Former de facto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim is of the opinion that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has made a mistake in dismissing the National Feedlot issue.
“Najib should have done the sensible thing and admitted that the whole NFC issue was a mistake.
“That’s how a reformist government would react.”
“You don’t give a project worth a few hundred million ringgit to a minister and say its because no one wants it. If no one wants it then don’t start the project,” Zaid said during an interview with FMT yesterday.
The NFC project is being run by the husband and children of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
The recent Auditor-General’s Report described the NFC project as a “mess” and since then PKR has exposed details of alleged business and financial mismanagement within NFC.
Najib however has dismissed allegations of abuse of power in the federal government’s RM250 million soft loan to NFC.
‘Gives govt a bad image’
But Zaid stressed the irrelevance of debating business technicalities when very act of awarding the project to a federal minister’s family was in itself unprincipled.
“If you can give RM200 million or RM300 million to one minister, you could have probably given the same to other ministers as well…
“It gives the government a bad image and Najib made a mistake by saying it is above board because it is not,” said Zaid.
Zaid added that even if the minister was the most capable and the project was objectively evaluated no one would have believed it.
He said Najib’s failure to respond to the issue has as such given the opposition its ammunition.
“And this issue would last quite awhile,” he warned.
“People cannot tolerate case after case of blatant abuse.”
“When you give a minister a project like this and say nothing is wrong, then your time is up because you can no longer differentiate between what is right and wrong.
“And so you forfeit your right to govern,” Zaid said
Govt has explained
Kota Belud MP, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, also acknowledged as a ‘valid concern’ the awarding of the project to a federal minister.
But he emphasized that the project was done via a tender process and not through direct negotiations.
“Six companies submitted a bid and two were ultimately chosen – NFC and Australia’s Lambert Corporation.
“When Lambert withdrew halfway (through) it affected the project timeline hence why NFC couldn’t meet the production target,” he said.
Rahman also shot down the opposition’s allegation of mismanagement within NFC and insisted that everything had been done in order.
“The government and backbenchers have provided constant and dependable replies.
“And (Rembau MP) Khairy (Jamaluddin) has provided a very good explanation on his blog regarding the condo,” he said refering to the controversial RM9.8 million condominium in Bangsar.
‘RM9.8 million condo an investment’
On Thursday PKR alleged that taxpayers’ money allocated for the NFC had been used to buy the condominium.
But Khairy in his blog had explained that the property in One Menerung had been purchased for investment purposes as it had an unused allocation of RM81.2 million in its account.
“The opposition will not win this if it insists on arguing about process and business mechanism because we’ve been able to shoot all those allegations down.
“If they want to use those arguments then they better back it up with concrete evidence and facts instead of half-truths,” Rahman said.
Rahman also urged the NFC to provide an explanation of the procedures.
He reminded the people that the government loan to NFC was not a gift.
“There is an obvious reason as to why the condo exists and only people who are ignorant or intent on politicizing this issue will not understand or believe it,” he concluded.
1 comment:
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin desires a unified school system for Malaysia. What it means is that Barisan Nasional will be willing to become one party with membership open to all races and religions in Malaysia. In return, the Malaysians must allow a unified school system in Malaysia. In Malaysia they have national schools and national type schools. Whatever Khairy wants to comment about should be confined to national schools, not the national type schools. As regards to national type schools, Khairy should hold his tongue and mind his own business.
It does not matter what Khairy Jamaluddin says or does not say. In the world of the future we will see China growing stronger socially, politically, and economically. That’s it. With every passing day both China and India are growing stronger socially, politically, and economically. Khairy Jamaluddin’s statements will not make any changes. In the world of the future it may be an asset to know Chinese language. Khairy should encourage more Malays to send their children to Mandarin medium schools.
Some how, Khairy Jamaluddin is trying to create a link between the UMNO-BN on the one hand and Chinese medium and Tamil medium schools on the other hand. Who cares about the future of UMNO-BN? Nobody. Whether UMNO-BN wins or loses the next elections, the Chinese and Tamil medium schools should and will survive. No political party should touch the Chinese and Tamil medium schools. Whatever changes that the political parties want to make in the education sector should be regarding the national schools, not national type schools.
Who cares whether Barisan Nasional is divided into numerous component parties or becomes a singular multi racial and multi-religious party? It will make no difference because with every passing day both China and India are strengthening socially, politically, and economically. This is the future. The future is not Khairy Jamalludin. Khairy is too small for China. The future is China and India; and both nations are non-Muslim nations. The Chinese in Malaysia should continue to send their children to Chinese medium schools. Penang, Sabah, and Sarawak deserve greater autonomy. Furthermore, Philippines claims Sabah. Does Sabah belong to Malaysia or Philippines? We need one nation with several systems in Malaysia. One nation with one system will not work in a multi-religious and multi-lingual nation like Malaysia.
In the 1960's and !970's, many Chinese Malaysians spoke English among themselves. In year 2011, Chinese Malaysians speak Mandarin among themselves. I would like to commend UMNO-BN government for strengthening and consolidating the Mandarin language in Malaysia. UMNO-BN should be credited for increasing Mandarin usage in Malaysia. What ever changes in the education sector that UMNO brought about is indeed on the right track because Mandarin usage has increased. Furthermore, UMNO has been visionary because she has been able to predict the rise of China in the 21st century. Increasing Mandarin usage will benefit Malaysia because China is a rising power in this world. If only UMNO continues her pro-Mandarin policy, it will augur well for Malaysia in the long run. It is time to consider making Mandarin an official and national language in Malaysia.
Yes, one nation with one system will not work in a multi-religious and multi-lingual nation like Malaysia. All the three languages, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil, are different niches in Malaysia. They all contribute to Malaysia. Please ask Khairy to hold his tongue and mind his own business as regards to Chinese medium and Tamil medium schools.
The bottom line is that, no matter who says what, the future is that with every passing day both China and India are growing socially, politically, and economically.
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