Personal Encounter with Lim Guan Eng: Comparison Between BN CM and Pakatan Rakyat CM

Kuching
Tuesday, 15th November 2011

In the past we used to compared Datuk Nik Aziz house with the houses own by the BN leaders and we always found that BN leaders' own the houses beyond their financial capabilities. Today we are going to see how Lim Guan En Chif Minister, the Minister of Pulau Pinang aboard in an Economy Class and in the Airport qued with the rest of the passengers. Ask Taib Mahmud how he travelled to Australia for his colon treatment. This article is taken from Mrmanager.Blogspot.com

Lim Guan Eng: Good leaders that have humility are worth respecting...   

As Ning and I were lining up to board our flight to Penang on Wednesday afternoon, I spotted a familiar face standing in front of us in the queue. So I whispered to Ning. Me: Look in front of us. It's Guan Eng.

Ning: Who?
Me: YAB Mr. Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang.
Ning: No lah.
Me: Yes lah! I know how he looks lah. It's the CM lah.
Ning: Takkan CM jalan sorang sorang. If he's the CM, where's the bodyguards and the officers and the rombongan and kaum kerabat?
Me: Tak percaya? Watch and learn.
So I walked up to Yang Amat Berhormat, introduced myself and asked to take a picture. He smiled and obliged. YAB CM: Hey, I know you! You're Ning Baizura!
Ning: YAB Lim, good afternoon.
YAB CM: Come, come, we take a picture. Vernon, here's my card. Email me the pictures OK.
Me: Definitely, sir. 

Ambik kau. CM pun peminat katanya! 

Ning and I really felt honoured. But we felt more surprised that the Chief Minister of a state was travelling all by himself like any normal rakyat jelata. But the biggest surprise in store for us was yet to come.

As usual, we sat in First Class. I expected the CM to be seated somewhere in front of us but then I realised he wasn't in First Class. Where did he disappear to???

I popped my head round the curtain that veils First Class and Economy Class and guess who I saw sitting in the front row seat of Economy quietly reading the newspapers?   

YAB Mr. Lim, you have my deepest respect. You have made history by being the first Chief Minister in this country to sit in Economy Class whilst in office as Chief Minister. You really mean what you say when you talk about cost-cutting. Sir, you have shown me leadership by example.

Ask Taib Mahmud How he travelled to Australia For His Colon Treatment?

Of course I asked permission to take his picture sitting in Economy and he laughed. And I said I'd blogged about it and he laughed some more, and gave permission. Ketua Menteri yang berjiwa rakyat.

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Leaked cable Reveals Ex-EC chief issued 60,000 Fake ICs In Sabah

Kuching
Tuesday, 15th November 2011

People of Sabah especially the Kadazan/Dusun should ban these two traitors from entering their state if revelation by US Embassy is true.....www.Bukittunggal.Com

A leaked US Embassy cable carries an explosive charge against former Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahim - that he admitted to issuing more than 60,000 fake Malaysian identity cards to foreign workers in Sabah in the 1990s - on Umno's orders.

The cable, posted on Wikileaks, quotes former Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) chief Malek Husin as claiming that Rashid confessed this to him during a private meeting at Rashid's house on Oct 25, 2006.

In the cable marked confidential, Malek is said to have told US Embassy officials that Rashid (left) also confirmed Umno's launch of a "shadowy" campaign in the 1990s to wrest political control of Sabah - held until 1994 by the then opposition front PBS.

"During that decade, Umno granted citizenship and Malaysian identity cards to over 600,000 foreign migrant workers (predominantly Muslims from Indonesia and Mindanao in the Philippines) in Sabah, in exchange for their votes in state assembly elections.

"According to Husin, Rashid 'admitted to personally issuing over 60,000 fraudulent Malaysian ICs in Sabah', to help Umno assume political control there," the cable says.

Instant citizenship and voting rights for illegal immigrants have long been an issue in Sabah, with local leaders in and outside the BN coalition having repeatedly demanded a solution from the federal government.

However, nothing has come out of their demands.

It is claimed that the situation became acute in the 1990s, with the blame placed on the then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for allegedly launching what is now called 'Projek IC' - a clandestine operation said to involve the National Registration Department, related government agencies and their agents - to artificially boosting votes in favour of Umno and the BN.

In the 1994 state election, PBS - which held Sabah as an independent opposition front since 1985 - saw its majority hold of the state assembly reduced to a razor-thin margin over the BN.

Although PBS was eventually toppled with a string of defections to the BN by party stalwarts, many blamed the contentious 'Projek IC' for playing a major role in the success of BN's hostile takeover of the Sabah.

Wan Ahmad is 'anti-reform'

The cable, created on March 16, 2007, also includes Malek's claim that Rashid had also described EC deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar as "an Umno member who is anti-reform".

Malek is said to have told US Embassy officials that Rashid had intended to stay on as EC chief until "the number two is gone", with the aim of easing in the then EC secretary, Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor, as his successor.

In a separate meeting with Kamaruzaman, the cable quoted him as telling US Embassy officials that the EC was not in a position to push for reforms, as each and every proposal must go through the Prime Minister's Office for approval.

