inadequately labeled and failed to comply with Clause 147 or 151 of Food Regulations '85

7. MoH noted the conflict in Growing Up Milk ingredient label - "susu pepejal rendah lemak" or "instant whole milk powder"

8. MoH agrees that both "follow up milk" and "growing up milk" serves kids aged 1-3 but says covered under different law

9. MoH agrees that GrowingUpMilk serves 3888IU of vitamin A per day exceeding limit for 1800IU children under 3

10. MoH informed that they've "advised" supplier of 1Msia Growing Up Milk to cut excessive Vitamin A & top up other nutrients

Allegations

With regards to the remarks made about foreign hypermarkets and also other operators running KR1M stores, that is a government matter, so I will not rebut any of the points made as Mydin knows their industry best.

However, I would like to say that Malaysians should embrace foreign competition as it would ensure the Rakyat receives the best prices and services, as well as creates jobs and stimulates the economy. As for the KR1M concept, it may be a CSR initiative but as 1Malaysia is a brand in itself, there would be no need to spend on advertising for it.

It is true that many journalists and politicians make empty allegations against the federal government, Members of Parliament and even government linked companies. However, it is becoming apparent that there is a tangible silence when allegations are revealed to be true, or there is a substantial amount of finger pointing to divert attention from the core issues.

I have absolutely nothing against Mydin or their companies. They have been upstanding, well respected businesses in the industry and serve their customers with integrity and professionalism. However, we want to ensure that this is maintained and criticism is supposed to help improve the services provided. Is this not why so many companies have feedback forms?

My compulsion to write again on this topic is because I do not think that it is fair to accuse me of making allegations when there is evidence to confirm them. When I am wrong tell me that I’m wrong. However do not tell me I am wrong, when it is proven to be true.

Ameer Ali Mydin closed off his letter by remarking "It appears that making false, unsubstantiated allegations is the easy part for Douglas Tan. The difficult part is for him to justify the allegations, unfortunately the damage to the IKS Suppliers and KR1M is already done." 


Well, it appears that I have. Checkmate.


Exclusive to Free Malaysia Today (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/12/06/allegations-against-kr1m-justified/)

Also on:

Malaysia Today (http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/special-reports/45543-allegations-against-kr1m-justified)

Kedai 1Malaysia: Pulling a fast one

FMT reported that the Secretary General of the Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, Mohd Zain Bin Mohd chose to respond to my letter "Who is short-changing Malaysians - BN or PR" which was published on FMT yesterday. The title he referred to was actually the title of the same article on my blog.

I am glad to have caught the attention of the Ministry, who had taken time out of their busy schedules to visit my humble blog and then level a response against it. Obviously, they feel that my writings are more significant than the press conference Tony Pua, Nurul Izzah and Dzulkefly Ahmad gave in the parliamentary lobby. For this, I am truly flattered.

"Up to 50% off"

Let us have a look into his 'justification' of the Minister's remarks. Ismail Sabri Yaakob told reporters that products sold at Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) would be "up to 50% cheaper" than similarly branded products and cannot be compared to house brands.

Such statements are common in a video store who is trying to get rid of unpopular DVDs. One would go in and see a large pile of DVDs of obscure titles in the centre of the room. There would be a sign "up to 70% off", but the ones you would actually want to buy would only be 10% off. This is certainly the impression the Minister is giving if we were to believe the Secretary General.

For those that do not know, KR1M was established in 2010 in order to "combat against rising costs". The Prime Minister, under his "Rakyat Didahulukan" campaign envisioned a store in which essential goods could be supplied at rates cheaper than currently found in the market. This initiative would venture to relieve the burden of inflation and directly benefit the rakyat.

The first KR1M store was opened to great fanfare at the Kelana Jaya LRT station. There are currently 6 KR1M outlets and 22 more outlets are slated to open in 2012. Who operates these stores? Mydin. Was there an open tender? No. So much for Najib's shout for economic transformation.

When the KR1M concept was announced in the first place, I honestly believed that we would be able to get a pretty good deal across these 250 items. The Ministry now admits that this is not entirely accurate, and some items are found to be MORE expensive than what can be found in the market. In short, they misled the public.

What discount? 

When the Minister made the "50% off" comment, what was the benchmark price used to calculate the 50% off? If you are talking about Cold Storage, Mercato and 7-Eleven, he is probably right. However, what percentage of the population would actually do their shopping at Cold Storage, Mercato and 7-Eleven?

