PKR alleges BN hooliganism in Rembau

Syed Jaymal Zahiid | Malaysiakini | 29 February 2008, 1:49pm
 

PKR members in Rembau are accusing BN of employing 'hooligan tactics' to gain the upper hand in the race to win the parliamentary seat.

Rembau's PKR candidate, Badrul Hisham Shaharin claimed that the party's campaign posters have been torn down and in Rantau, BN supporters had aggressively stopped his supporters from putting up the party's campaign posters.

Following this, Badrul's representative and supporters lodged two police reports this morning at the Rembau district police headquarters.

"BN supporters in Rantau had wanted to chase our supporters out and tried to block them from putting up the posters. They claimed that PKR is not wanted in Rembau and that the constituency has always been BN's," Badrul alleged.

The battle in Rembau is closely watched as it is contested by Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also the prime minister's son-in-law.

In the last general election, BN candidate Firdaus Muhammad Rom Harun won the seat by a staggering 18,656 votes against his PAS counterpart, party head researcher Dr Dzulkefli Ahmad.

For Khairy, or known to many as KJ, this will be his electoral debut and he is in a hurry to win over the hearts and votes of the 61,690 voters in Rembau.

Badrul said Khairy's prominence will not intimidate him from facing the the Umno rising star for the seat. The PKR supreme council member claimed he has in his sleeves facts about his opponent that would turn the heads of Rembau residents against the BN upstart.

"Khairy's prominence is none other than the product of his blood ties with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. This is what you call crony politics and he has been benefitting in millions by this and in our leaflets, we have exposed this," he told Malaysiakini.

The ECM Libra scandal

Explaining, Badrul said that one of the many issues raised in the leaflets is the ECM Libra-Avenue merger scandal that involved Khairy.

The ECM Libra-Avenue merger had raised eyebrows when the deal was approved by Abdullah shortly after Khairy had bought a RM9.2 million worth of direct stake in ECM Libra.

This led to wide criticisms of cronyism as Abdullah was overseeing government-linked companies (GLCs) in his capacity as finance minister.

Subsequently, Khairy was forced by public pressure to sell off his shares in ECM Libra in August 2006.

"We are still curious as to how Khairy managed to get that amount of money to purchase the shares? The second point is how did a small company like ECM Libra managed to merge with a bigger company like Avenue Capital," added Badrul.

Associating the matter with the elections, Badrul said this exposure by PKR have scared Khairy and hence the employment of hooligan tactics against PKR supporters and campaigning effort.

Despite this, Badrul added that PKR have received good support from the ground in Rembau and vowed to continue to intensify the party's campaigning effort.

Rembau is a predominantly Malay constituency (68.9 percent) followed by 15.8 percent Indians and 15.2 percent Chinese.

State seats that fall under Rembau are Paroi, Chembong, Rantau and Kota with all known to be strongholds for BN. The state's chief minister, Mohamad Hasan is the incumbent for Rantau and will seek to retain his seat against PKR's Aisah Lamsah.

ECM Libra merger: Dissatisfaction lingers in PAC

Malaysiakini | 26 February 2008, 5:20pm
 

Second Finance Minister Mohamed Nor Yaacop's explanation has failed to satisfy all the members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the merger between ECM Libra and government-owned Avenue Capital.

PAC chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad said the minister, during a briefing this morning, said there was nothing unusual about the deal since it obtained clearance from the Securities Commission (SC).

"To say we are satisfied (of the explanation given) is not right since the PAC consists of representatives of various political parties. We all have a different degree of satisfaction.

"The government feels that since the SC had no objection and the majority shareholders of the two companies want to merge, then the merger should take place without any interference," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

The PAC, which has 14 members, is tasked to ensure government funds are well spent.

The ECM Libra-Avenue merger had raised eyebrows since when the deal was approved shortly after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin bought a RM9.2 million worth of direct stake in ECM Libra.