Kamaruzaman is also reported to have said that the EC had no power to investigate election day abuses, with it having to refer allegations of fraud or election tampering to either the police or the Anti-Corruption Agency, the predecessor of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Battle for polls reform 'very steep'

Based on meetings among US Embassy officials and the EC, Mafrel, Bersih and several academicians, the cable summarised that electoral reforms in Malaysia faced a "very steep uphill battle" as it moved towards the March 2008 general election - which ironically proved to be a watershed outing for opposition parties, which were able to deny the BN a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

The cable described the "Umno-led BN governing coalition" as keeping a tight rein over all important levers of power, including the EC, leaving little wiggle room for any efforts to open up the country's elections to greater transparency and fairness.

It pointed out that despite concerted efforts by Mafrel and Bersih to push for grassroots engagement in their bid for a revamp of an electoral system heavily tilted in BN's favour, "their best efforts will almost certainly not produce meaningful reforms", at least in the medium term.

"Umno, in power since independence, faces no effective public, opposition party or internal pressure to reduce its overwhelming powers of incumbency," the cable states.

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Shafie Apdal ‘Caught’ With ‘Overpriced’ Projects

Kuching
Tuesday, 15th November 2011

Projects awarded in Sabah by Umno vice-president and federal minister Shafie Apdal cost '15 times higher' than their actual quote.

The opposition in Sabah armed with “evidence” is gunning for Rural and Regional Development Minister Shafie Apdal following shocking disclosures of irregularities in rural development projects awarded through his ministry in Sabah.

Some 209 development projects have been identified for Sabah between 2011 and 2012 and the bulk of these projects involved the rural water and power supply projects covering various parts of Sabah, from Pulau Banggi to Sipitang.

Of the 209 rural development projects awarded, only 129 projects had been announced and of this, 49 totalling RM1,276.60 million were “ridiculously overpriced”.

Revealing the massive overpriced payouts, Kota Kinabalu MP Dr Hiew King Cheu said some projects were awarded at 15 times or 1,500% higher than the normal price.

He demanded that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) step in immediately and investigate these claims.

He said most of these projects are either invited tenders, negotiated tenders, or directly awarded.

“None of these projects was properly done through the Tender Board.

“Most of the companies awarded the projects are RM2 companies and some of the contractors involved are found to be closely linked to certain senior BN-Umno politicians from Sabah,” Hiew told a news conference here yesterday.

Evidence in hand

Hiew said that a careful study of the detailed tender documents provided by an insider had indicated that the lowest tender bid did not get the job.
In most cases, someone with a higher tender price of almost 1,500% than the lowest bidder gets the job.
He cited the “rural power supply project for the connection of power grid No.1” (for 2011–2012) which was awarded at a price of RM41,736,809.77.
The lowest tender price, he added, was only RM7,775,000.00 – a difference of RM33,961,809.77.
He also cited the case of the “hybrid solar power system” for the Semporna islands.
He said the project was awarded at a tender price of RM95,282,322.00, which many deemed to be too high.
“With that amount of money, I can always get someone to build a power station,” Hiew said.
He added that a similar project was also awarded to another company for a whopping sum of RM81,475,281.42 to supply power to Pulau Banggi, off Kudat.
Hiew also drew attention to the infamous Pualau Gaya, which he said was in dire need of clean water supply.
“They need clean water more than electricity. In fact, they already have a power station there.
“But they’ve awarded a contract for the installation of a 4-km-long undersea power cable to generate power supply for Pulau Gaya at the cost of RM42 million.
“A random survey conducted with several qualified local contractors revealed that this can be done at just RM5 million,” he said, adding that the government would need another RM100 milion if a water supply project was to be implemented.

Silent Shafie

To substantiate his claims, Hiew also distributed copies of the detailed tender documents containing the list of projects and names of contractors to reporters.
He said that he received copies of the documents of the Sabah projects from Beruas MP (Perak) Ngeh Koo Han.
Hiew noted that Ngeh had questioned Shafie about the contracts, during the Budget 2012 debate session in the Parliament last week, but the minister refused to answer him.
Describing the irregularities as blatant corruption by those in power, Hiew urged the MACC to immediately conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
“We call on the MACC to immediately conduct a thorough investigation as we cannot tolerate the manner the taxpayers’ money was being misused.
“We strongly believe there is a strong element of corrupt practice and abuse of power,” he said.
MACC will investigate
In a later development, the MACC said it was ready to probe into alleged irregularities with regards to rural development projects in Sabah.
MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed asserted it was MACC’s duty to investigate all corruption cases regardless of “who they were, without fear or favour”.
“It is our policy to investigate corruption when there is a complaint,” he told reporters after witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between MACC and government-linked company (GLC) Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), at Wisma SESB, near here today.
Abu Kassim was commenting on Hiew’s expose of alleged irregularities in rural Sabah projects.
Questioned as to whether Sabah DAP had lodged an official complaint with MACC, Abu Kassim said the state MACC only had the media report to go on so far.
He said it was not an easy task to fight corruption, saying “last year alone, out of 944 cases reported throughout the country, 424 cases involved the offering or giving of bribes.”
“So far this year, we have already recorded 357 similar cases,” he added.

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