Tag: State Linked Companies

Deepak’s Disclosure: NGO Calls for Najib, Rosmah, Nazim to be Investigated

KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Dec: The NGO ‘Jingga 13’ has urged so that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and his brother Datuk Mohammad Nazim Razak, be investigated regarding latest disclosures made by businessman, Deepak Jaikishan.

This is because Deepak reportedly claimed that the three individuals were involved in efforts to formulate the Second Statutory Declaration (SD2) which was carried out by private investigator P Balasubramaniam.

SD2 is a document closely related to the murder case of Altantuya Sharibuu, a Mongolian woman in October 2006.

Jingga 13 Chief Coordinator Orange, Fariz Musa said that an investigation will be carried out regarding Deepak’s disclosure about his involvement in generating the SD2 which was intended to prevent a bigger exposure.

Because of that, Fariz said that the Police and the Attorney General is urged to reopen the murder case as there is evidently a new witness in the case.

“Najib and Rosmah’s involvement in the case should be dealt with seriously by the police.

“An act of power abuse and corruption for the sake of covering up the crime which was committed by them,” he said when met outside the Dang Wangi District Police Headquarters (IPD) today.

Several news portals have been broadcasting Deepak’s detailed disclosure saying that he admits to speaking and meeting with Najib and Rosmah at his residence to seek ways to meet Balasubramaniam.

The meeting was aimed at cancelling his first declaration (SD1).

Deepak claimed that Nazim was sent to represent Najib and discussions were conducted including to bribe Balasubramaniam in cancelling the SD1 and SD2 at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Moreover, Deepak also said that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had called for him to be investigated but he said that MACC was more eager to close the case and no action was taken.

State Government No Authority in Setting Rental Rates for KUIS Dormitories

SHAH ALAM, 12 Dec: The State Government has confirmed that they have no authority in determining the rental rates for Selangor International Islamic University College (KUIS) dormitories which students have alleged as being unfair and unreasonable.

Instead, said Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Redha Resources Sdn Bhd (RRSB) and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) is entitled to determine it according to the dormitory construction agreement which was previously agreed upon.

In relation to that, Abdul Khalid said that the claims made by Sulaiman Razak, the RRSB Managing Director who is also the Permatang Assemblyman (Umno-BN), yesterday that the State Government had the authority in determining the rental rate of the KUIS dormitories, is untrue.

“In my opinion, the answer given by the BN Assemblyman is not true because the construction agreement and the privatisation of the dormitory is between the company owned by Sulaiman and Mais.

“Mais authority is not covered under the State Government. Thus, his statement that says that the State Government has the right to determine the rental rate is not accurate at all,” he said.

However, as the Chairman of Kuis Board of Directors, Abdu Khalid had advised Kuis and Mais to restructure so that the fees for the hostel will not burden any party, especially students.

Previously, a group of students from Kuis held a peaceful demonstration in front of Sulaiman’s house in Shah Alam to insist that the contract to manage the hostel was cancelled.

The students claimed that the contract has caused them to bear the rising cost of hostel accommodations which is deemed to be unfair and unreasonable.

The students also demanded for Sulaiman to sign a new contract with dormitory rents being lower than the existing rate.

However, Sulaiman had denied the allegations and had said that the annual rental rate is fixed based of the concession agreement which was agreed upon with the State Government in 2007.

Selangor Still Ideal Investment Destination

SHAH ALAM,12 Dec: Selangor still remains as the main destination for investors among all other states when it recorded a total investment of RM7.68 billion which covers 24% of the total amount of investments in the country.

Investment, Industry and Trade Exco, Teresa Kok said that for the period of January till September 2012, Selangor has retained an excellent investment momentum with 186 manufacturing projects being approved.

These projects have provided 16,076 job opportunities for nine months recently.

This amount surpasses other states in terms of the total investment received.

She said that the total of approved investments in Selangor, 71% or RM5.47 billion were domestic investments.

Meanwhile 29 per cent or RM 2.21 billion were from foreign investments.

