Regulatory Agencies, GLICs and GLCs Are Not Fiefdom

A Kadir Jasin

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

PREAMBLE: Views expressed herein are entirely mine. I am writing in my personal capacity as a blogger. It has nothing to do with whatever position I may hold. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Regulatory Agencies, GLICs and GLCs are not private domains

MANY young and not so young politicians and business executives do not like to be reminded of past events. They either think that they know all or they don’t want to be burdened by the past.

As such, in my half a century of practicing journalism I have seen mistakes and crimes of the past being repeated almost willfully and to the exact detail.

As a continuation to my stories in this Blog and in my Facebook on the goings-on at the Finance Ministry, the Bursa Malaysia Berhad and the Securities Commission, allow me to recall the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal of the 1980s.

BMF was incorporated as a wholly owned, offshore subsidiary of Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad (BBMB) in 1974 and commenced business in Hong Kong in 1977.

I was then a reporter at the Business Times and was assigned to get a comment from BBMB on rumours that BMF was facing problems due to fraud.

I managed to get a comment from the bank’s Chief Economist who dismissed the foreign media reports as mere speculations.

But in matter of weeks the scandal blew up. I confronted the executive and, in not so many words, told him that he had lied to me and I, in turn, lied to my readers.

To cut the story short, BMF collapsed dragging BBMB down with it. Internal auditor Abdul Jalil Ibrahim was murdered while investigating the scandal in Hong Kong in 1983. Three top managers of BBMB, including the officer who misled me, were eventually jailed in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

They were found guilty of conspiring with Hong Kong-based Malaysian businessman, George Tan, to defraud the bank.

Another Chinese Malaysian businessman, Mak Foon Than, was later tried and convicted for the murder of Abdul Jalil. He was sentenced to hang but was later commuted to life. Tan was jailed for three year in 1996 on conspiracy charges relating to BMF.

The top managers of BBMB/BMF were all Malays and the businessman who conspired with them was a Chinese. Sounds very much like the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) that partnered the former Prime Minister, Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, and Jho Low.

Abdul Jalil was not the only murder victim linked to or were associated with high-level corruption scandals in Malaysia. Others include the Mongolian girlfriend of Abdullah Abdul Razak Baginda, Altantuya Shaariibuu, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Anthony Morais and the co-founder of Arab-Malaysia Bank (AmBank) Hussain Najadi.

So, my advice to politicians, businessmen and business executives is, please do not think too high and mighty about yourself.

With specific reference to people appointed to run regulatory agencies (like SC and Bank Negara), Government-linked Investment Companies (GLICs) and Government-linked Companies (GLCs), do not treat them as your fiefdom!

We are now living in the open world of the internet and social media. 

Information flows freely and there is only so much that you can hide from public views.

Eventually the muck will hit the fan and you may not have time to duck.

Wallahuaklam. Thank you.

Persoalan Berkaitan Ura-ura Pelantikan Abdul Wahid

 A Kadir Jasin

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

 
MUKHADIMAH: Pandangan yang terkandung dalam tulisan ini adalah pandangan peribadi saya. Saya menulis dalam kapasiti saya sebagai seorang blogger.

Abdul Wahid Omar diura-urakan sebagai Pengerusi Bursa Malaysia

LAPORAN media ekonomi yang belum sah mengenai kemungkinan Abdul Wahid Omar dilantik menjadi Pengerusi Bursa Malaysia Berhad menggembirakan banyak orang yang tidak tahu dan mendukacitakan sebilangan kecil yang tahu.

Umumnya, bekas Menteri Kabinet era Mohd Najib Abdul Razak itu mendapat “review” yang positif. Malah dia sering diuar-uarkan sebagai antara eksekutif korporat Bumiputera terulung.

Saya bernasib baik mengenalinya agak lama. Tetapi sebaik saja diumumkan yang dia dijadikan Senator dan dilantik Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri mengenai ekonomi pada tahun 2013, saya segera memberitahunya bahawa dia telah melakukan kesilapan menerima pelantikan itu.

Dia menjawab: “National service.” (Khidmat negara). Itulah alasan yang kerap saya dengar tetapi paling tidak saya yakini.

Ketika itu dia Presiden dan Pegawai Eksekutif Malayan Banking Berhad.

Apa yang tidak diketahui ramai - termasuk saya sendiri - ketika itu adalah pelantikannya ada kaitan dengan “jasa” yang dia lakukan untuk Mohd Najib.