This led to wide criticisms as Abdullah was overseeing government-linked companies (GLCs) in his capacity as finance minister.

Subsequently, Khairy was forced by public pressure to sell off his shares in ECM Libra last August.

Cabinet committee

Meanwhile, Shahrir said the PAC has called on the government to set up a cabinet committee to monitor decisions taken by GLCs, including Khazanah Nasional.

This would enable the government to have a "political oversight" over the running of these firms, he added.

Shahrir said there was now a dire need for setting up of such a committee as it could not only monitor performances of these GLCs, but also define their role in nation building.

"This cabinet committee could also monitor the concession given by the government to some companies and the performance of GLCs which had been privatised... we need to ensure that the government's investments are handled properly," he told reporters after the briefing.

Overall, he said, GLCs and Khazanah Nasional accounted for about RM114 billion in government funds, and since this was a huge figure, it was only right that a committee be formed to monitor their progress.

"We already have a cabinet committee for high impact investment. But this committee only handles certain industries. We need a committee to ensure GLCs are on the right track," he added.

Advisory role

He said the PAC could not monitor GLCs because it had an advisory role and not a decision-making one.

"We have a role to ask but not to decide... we do not execute decisions taken by the cabinet but look at the effects of the decision taken. If they slack (in the decisions) then we can advise them," he said.

He said the proposal for the formation of a cabinet committee to monitor GLCs was because the PAC wanted the government to be more vigilant in tracking the performance of these companies.

Admitting that there were weaknesses in the present system of keeping GLCs in check, Shahrir said the drawbacks needed to be rectified as they involved public funds.

Commenting further on the briefing, he said various issues were discussed including the implementation of the New Economic Policy and employment for non-bumiputeras at GLCs.

"We also raised the issue of government companies which had been privatised but failed in their ventures... reviving these companies had required the government to fork out more money.

"We also enquired about government concessions given to private companies, which had been listed and since they are listed, foreigners can buy into these companies, gaining advantage of the government concession," he added.

'Close one eye' MP out

Martin Carvalho and Tho Xin Yi | The Star | 21 February 2008
 

MALACCA: Controversial "close one eye" Jasin MP Datuk Md Said Yusop was among the 13 incumbents dropped for contest in the polls. He was replaced by Datuk Ahmad Hamzah, the incumbent for the Serkam state seat.

Md Said is known for his remark to Customs officials to overlook a consignment belonging to his company's client that was seized for exceeding the size limit.

He also accused Customs officials of selling confiscated luxury cars cheaply to their friends in the palace, but could not produce any evidence to back his allegation.

Making the election list were incumbents Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam (Bukit Baru state seat), Malacca MCA liaison committee chairman Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn (Alor Gajah parliamentary seat) and Wong Nai Chee (Kota Melaka parliamentary seat).

One of the biggest surprises in the line-up was the increase in the number of women candidates from one in previous polls to four.

They are MCA's Chiew Hong Lan (Ayer Keroh state seat), Gerakan's Wendy Ngo Kim Hwa (Bachap state seat), and Umno's Latipah Omar (Taboh Naning state seat) and Norpipah Abdul (Rembia state seat).

In his announcement, Mohd Ali revealed a total of 13 new faces out of 28 candidates to contest the state seats, and two newcomers from six standing for parliament.

Twelve incumbents for the state seats were not selected to contest.

Among them were Malacca MIC state chief Datuk R. Raghavan, Umno Wanita chief Datuk Ramlah Abas and Malacca MCA secretary Datuk Seah Kwi Tong.

Speaking to reporters later, Mohd Ali said the increase in women candidates was due to their growing influence and role.

"It is also a coincidence that polling day on March 8 is Women's Day," he said.

Dr Fong expressed confidence at MCA's choice of candidates, adding that they would make every effort to defend Kota Melaka and capture the last two remaining DAP state seats of Bandar Hilir and Kota Laksamana.