“Local investors are major contributors and this indirectly shows the local investors confidence and trust in the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leadership.”

She said this at a press conference at the State Government Secretary’s office today.

Meanwhile, Sabah ranked second with total investments of RM4.84 billion followed by Sarawak, at third place with RM4.68 billion.

“Selangor recorded a total of 186 projects approved or 32% out of the total projects throughout Malaysia,” she, who is also the Kinrara Assemblywoman, said.

Teresa said that from the total amount of projects, 112 of them were new projects with a total investment of RM4.74 billion.

Meanwhile, 74 projects were expansion projects and others with a total investment worth RM2.94 billion.

Landslide Monitoring Hotline

SHAH ALAM, 12 Dec: Following heavy rains occurring almost every day, the State Government has taken the initiative to provide a hotline to ease the public in monitoring and to report any early signs of possible landslides in the state.

Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said that the toll free number, 1-800-88-2824, will be operational beginning Monday by providing the public the facility of reporting any incidents or in providing information regarding movements of land in their areas.

According to him, all complaints will be notified immediately to the Local Authorities (PBT) and other authorities to carry out further investigations.

“The public will be able to report should they find water coming out of the surface of the ground or slopes; fences; retaining walls and trees that are leaning or have fallen; cracks growing on the surface of slopes or pavements such as roads and vehicle routes; leaking underground pipes or stairs having gaps,” he said.

This was said by Abdul Khalid to reporters in a press statement after chairing the Executive State Council conference at the State Secretariat Building (SUK), today.

In the meantime, he also advised local residents, especially those living in high risk areas such as on slopes and hills, to provide an early warning system within the community including relocation plans in the event of landslides.

“The State Government is concerned about the safety of the people and is advising the people of Selangor to become more aware of any changes around because early preparation can save lives and property,” he added.

Free Water for Apartments: SYABAS Terms Makes Troublesome for Residents

KLANG, 9 Dec: Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS) action in setting strict conditions for the migration process of central meters to individual meters is the main cause as to why the Joint Management Bodies (JMB) and apartment residents cannot enjoy the free water supply given by the Selangor State Government.

In sharing experiences in dealing with the application, Batu Kuda Apartment JMB Chairman, Ahmad Ibrahim said that the State Government has actually eased the migration process however SYABAS has not given their full cooperation other than imposing stringent procedures.

He said that among the conditions imposed by SYABAS is requiring 100% of the residents consent including making new application through the ‘Switch Meter Clearance’ (SMP) form for each individual and to provide a meter deposit of RM130 per home.

In addition, the residents are required to pay the total amount of overdue bills and all plumbing costs as well as the costs of changing the meters are incurred by the owners.

“The conditions prescribed are very troublesome. Naturally they (Syabas) should understand that to execute all such conditions is not easy, many problems are faced by the residents and JMB.

“My experience in dealing with the applications was that the applications took a year to finalise after being rejected several times by SYABAS that I had to go to the SYABAS headquarters to try to get the free water (supply),” he told TV Selangor.

Ahmad further recounted the story of how the JMB of his apartment was forced to withdraw management funds of RM15,000 to advance the payment of outstanding bills.

He said that not only did he have to do that, but he also had to find the real owners of each apartment unit to get their consent.

“I personally sent notices to 450 apartment units to get their feedback. I faced many problems. That was just in the beginning. I only managed to find half of the owners. In the end I managed to collect them all (applications) after subsequent steps were taken,” he said.

In addition, he explained, the residents had to pay RM45 for each apartment unit for the modification of their meter while the JMB had to pay Rm5,000 for meter reparations.

“If calculated, the cost for modifying the converted meters of 450 housing units has incurred a huge sum which is RM20,200. That is by doing it ourselves. If we had hired a contractor, the price would probably be doubled,” he said.

In relation to that, he said that due to the conditions imposed by SYABAS, residents of other apartments have yet to enjoy the 20 cubic metres of free water apart from the fact that they are not getting cooperation from the residents themselves.