Perhaps they used the Recommended Retail Prices (RRP) of the goods to benchmark their discounts. However, whenever I enter Carrefour, Tesco or Giant, there are giant signs that say "Promosi Hebat!" On this basis, is the public assured that the prices offered at KR1M are lower than such promotions? If not, what benefit is there to shop at any KR1M when one could just head over to their local Tesco as usual?

The KR1M Brand is not a house brand


What is the definition of a "house brand"? A house brand or a generic brand in which a range of products is sold under a single entity, in this case, Mydin. Furthermore, house brands tend to be cheaper because of the generic branding.

However the Ministry denies that KR1M products can be compared to other house brands, like Tesco and Carrefour as they are not of the same quality, accusing Tony Pua of not making an 'apple to apple' comparison. Then why not just sell me Dettol at a cheaper price than slapping a KR1M brand on it? Is the Minister unaware that generic labels are associated to be lower quality products than the larger brands?

The Managing Director, Ameer Ali Mydin also jumped to the defence of the products sold at the store, reaffirming that the products are better quality. In that case, can Datuk Ameer kindly explain why the store previously sold milk which tested positive for E.Coli and also have 8 items in stock which fails the standards stipulated in the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985?

If we can take Datuk Ameer's statement that "KR1M sells quality products at lower prices. It is not a dumping ground for products of lesser quality as alleged by certain quarters" seriously, perhaps he may want to have a check on his procurement department, otherwise there would continue to be a lack of credibility.

RM40 million for CAPEX?


Normally when we talk about renovation, the sum of RM75,000 to RM100,000 would suffice for a space which covers 2,000sqft. However, when the RM40 million subsidy was clarified not to subsidise the products but the cost of refurbishment, how can it be justified?

We also have contradictory number over the number of KR1M shops operational. On their website, one press statement mentioned 83 stores in operation as of November 2011 and 25 more to be set up, but only the 3rd store was opened in August 2011.

Another article mentioned there would be a total of 85 stores next year, a Star report in August that 25 more will open in 2011, and a New Straits Times report dated August 27 says only 22 stores are to be opened this year. To make things worse, their official store locator only indicates 6 stores open. So what is the actual number? I can't help but feel that we are being taken for a ride.

I shall take the store locator to be accurate, and giving them the benefit of the doubt, add in the additional 25 stores for this year. So Mydin has spend RM40 million to renovate 31 stores, which has a price tag of RM1.3 million per store. Anyone smelling corruption here?

Pulling a fast one

One has to ask, what is the point of this exercise? There are so many existing supermarkets and mini-markets who could benefit from the subsidy to bring their prices down. Setting up these stores may save consumers some money, but serve to drive the average Mom-and-Pop stop out of business. Why appoint Mydin to operate these stores at such an extravagant cost to the taxpayers? Why was the tender not extended to the likes of Tesco, Carrefour, Giant and 99Speedmart who already have existing mini-markets!

Since the Auditor General's report came out, it is clear that this government has a lot to explain and account for. Kudos to the Secretary General that he was able to give a more plausible justification than Khairy's absurd story that buying a RM10 million condo for the National Feedlot Project is a sound investment!

If one Ministry is willing to counter what I wrote, why not the other Ministries? Can the Ministry of Defence clarify over the Skudai 7th Brigade project or the supply of RM7.55 billion worth of amoured carriers from DRB-Hicom? Can the MACC explain why they could not catch anyone else from the PKFZ scandal or why they were so keen to investigate Petronas but not Sharizat? Can the Health Ministry explain how goods in KR1M could fail Malaysian standards?

It appears that stealing money from the taxpayers is the easy part. The difficult part is for the government to justify it once the damage is done.

Free Malaysia Today (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/11/15/kedai-rakyat-pulling-a-fast-one/)
Malaysia Chronicle (http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=22739:kedai-rakyat-1malaysia-house-brand-sales-puff-or-sub-standard-goods&Itemid=2)

KR1M not a house brand?

I was personally very flattered to read that my first article as a columnist for the Malaysia Chronicle, "Who is the one short-changing Malaysians - BN or Pakatan",had garnered a response from Mohd Zain, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism. This is the fastest I've seen the civil service react to anything I've put out, so once again let me express my gratitude.

What the Secretary-General has completely missed is the entire context of my comments about Kedai 1Malaysia (KR1M). First of all, for the Minister Ismail Zabri to mention that some items were "up to 50%" cheaper, is misleading in itself. This is a common ploy used by supermarkets and video stores. You can go up to a pile of DVDs which say "up to 70% off" but find the ones actually worth watching only 10% off.

