The Sun wrote:
"It would be wrong not to recognise and congratulate Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat for his steadfastness in wanting to keep to his promise that he is all for transparency.
Ong, wrongly, has been the subject of scorn poured by certain quarters without understanding nor accepting the fact that he merely inherited the problem from his predecessors. On assuming the hot seat, he had been consistent in wanting the cold truth to be told to the public sans the frills and legal jargon.
Having said that, Ong is now left with the task of compelling the board of the Port Klang Authority to bring to book the wrongdoers and to recover public money which has ended in the pockets of wrong people."
I have resisted the temptation to blog on the PKFZ until all details were clearly reported and accounted in the latest PwC audit report. The PKFZ scandal is a huge one which requires a full attention from the government.
Since billions of public money is involved the government is accountable to ensure that the project does not continue to bleed money. We need a serious act of accountability and transparency to address the shortcomings of the project.
However, the continuous political bantering and finger pointing is not going to bring us anywhere. It looks quite obvious that not many politicians would like to trade places with Ong. Ong accepted the portfolio fully aware of the challenge awaiting him at the ministry and had delivered his first promise to engage an independent body to investigate the scandal.
Since the report is out, both Ong and PKA do not have a choice but to launch a full and thorough investigation on all wrong doings to ensure that wrongdoers are brought to justice and to recover any ill gotten monies taken from the public.
Next, the government and Ong would have to use all the expertise they can get to evaluate the viability of the PKFZ as an international industrial park. They need to quickly find a niche for PKFZ because building an industrial park alone will not be enough to attract foreign investment into the area.
The PKFZ needs a solid and innovative strategy to restore and revive the project. As a layman, it appears to me that the ready built factories and plants are too small to accommodate international players. They may be more suitable for SMEs or R&D facilities.
As a step forward, the ministry should organise a full briefing session on the PKFZ. I am sure many of us are curious about the project. The public deserved to know if the project is still viable and it will not end up as the biggest white elephant in the country.
11 comments:
This is a fiasco that takes immense
skill to manoeuvre out of the mess.
For a start a bond should be raise so
that the full loan can be settled and
not to be burdened with interest
payment.Next, is to market the place
to business to enable it to survive.
From the news, the PKFZ is only
about 14% filled.It is a case of
business people waiting for cheap
rates before they commit,hence the
package have to be very attractive to lure them.
It's better to have them at their
asking rate rather than to have a
empty place which bred undesirable
publicity.However hard the going,
sometime have to be done to save
the taxpayer from further losses.
I have no intention to give Ong Tee Kiat any breathing space, though I will make sure criticisms are proper and just for the sake of attacking him.
Its patently obvious Ong Tee Kiat and the establishment were and still are in "spin" mode, trying at every point to block and obfusticate the issue.
The country will never get to the bottom of the issue if we let them off the hook, at any point.
The pressure for accountability must be relenting.
I would like to give OTK an opportunity to 'walk the talk' but his helming of a 'racial party' within a 'racial' BN makes me question his sincerity.
Unfortunately for him, MCA's continued participation within BN takes away the merits of his latest stand on PKFZ.
Such is the reality, no matter how sincere he is, until and unless he is prepared to take the MCA out of the racist BN, even if genuine sincere efforts are advocated by him, MCA has to be put down together with the rabid UMNO, the bane of a better Malaysia.
Such is the perception and don't blame ordinary Malaysians for being cruel. They brought it upon themselves when they 'makan' the money meant for poor ordinary Malaysians.
Wetting the beak we can understand but punishing really needy poor Malaysians?
This we can't forgive! 52 years of their indifference and timidity made us impatient!!!
1. i agree with kittykat46 to NOT give OTK any breathing space. Doing so amounts to giving the whole BN room to commit more hanky panky. as you said it, OTK knew the responsibilities that come with the job.
2. the people doubt very much whatsoever investigations tht will be carried out will end favourably to the people and the nation. it is a case of distrust. the BN gomen faces a credibility issue. at the end of it, the UNLUCKY small fries will be fried and that's about all.
3. this making of the BIGGEST scandal in malaysia will cost the present and future generations a heavy burden on their shoulders.
4. every year, about this time, we hear of shortage of places for students to be enrolled in local universities. isn't these people the future and pillar of the nation? we need more universities.
5. the wastage and excesses must stop. the whole nation pays a heavy price for mismanagement due to the PROFITS of a select few.
--freddy toh--
Minister Ong do need some breathing space. But it does not mean that the pressure on him and the govt must be let off. If anything else, the pressure must be keep on even more. The BN had earned the distrust of the public. It do not have a reputation of going after powerful wrongdoers.
Yes, I give him space. But I will not let him off the pressure.
Some brteathing space? Did those idiots even think about how much suffering they cause to your children and granchildren when they steal and rob the nation's wealth.
In China they would have put a bullet in each of their head already and that's what I call justice.
Does the author of this blog understand how much is RM1 billion? Let me tell you then, RM1 billion = RM1,000 million. So may be the author should check how many zeros in RM12 billion. Wonder how he feels if one day someone steals RM50 grand from his bank account. Sure hope he can give the thief a break and breathing space.
It's not about being cruel but it's RM12 billion and all Malaysian's children and grandchilren are affected.
Kuala Dimensi is challenging PWC to substantiate that KD overcharged PKA.
If going by the "agreement" between KD and PKA, there is probably no overcharging (hence the bravado by KD) but if measured by the opportunity cost of using a govt g'teed loan instead of a deferred interest loan "provided" by KD, then obviously there is a case for PKA to answer (not KD) as to why they chose the more expensive method of financing.
KD may not have trangressed any covenant in their "agreement" with PKA but the question really is whether these transactions were at arms length and had been given the proper authorisation to enter into a contract. Basically, did PKA act ultra vires its powers ?
I am sure KD will bring up the caveat emptor defence.
he was given the whole universe as the breathing space, but he and mca still in the good old days, they never change and will never reform
The entire cabinet should be held accountable for the whole fiasco. The buck stops at the PM desk. He should be head-fronting the investigation, not left to Ong alone to take the heat. With so much of public money involved, every dept must have been given a share somehow, somewhere to make money out of it (typical UMNO-MCO way!). I have not seen Naif Ton Rasa coming out to talk about it. His aides should compile how Obama is handling America's economy and bail-outs, at least the President has come out to explain what happened and how they will help or dissolve where the business cannot possibly be saved. The PM and his team are still at kindy satge!
In the real world (read :in other countries)the ministers/heads in charge would have offered to resign honorably whether happened during his time or not, but here no need.The stadium collapse,Linggamgate,Disneygate,PKFZgate,Zakariagate,Krisgate,Mongoliagate etc
RM12 billion!!!!!!!! Can't you even see how irresponsible this government has been all along? 52years have passed, what do we see? Scandal after scandal without end in sight. And we are talking only about those which have suffaced!! Any guess if there isnt anymore hidden deep inside the pockets of these corrupted politicians?? Surely you know why the OSA, ISA, etc. are for... not to protect the interest of the citizens but the thieves in high places!!! Now, you're asking the people to give some space to OKT. Any self-respecting politician would have seen this, and he's not an amateur politician, mind you. This is not about bashing OKT but where is the corporate responsibility? And why the need to deliberately delay making public the report? Why did this BN government keep lying to the people that there was no scandal time and again.. until it blew over?? This government cannot be trusted to look after the people at all. A simple question still unanswered by this government: Why were the toll agreements all hidden under OSA? What kind of agreements are these when the only thing guaranteed is that the toll keep on increasing without end? RM12 billion!!! Give some space??
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