“Every resident should understand, as well as the JMB, do not blame the State Government, perhaps the application that has been sent to SYABAS is not complete,” he said.

Meanwhile, resident Hartila Md Daud, 42, thanked the State Government for always being caring towards the people.

“I hope that people of Selangor continue to support the current State Government in administering the state and to successively go on to Putrajaya because I have seen and felt it myself, the State Government has lightened my family’s burden by a lot,” she said.

Another resident, Imran Ismail, 44, hopes that the State Government will continue to take care of the people who are consistently being overwhelmed by the high cost of living.

“With this, the free water supply and many other assistance programs, it has to some extent been able to reduce our, the people of Selangor’s burden,” he said.

Status Report of Water Supply in Selangor This Wednesday

SHAH ALAM, 3 Dec: The State Government will reveal the status report on Selangor’s water supply on Wednesday shortly after the Exco Meeting, said Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Abdul Khalid said that the status is based on observations by the Water Monitoring Committee headed by State secretary Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi.

“We will give credence to the Committee to make a study in addition to receiving a report from the Selangor Water Supply Company Sdn Bhd (Syabas), which became one of the agencies.

“It could be that this Wednesday, after the Exco Meeting, I will give the final status of the distribution of water throughout Selangor, “he told reporters after launching Innovation Day 2012 at Silver Jubilee Hall, here, today.

While commenting on the disruption of water supply which hit a large number of people in the SS15, Subang Jaya area, Abdul Khalid said he would refer the matter to Mohd Khusrin for further action.

Yesterday, TV3 reported that a large number of people in SS15, Subang Jaya have been facing a prolonged disruption of water supply since the past two weeks.

Five District and Land Offices Receive RM 200,000 Incentive

SHAH ALAM, 3 Dec: Five Selangor District and Land Offices managed to record the highest percentage and amount of Quit Rent revenue over the past year.

The Petaling District and Land Office achieved the overall highest total Quit Rent revenue of over RM 156 million, while the highest percentage of Quit Rent collection was dominated by the Klang District and Land Office, followed by Gombak, Sepang and Kuala Selangor.

Accordingly, the State Government delivered cash incentives amounting to RM 200,000 to the five District and Land Offices which had achieved the set target.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the incentives are given based on three aspects, namely the percentage of current Quit Rent collection exceeding 95 percent, target Quit Rent areas exceeding 75 percent, and the highest amount of Quit Rent revenue collection.

“Previously we only give RM 100,000 to any district office which achieves the 95 per cent target.

“But this time we added a lot of incentives due to the outstanding record of tax collection by many district offices,” he told reporters after launching Innovation Day 2012 at Silver Jubilee Hall, State Goverment Secretary (SUK) today.

The celebration was held to promote innovative culture in public service, recognizing the excellence of departments and their staff as well as creating an appropriate reward system for excellence achieved.

The seven awards and recognition given are:

1) Selangor State Government Office Library Active Book Borrower Award 2011, which was won by Selangor Land and Mine Office Officer Maimunah Abdul Sukor

2) Recognition of Website Innovation – Klang Municipal Council and the Kajang Municipal Council

3) Recognition of Local Authority (PBT) Star Rating System – Subang Jaya Municipal Council (four stars) and Kuala Langat District Council (three stars).

4) Public Service Innovative and Creative Circle (KIK) Convention – Selangor was reresented by PK Tech Group of Ampang Jaya Municipal Council and Una Voce Group of Selayang Municipal Council.

5) District and Land Office Quit Rent Revenue Performance of the Year 2011 – Petaling District and Land Office

6) Selangor Public Sector Innovation Award – Selangor Department of Irrigation and Drainage (JPS)

7) Excellent Office Management and Administration – Kuala Langat District Office.

MB: New MBPJ Mayor to be Announced at Year End

SHAH ALAM, 3 Dec: The State Government will announce the new Petaling Jaya mayor to replace Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman’s position by the end of this year.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said he had received a number of recommended candidates who are still being reviewed by the State Government.