When the Minister and the Prime Minister had announced the entire KR1M concept which would aggressively combat against rising costs, and mentioned that they would have 250 products available, naturally one would assume that we would be able to save a couple of bucks. However, by coming out and trying to 'clarify' the nature of the comments, I would submit that the Minister has misled the public with his "up to 50%" comment.

Furthermore, the statement failed to actually cite examples as to the products which were actually 50% off! What is more puzzling is that there was no attempt to establish what the benchmark prices are in the first place. Could it be that discounts are based on Recommend Retail Prices (RRP) of certain products? Is the Minister unaware that hypermarkets and supermarkets offer discounts of RRP items on a daily basis? If so, how are the 'discounted' prices found in KR1M any different?

Let's talk about his claim that KR1M products have to be compared against similar branded products, but not house brands. So then, what's the point? I can buy Dettol if I could afford it rather than house brand disinfectant. Or I could buy Coca-cola rather than Tesco cola. This is on the basis that I have a choice as a consumer to purchase items as according to my budget.

But isn't the point of KR1M to save money? How then can your KR1M brand, which is obviously a house brand, not be compared to other house brands? This in itself defies logic. Who defines 'similar branded items' anyway? Is there any assurance that the quality of the KR1M brand is better or exceeded the other so-called 'similar branded items'?

It has just been reported that items found in KR1M are suspect for quality. Tony Pua, who was one of those responsible for uncovering the scandal in the first place, today announced that fresh milk had been sold at the stores contained E. Coli, and was backed up by Dzulkefly Ahmad. Furthermore 8 items out of the 250 had been found to contravene the Food Act 1983 and the Food Regulations 1985. How can the Minister defend this, especially as the Ministry is supposed to overlook the operations of KR1M directly?

Lastly, the RM40 million subsidy paid for CAPEX purposes for refurbishment and upgrade of the premises. Let's look at the numbers. According to their website, there are currently six KR1M stores in operation, with the latest one to open is in Melaka.

With an announcement of 22 more stores on the way, this brings it up to 28 stores. With a RM40 million subsidy, the cost of renovation for each store would be RM1.4 million worth of renovation for each store. I'm sure the crony-contractors would be rubbing their hands with glee. Having been to the KR1M located at the Kelana Jaya LRT station, I can confidently say that the renovation would certainly not cost that much. This is the Ministry, once again, pulling a fast one on us.

Since I have the government's attention, and they are so keen to read my columns, can the Defence ministry explain about the Skudai land deal? Can the MACC let us know why they are so keen to investigate Petronas but not the National Feedlot Centre? Or get the right people from the Port Klang Free Zone? Can the Ministries give explanations about the sheer incompetence in procurement, as the MACC has declared there was no corruption involved?

Khairy Jamaluddin has fed us with a true cock-and-bull story today, by saying that the Rakyat's money is well spent when invested into a condominium. If it was such a good investment, why didn't they proudly shot about it before? Stop being so bitter about the opposition holding press conferences to talk about their achievements when it is clear that Barisan Nasional is doing very little to do things right. While you're at it, stop trying to feed us lame excuses by calling them clarifications.

Here is the original letter from the Ministry is below:

From: Datuk Mohd Zain Bin Mohd Dom <mzmd@kpdnkk.gov.my>
Date: Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 7:42 PM
Subject: "BN is the one short-changing us, not PR" dated 10 November, 2011.
To: editor@malaysia-chronicle.com

Dear Sir,

I refer to the issues raised on Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia which appeared in the article entitled "BN is the one short-changing us, not PR" dated 10 November, 2011.

It is important to acknowledge the fact that when the Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism spoke of savings up to 50% on KR1M products, never did Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri Yaacob at any time state that it was 50% cheaper on ALL the 250 items. Rather, his statements had been consistent in that KR1M products are being sold at prices cheaper by certain percentage margins up to a maximum of 50%.

Additionally, the price comparison alluded to by Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri is between KR1M products and similar branded products in the market place, and not with house brand products of other hypermarket players.

As regards the RM40 million, the money is used for CAPEX purposes, inter-alia, to refurbish and upgrade premises that had been identified and selected for KR1M operations.

Thank you.