Maaf cakaplah kalau saya kata bahawa kerana “jasa” kepada Mohd Najib itulah maka Abdul Wahid mungkin tidak layak diberi tugas dan kepercayaan untuk mengepalai Bursa Malaysia.

“Jasa” Abdul Wahid kepada Mohd Najib itu telah membawa padah besar kepada negara. Ia ada kaitan dengan peristiwa dan perkembangan yang akhirnya membawa kepada tuduhan rasuah dan pecah amanah terhadap Mohd Najib dan kejatuhan kerajaan Barisan Nasional dalam pilihan raya umum 2018.

KWAP-SRC

1. Pada tahun 2011, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) telah memberi pinjamam RM2 bilion kepada SRC International Sdn Bhd dan pada tahun berikutnya, RM2 bilion lagi dengan dijamin oleh kerajaan melalui Kementerian Kewangan.

2. KWAP adalah badan yang diamanahkan menjaga duit pencen kakitangan awam. SRC International pula adalah syarikat bermodal RM2 yang asalnya milik 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

3. Sampai hari ini pun kita tidak tahu apa perniagaan SRC International dan kegunaan duit RM4 bilion itu selain dakwaan kononnya sebanyak AS$60 juta (kira-kira RM258 juta) telah dilaburkan bagi membuka lombong arang batu di Mongolia – negeri Altantuya.

4. Apa yang kita tahu adalah sebanyak RM42 juta masuk ke dalam akaun peribadi Mohd Najib dan kira-kira RM3.6 bilion dihantar ke seberang laut melalui beberapa buah anak syarikat luar pantai dan didepositkan ke dalam bank-bank persendirian seperti BSI Bank, Switzerland dan Julius Baer & Co, Hong Kong.

6. Duit inilah yang sebahagiannya dipercayai masuk ke dalam akaun Jho Low dan sekutu-sekutunya, termasuk anak tiri Mohd Najib, Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz.

7. Sehingga Oktober tahun lalu, Kementerian Kewangan telah membayar RM1.73 bilion kepada KWAP bagi pihak SRC International. Ini adalah duit rakyat jelata dan pembayar cukai.

8. Ketika SRC International meminjam daripada KWAP, Mohd Najib adalah Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Kewangan merangkap Pengerusi Lembaga Penasihat 1MDB.

9. Abdul Wahid adalah antara ahli Panel Pelaburan KWAP yang meluluskan pinjaman RM4 bilion tersebut. Yang lain termasuklah Mohammed Azlan Hashim yang baru saja dilantik semula menganggotai Lembaga Pengarah Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

10. Bursa Malaysia ini adalah tonggak kepada pasaran modal negara. Bursa Malaysia Berhad adalah syarikat milik kerajaan melalui Kementerian Kewangan. Peranannya ialah menguruskan Bursa Malaysia. Serentak itu, sahamnya turut diniagakan di pasaran tersebut.

Kesimpulannya, walaupun saya kenal baik dengan Abdul Wahid dan menyanjungi idealismenya sebelum terpalit dengan politik dan dia pula terus menunjukkan kesopanan (civility) terhadap saya, namun saya rasa cadangan untuk melantiknya bagi mempengerusikan Bursa Malaysia wajib difikirkan semula.

Apatah lagi Menteri Kewangan, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, sendiri dilaporkan telah menggunakan isu tadbir urus (governance) sebagai alasan menamatkan perkhidmatan Shireen Ann Zaharah sebagai Pengerusi Bursa Malaysia.

Ramai tahu bahawa Abdul Wahid dan Zafrul berkongsi latarbelakang sebagai eksekutif tertinggi Malayan Banking.

Persoalannya, apakah Kerajaan Perikatan Nasional tidak tahu semua ini atau ia tahu tetapi tidak peduli kerana ia mempunyai kuasa untuk menyingkir dan melantik.

Saya juga hairan dan kecewa dengan sikap majoriti pemimpin Pakatan Harapan mendiamkan diri membiarkan eksekutif yang mereka sendiri lantik secara kolektif dibuang dan dianiaya.

Kalau inilah sikap dan amalan pemimpin politik Malaysia, hanya eksekutif dan ahli profesional kelas ayam saja yang bersedia dilantik ke jawatan kerajaan dan syarikat berkaitan kerajaan (GLC).

Wallahuaklam. Terima kasih.

PM Riding on Covid-19 Pandemic and the Economy

A Kadir Jasin

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

PREAMBLE: Views expressed herein are entirely mine. I am writing in my personal capacity as a blogger. It has nothing to do with whatever position I may hold.