“The State Government will start to determine which candidates are qualified to become mayor of the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) before the end of this year.

“The Chief Minister has been given some recommendations who are still under observation,” he told reporters after launching Innovation Day 2012 at the Silver Jubilee Hall, State Government Secretary (SUK) this morning.

Mohamad Roslan was previously directed by the Public Service Department (JPA) to switch to the position of Deputy State Secretary (Development) at the Selangor State Secretary Administrative Centre, effective last October 1st.

However, the directive was withdrawn and Mohamad Roslan continued as MBPJ mayor because the position is covered under the Local Government Act.

In the press conference, Abdul Khalid also said the State Government does not intend to appoint a new President of the Klang Municipal Council (MPK).

According to him, this is because Ehsan Mukri, as Acting President, has been performing his duties despite his appointment pending JPA’s decision.

“We still maintain Ehsan’s appointment as it takes into account his status as President of the Council.

“Even in terms of civil servants, his status has not reached that level, but the State Government agreed to provide additional funding in terms of salary and benefits as the President.

“However, when the JPA promotes him, he is no longer Acting, but becomes the President,” he said.

Azmin: Najib Most Spendthrift PM in Spending Petronas Funds

KUALA LUMPUR, 30 Nov: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is the most spendthrift Finance Minister, by forcing Petronas to contribute the highest dividend rates in the country’s history.

PKR deputy president Azmin Ali accounted that, except for Najib, there has never been a Finance Minister or Prime Minister who has extensively used Petronas funds.

Based on the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Statics, throughout Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s term as Finance Minister, Petronas had contributed a dividend of RM3.1 billion from 1992 until 1997.

The amount of dividends Petronas contributed when Tun Abdullah Badawi was the Finance Minister was RM9.1 billion in 2004, RM11.0 billion in 2005, RM18.0 for 2006 and RM24.0 billion for 2007.

Meanwhile, during Najib’s term, a sum of RM30.0 billion in dividends have been contributed consistently from 2009 to 2011.

“When Anwar had worked to reduce the national debt, the country spent prudently resulting in income surpassing spending without burdening Petronas and had driven economic growth up to 10 percent. Datuk Seri Najib had taken 10 times more out of Petronas funds.

“The national debt increased five-fold, the budget deficit lasted for 14 years and the economic growth rate is still sluggish at the rate of around four to five per cent,” he said at a press conference at PKR headquarters.

Azmin came forward today to maintain the credibility and ability of PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in steering the economy following Najib’s attack yesterday at the Umno general assembly.

Azmin explained that Najib’s economic performance has not once ever surpassed Anwar’s in successfully accelerating economic growth in reaching 9-10 percent during his term as the Minister of Finance.

During Najib’s appointment as the Minister of Finance since 2009, he has reversed the economy’s direction and lead it towards crisis while neighbouring countries such as Indonesia continues to grow rapidly.

In addition, Najib Razak has also failed to overcome debt problems although Anwar had left it in a pretty good shape.

Azmin also said the modus operandi of the attacks against Anwar regarding his economic governance credibility is to use it again for the 13th General Elections (GE-13) to intimidate the people that the country will go bankrupt if Umno-BN is not given the power to rule.

“For the GE-13, people will still choose Pakatan Rakyat. This means that mature people will not be influenced by Umno-BN political propaganda in underestimating the people’s ability to evaluate the performance of the economy under the leadership of Anwar as Finance Minister.



Cancel Development on PKNS Field: CM Discuss With Excos

SHAH ALAM, 28 Nov: Seri Setia Assemblyman, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s motion of wanting the State Government to just cancel the application of the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) Field Land Development in Kelana Jaya will be discussed with the Excos and parties involved, says Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

According to Nik Nazmi, the application under the Petaling Jaya Local Plan 2 (RTPJ2) also does not have to be brought before the board of appeals because it has been proven that there has been document falsification regarding the application.

“If possible, the State Government should stop the application immediately because the people clearly want the field to be saved.