Mohd. Zain bin Mohd. Dom

Secretary-General

Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism

Article Exclusive to the Malaysia Chronicle:
(http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=22739:kedai-rakyat-1malaysia-house-brand-sales-puff-or-sub-standard-goods&Itemid=2)

BN is the one short-changing us, not PR

Selangor Opposition leader Satim Diman is barking up the wrong tree. He accuses the Selangor State government of selling off government assets inorder to fund the Selangor State minimum wage policywhich is to take effect next year.

Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim explains that the money which they would use does not come from Perbandanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS) but through savings from prudent fiscal management and the reduction of corruption within the state.

As Mentri Besar of Selangor, Khalid has led Selangor to post the largest state budget surplus in the state's history. By the end of 2010, the reserves stood at RM918 million, and increased state revenue by RM200 million in under six months.

The Pakatan state government has also shown their ability to practice good fiscal management. The state is being run effectively, with additional programmes to give assistance to the elderly, children of farm workers, a RM50 million micro-credit schemes and free water to name a few. Added initiatives but increasing revenue year-on-year? They must be doing something right.

Kedai 1Malaysia

The irony of the accusations levelled against the Pakatan-led state government is that Barisan Nasional are the ones who are inherently guilty of engaging in land swap deals to generate income. Further to that, they do not even bother to give the money back, but are quite content in keeping it to themselves.

Tony Pua and Nurul Izzah has shot down the whole Kedai 1Malaysia (KR1M)scheme. In the lobby of parliament on November 9th, they exposed the BN government of lying to the people that they could potentially save "up to 50%" on 250 items as compared to what one could purchase outside.

Although some items were indeed cheaper, the fact remains that you could get Tesco or Carrefour branded items at the same price or even cheaper. The RM40 million subsidy pumped into Mydin who operates the 85 stores cannot besubstantiated. So Satim Diman, who is short changing the public now?

Land Deals

Since you talked about land, let's talk about land. The federal government is very clever not to include certain allocations in the budget, sothe way to finance a crony project would be to do a land-swap deal.

In 2009, the Auditor General raised questions over the RM256 million Skudai 7th Brigade Army Camp project. This was awarded in 1997 but after 15years, is only 18.3% complete. The Kausar Corporation who was awarded thisproject had already collected the construction fee in full, and was given 153 hectares of land.

Records reveal that a RM465 million bank loan was paid out for the land,which would place the land valuation in excess of RM800 million in 1997. At todaysland valuation, it could potentially be worth more than double the Selangor State government surplus. This means that Kausar took RM721 million in cash, and 153 hectares of land. The government does nothing over all these years, and the people get nothing. Isthis how this all works?

So Tuan Satim Diman, when a company in which the government awards aproject directly through closed tender, who is given land worth 4 times theproject itself, takes all the money but does not complete the project, and walkaway, that is ok?

Minimum Wage

Even if the allegations against Khalid Ibrahim were true that he isselling off some PKNS assets to ensure that the lowest paid staff of government run companies received at least RM1,500 a month, that is fundamentally wrong?

Is it fair to say that the modus operandi of the BN government is that when things are done to enrich their cronies, that has to be defended at all costs, but when it benefits ordinary people it has to be protestedagainst? Is it a coincidence that the majority of Umno branch chiefs are Class F contractors?

Pakatan Not Perfect but BN Certainly Is Not

Barisan Nasional representatives have to get their act together otherwise they will be branded as hypocrites every time they open their mouths.They cannot win on the grounds of financial management, they cannot win on grounds of morality and they cannot win by saying they are a better alternative.

Pakatan Rakyat is far from perfect. They may not agree about certain issues, but they are able to successfully manage 4 states better than Barisan Nasional, and secure more than 53% of foreign investment in this country. The numbers speak for themselves.

For BN parties, especially Umno, the issue is not free and fair elections. It is elections in themselves. When the election years come around,they have to fork out money which they would have otherwise pocketed to give a token back to the people. Only once they are safely back in power, can theyignore the people once again and get back to plundering the nation.

In a country so blessed with natural resources, why is it that thisgovernment cannot eradicate hardcore poverty? How can this government allow incomesto remain so low? Why are funds not allocated and invested in our children's education so Malaysia wouldbe the leading nation in South East Asia rather than Singapore?

It boils down to greed. BN cannot afford for people to be educated. They cannot afford for incomes to rise up. The people have to be kept ignorant andpoor so that during elections they can receive a little bit of cash, be toldthat the BN government is wonderful and they have to be grateful.