The PM is strengthening his position in the government

I COULD have been wrong when I stated in my Sinar Harian column on Sunday that the toppling of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Government by the Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin-led faction of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) had nothing to do with the Covid-19 pandemic or the economy.

It might be the case at the point when an uprising was mounted against Bersatu Chairman and the then Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on February 23 but might no longer be the case now.

Then the mantra for leaving PH was the survival of Bersatu. Muhyiddin and his supporters in the party’s Supreme Leadership Council (MPT) had argued vehemently that Bersatu would lose the coming General Elections if it remains in the PH.

The reason being, the Malays could not accept the cooperation with the DAP. This, they said, was amply seen in the defeat of Bersatu’s candidates in the Semenyih state by-election in March 2019 and the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election the following November.

Also the majority of the MPT members were not comfortable with the prospects of Dr Mahathir handling over power to the PKR leader, Anwar Ibrahim.

But looking at Muhyiddin’s moves since being sworn in on March 2, it is clear that he is taking full advantage of the pandemic and the economic chaos to secure and strengthen his position as the Prime Minister.

He acknowledged the legitimacy deficit of his backdoor government or the government that came in through the roof, according to Pas President Abdul Hadi Awang.

On March 27, when presenting his first Economic Stimulus Package, Muhyiddin openly admitted in a nationwide broadcast that “..this government may not be the government that you vote (sic) for.”

First of all, he used the pandemic as an excuse to postpone the sitting of Dewan Rakyat from March 9 to May 18. This would give him time to gather support should there be a vote of no confidence against him.

Second, he created a large Cabinet assisted by an ever larger number of deputy ministers. He sacked board members and top executives of GLICs, GLCs and government agencies appointed by the PH Government to be replaced by his political allies starting with the appointment of the Machang Umno MP, Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub, as Chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

Today, the Pas Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in-charge of law and parliamentary affairs, Takiyuddin Hassan, was quoted as saying that government MPs would be appointed to head GLCs.

Muhyiddin has also been accepting all and sundry into Bersatu without consulting the MPT. The PKR MPs aligned to Mohamed Azmin Ali had reportedly been admitted into the party.

The Movement Control Order (MCO) also gives him room to strengthen his position in Bersatu. All party activities, including divisional annual general meetings and leadership elections, are being postponed. He is being challenged for the post of President in the party’s first ever leadership elections.

Dr Mahathir had already won the Chairman’s post uncontested. That would pose a problem for Muhyiddin as they are not seeing eye to eye on the coup and the en bloc acceptance of members into the party.

The party is fractured. Among the original members, some are aligned with Dr Mahathir while others support Muhyiddin. Then there are the Umno MPs who crossed over after the 2018 GE and the Azmin faction of the PKR who allegedly joined after Muhyiddin became the PM.

Muhyiddin does not seem to care that he was once a senior member of the PH Government and was involved in the GLICs, GLCs and government agencies appointments. He is removing them at will.

It appears that what matters to him is pacifying and satisfying his new friends from Umno and Pas. It does not matter if Umno is gaining an upper hand in his government and his own party, Bersatu, losses out – like losing the Johor Menteri Besar post to Umno.

He does seem to mind that his publicity-hungry Umno ministers are stealing the limelight and, in the process, making mockery of his government. It would appear that these seasoned Umno Ministers are setting the narrative of the government.

This leads to speculations that he may eventually merge Bersatu with Umno and used his position as PM to lead the merged entity.

This could be a way for him to get rid of Dr Mahathir for good. The latter had said he would not accept Umno en bloc into Bersatu although he was willing to accept Umno leaders as individuals.

It is very clear that Muhyiddin is leading the country back to the last two decades of Umno era when good governance, accountability and professionalism were not the priority.

Nobody had seriously wanted to make Muhyiddin PM. Now that he had successfully made himself PM, why should he not consolidate his position and, hopefully, win the next GE. Or at the very least hangs on to the position for the rest of the parliamentary term.

That’s what he is doing. He is buttressing his position by dispensing favours so that when the Parliament sits in May, the chances of him being defeated in a no confidence motion are minimised.

He is also shrewdly making himself indispensable and unchallenged by not appointing a Deputy Prime Minister. Instead he appointed four Senior Ministers who are theoretically beholden to him and, therefore, are not likely to gang up to challenge him.

Wallhahuaklam.