“For me it would be best if the State Government is able show a good example by retracting the application for the PKNS land development,” he said.

Elaborating further, Abdul Khalid said that he would take into consideration the opinion of the Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (SELCAT) as well as the Board of Appeals.

The SELCAT report last week had found no evidence to say that there is an element of deception regarding the issue of the field development.

However, the SELCAT Chairman, Datuk Teng Chang Kim did not deny in the report that the officers in the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) Planning Department were reckless in carrying out their duties, incompetent and unprofessional in drafting the RTPJ 2.

Previously, the issue was raised when the PKNS wanted to develop the PKNS field in SS7 Kelana Jaya near the Damansara Puchong Expressway into a commercial project.

The State Government then decided to bring the issue to the SELCAT public hearing after being proposed by the Seri Setia Assemblyman in June.

If the Federal Government Has No Money, The State Government is Ready to Advance It

SHAH ALAM, 27 Nov: Selangor is ready advance the state reserve funds for the maintenance of infrastructure to provide comfort to the people should the Federal Government issue a letter of guarantee in black and white to repay the sum.

However, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim urged the Federal Government to fulfil its obligations as these are part of its responsibilities.

To smoothly facilitate this, the State Government will set up a special team consisting of the Chief Minister, the State Financial Officer, the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) and the Public Works Department (JKR).

“The special team will present to the Federal Government any projects or infrastructure which have to be developed by the Federal Government.

“If the Federal Government gives an approval letter in black and white to a project using state reserves and agrees to return the money, the State Government is ready to advance the state’s money,” he said.

Abdul Khalid, who is also the Ijok Assemblyman said this during his winding up speech concerning the development allocation of RM59.6 million for the year 2013 which has been approved for the Public Works Department (JKR) .

He also defended the open tender system in the awarding projects adopted by the State Government since taking over the state.

He added that the practice has proven to save about 20 percent of JKR’s allocated funds.

He explained that each contractor is only allowed to profit around eight to ten percent to avoid them from distributing projects to sub-contractors.

“Once an acquaintance told me that he had won a contract worth RM2 million but did not know anything about how the project was carried out.

“This is because according to him, he had won the tender because he knew the Chief Minister (at the time) and had just divided the work to sub-contractors.

“The is the practice that we are changing,” said Abdul Khalid.

Federal Government Transfers Zainal for Making a Statement Detrimental to Umno-BN?

SHAH ALAM, 14 Nov: The Federal Government’s move to transfer Datuk Zainal Abidin Aala, Chairman of the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) is believed to be related to him exposing that it was the Umno-BN government that approved the Batu Caves condominium project.

Ronnie Liu, Local Government, Research and Development Committee Exco said that Zainal Abidin was the “circumstantial victim” when he was forced to expose facts regarding the controversial project.

“He was forced to also mention that the project was not approved recently, rather during the previous BN government.”

“When the press asked for the minutes of the meeting, he had to surrender them because Selangor has an Information Transparency Act, so he really should not be blamed,” Ronnie said when addressed after the Exco meeting here today.

Previously, Zainal had declared that the controversial Dolomite Park Avenue at Batu Caves project’s Planning Permission (KM) had been released during the BN administration on the 30th of November, 2007.

Zainal also disclosed that the project was approved by the Minerals and Geoscience Department Malaysia (JMG).

However, the Department of Environment Malaysia (JAS), in their initial report, did not support the project’s development for unstated reasons.

He also revealed that it was clearly established in an MPS meeting minutes that the Planning Permission for the 29 storey condominium was released in that meeting.

The development project by Dolomite Properties Sdn Bhd at Batu Caves is considered a sensitive issue seeing that the area is considered a sacred worshipping site for the Indian community.

Ronnie also mentioned that this Friday, Zainal’s transfer to a still unknown department will be enforced.

“Today is Zainal’s last day in MPS because tomorrow is a public holiday and later, I will be speaking to him. No matter the situation, I feel that this action is unfair,” he added.