When the Rakyat begins overcoming poverty and ignorance, this is bad news for the present BN government who may very well find themselves cast outonto the streets and given a dose of their own medicine. A new dawn awaits us. It is time for them to pay for their ingratitude towards the people theyare supposed to serve.

Published in:

Malaysia Chronicle (http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=22641:who-is-the-one-short-changing-malaysians-bn-or-pakatan?&Itemid=2)

Free Malaysia Today (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/11/11/who-is-the-one-short-changing-malaysians-bn-or-pakatan/)

The Malaysian Insider (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/who-is-short-changing-malaysians-bn-or-pakatan-douglas-tan/)

Malaysia Today (http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/from-around-the-blogs/44865-who-is-the-one-short-changing-malaysians-bn-or-pakatan)

The Ministerial Comedy of Errors

Politics has always been a topic of conversation in your average coffee shop, and even more so after the 2008 General Elections. As of late, the centre of attention would definitely be on the part of government expenditure. We need not write more comedy material, as our Ministers invariably oblige by providing us gems when questioned inside and outside Parliament, by Members of Parliament and reporters alike. 

I have compared our ministerial question-time to the play entitled "Comedy of Errors" by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare wrote of two brothers who were identical twins, and mistaken as one another by their friends. They went round and round in circles and no one quite knew what was going on, least of all themselves. In many ways, we can draw parallels to our Ministers who try taking us on a ride, but end up thoroughly befuddling themselves. I would like to draw on three examples to illustrate my point. 

Coal Power Plant

Let's take the case of the coal-fire power plant contract which was awarded in June 2011 from the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water to Tanjung Bin Power, a subsidiary of Malakoff Bhd to commence operations in 2016. There was only one other company called for the closed tender, which was Jimah Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd. 

When Tony Pua stood up and asked as to why there was no open tender, Peter Chin replied that it was because time is of the essence. So then because we needed it quickly, there was no need for an open and competitive quote? 

Let us look at the contract. What are the Power Purchase Agreement, and the expected tariffs which would be sold back to Tenaga Nasional? The Minister replies that the terms will be finalised at the end of the year although the agreement has been signed. So, the Minister reasons that political expediency justifies sacrificing of common sense? 

MRT

The Kuala Lumpur Mass Rapid Transit is the biggest project in our nation's history at RM43 billion. Although the Prime Minister happily announced that the projects would be awarded by open tender, the project was immediately given to a Gamuda-MMC joint venture, both with are Government Linked Companies (GLCs). 

Najib was reported on the Malaysian Insider on October 26 to have said that the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) would practice public tenders. However, when confronted with the MRT tender by reporters, he said sheepishly, "There are some contracts that you just cannot tender out." 

At this juncture, one would cue the sound of a collective slapping of foreheads across the nation. Our Prime Minister has blatantly contradicted himself without even giving a reason as to why. Will this project exceed the amount budgeted? You bet. Even Idris Jala himself was proud to say so. 

Defence spending

Tony Pua has clearly been busy doing his homework when he came across a Ministry of Defence requisition for AV8 Aviation Ground Support Vehicles (AGSVs), which are basically armoured people carriers. The contract size was RM7.55 billion for 257 units which translates to RM29.4 million per unit. Hardly petty cash. 

Who was awarded the supply contract? Deftech Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of DRB-Hicom. How many AGSVs has Deftech manufactured before the contract was awarded? Zero. Was there an open tender? No. 

The news then came out that Deftech proceeded to purchase RM1.7 billion worth of product from a Turkish company called FNSS Defence Systems. What did they purchase? AGSVs. How many units did they purchase? 257 units. Does this sound familiar to you?

Can the Minister explain the discrepancy between the RM7.55 billion price tag the rakyat is paying for and the RM1.7 billion purchase price? The Defence Minister, Zahid Hamidi made no attempt answered the question and proceeded to accuse the federal opposition for threatening the security of the country by trying to block necessary military purchases. I'll let you make up your own minds. 

Parliament live

Are we amused by all of this, or saddened or both? For how much longer are we going to allow this government to abuse public funds and enrich cronies? They use hudud law and sekualiti merdeka as scapegoats to try to pull wool over our eyes as to what the real issues are. 

When confronted, our Ministers either try to dodge the question, keep quiet, make another accusation or in the case of the National Feedlot Centre, offer it to the Opposition to try it out. This does not reflect well on the government’s ability to account or even justify their actions.

The 2010 Auditor's General report is testament to the blatant corruption and financial mismanagement of this government. Year on year it is getting worse and we are paying for it. Although BN is pleading with the people to trust in their experience, all signs point for us to do anything but. 

As for parliament being broadcast live in future, I would doubt that we would be given such a privilege. I believe that BN would feel that if they have to humiliate themselves by giving such lame answers to MP questions, at least the delay between their answers and press time would provide them with temporary respite, and allow the mainstream media to paint a pretty picture before publication. 


Published in:


Malaysia Chronicle (http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=22586:ministerial-comedy-of-errors&Itemid=2)
Free Malaysia Today  (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/11/09/ministerial-comedy-of-errors/)
Malaysia Today (http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/from-around-the-blogs/44826-the-ministerial-comedy-of-errors-)

End of the Rope for Najib

Over the past few months, we have all seen the steep decline of our Prime Minister. From calling on youth to "defend Putrajaya" as though the nation is expecting an invasion to being unable to back up his own 1Malaysia policy when asked by a student at a recent Malaysian Student Leader's Summit.

It truly seems that Najib is unable to do anything right at the moment. First he outright attacks the Opposition parties claiming that they would destroy this nation and that Barisan Nasional is the shining light to guide the nation forward. To ask the youth to help defend Putrajaya against the Opposition is nothing short of pretentious, as though UMNO/BN has the divine right to govern this country ad infinitum.


This was quickly followed by Bersih 2.0, where he exposed himself as a lame duck leader. Instead of assuming a non-partisan role and showing true leadership, he aligned himself more as UMNO president than the Prime Minister of Malaysia by demonising the coalition as an "illegal organisation" and stooping so low to the extent of roping in mosque ceramahs to spread their propaganda of the so-called"perhimpunan haram".

His handling of Bersih 2.0 in itself was nothing short of despicable. If he truly recognised the event to be a national crisis, he himself should have been in Kuala Lumpur that day to defuse the situation. Instead, he found himself in Terengganu, with his tail between his legs, smiling at the co-op event, as though he found the hyped-up illegal rally in Kuala Lumpur to be a mere inconvenience to his schedule.

In the lack of true leadership, he "tai-chied" all of the responsibility onto his cousin's shoulders. Hishammudin didn't fair much better, especially with his justification of the clampdown on civil liberties, to the extent that those who knew him declared him as sounding "mentally impaired"!

As though this was not bad enough, the cover up of Tung Shin Hospital, the police violence and the subsequent spread of lies through the media had caused a self-inflicted international black eye. Ignoring all of this, he proceeded to meet the Queen of England in a stunning yellow dress, just in case he failed to get the message.

Although he had managed to establish ties with the Vatican, his subsequent comments to the Christian community did little to them to endear him, especially when he implied that Christians were intolerant, when that is clearly not the case.

His wife's extravagance would distance him further from the grassroots as allegations that she purchased a US$24 million ring had sent shock waves through the community, especially at a time that the Rakyat are told to tighten our belts in the midst of reduced subsidies and rising prices. Compound this with the Scorpene scandal and the announcement of the intent to purchase billions of Ringgit worth of fighter planes we do not need hardly resonates with his motto of "Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan" (People First, Performance Now).

The Teoh Beng Hock RCI report, the detention of the EO6 and finally his inability to back up his own 1Malaysia concept as he does not want to be seen in conflict with his deputy, has earn him the title of "The Lamest Premier" by DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua. I am inclined to agree with Tony, as I doubt I have ever seen a less decisive head of state, who fails to get even his own cabinet to sing the same tune.

With impending polls ahead, UMNO and Najib have good reason to sweat. The blantant inability to handle the affairs of the nation has stirred up the sentiments a generally politically-apathetic population.

As for all the hype with his Economic Transformation Plan and PEMANDU, National Key Result Areas and what-not, all the Rakyat know is that the government is spending our hard earned money into the proverbial black hole. Our cost of living is on the rise, civil liberties are being trounced on, and corruption, deceit and lies are rampant in this government.

For those who have driven around Kuala Lumpur at night, you would be able to see the UMNO building lit up by billions of LEDs proclaiming the achievements of the UMNO-led government. One of them called Najib as "Bapa Transformasi". As much as this may be a colossal joke to some, there may be a silver lining as he may inadvertently be responsible for the biggest transformation in the history of our beloved nation.

If Najib continues to delude himself that it is the minority that is vocal in their dissent, and that he has the support of a "silent majority", he is in for a nasty shock come the next polls.