The following is Bong's blog entry on the scandals that plague Malaysia.
Money?? BILLION$ ringgit in the drain.. | The Flaccid Mind
Malaysians are suffering not from the increase of oil price, but from the corruption, mismanagement and wastage by the government. We are paying a very high price for this, partly due to our ‘tidak apa’ attitude and indifference to the issues happening around us. For most Malaysians, ignorance is a bliss. They always have their ‘priorities’ and only when reality bites, they start to make noise.
Ever wonder why this country which is full or resources, geographically strategic, blessed with good weather, nice, smart, talented people and stability would end up like this? We have everything – petroleum, palm oil, rubber, timber, land, water, you name it… but yet we are poor ??
Looking at the list below, it looks like the BN government is more determined to help themselves rather than the citizens.
And this list below is hardly exhaustive as these are the ones uncovered so far – the tip of the ice-berg, if you will! What lies beneath could be much larger :-
1. The Bank Bumiputra twin scandals in the early 1980s saw US$1 billion (RM3.2 billion in 2008 ringgit) wasted;
2. The Maminco attempt to corner the world tin market in the 1980s is believed to have cost some US$500 million (RM1.6 billion);
3. Betting in foreign exchange futures cost Bank Negara Malaysia RM30 billion in the 1990s;
4. Perwaja Steel resulted in losses of US$800 million (RM2.56 billion). (Eric Chia was charged with corruption for allegedly steering US$20 million (RM64 million) to a Hong Kong-based company.);
5. Use of RM10 billion public funds in the Valuecap Sdn. Bhd. operation to shore up the stock market;
6. Banking scandal of RM700 million losses in Bank Islam;
7. The sale of M.V. Agusta by Proton for one Euro making a loss of €75.99 million (RM 348 million);
8. Wang Ehsan from oil royalty in Terengganu amounting to RM7.4 billion from 2004 – 2007;
9. For the past 10 years since the Philharmonic Orchestra was established, this orchestra has swallowed a total of RM500 million;
10. In Advisors Fees, Mahathir was paid RM180,000; Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (Women and Social Development Affairs) RM404,726; and Abdul Hamid Othman (Religious Affairs) RM549,675 per annum;
11. The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching Maths and Science in English over the past five years. Out of the amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase of information and computer technology (ICT) equipment of which the breakdown of costs is unknown;
12. The commission paid for the purchase of jets and submarines to two private companies, Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted to RM910 million;
13. RM300 million to compensate Gerbang Perdana for the RM1.1 billion “Crooked Scenic Half-Bridge”;
14. RM1.3 billion has been wasted building the white elephant Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation of the Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge;
15. RM100 million spent on the Parliament building for renovations and to patch up leaks;
16. National Astronaut Programme – RM 40 million;
17. National Service Training Programme – yearly an estimate of RM 500 million;
18. Eye on Malaysia – RM30 million and another RM5.7 million of free tickets;
19. RM4.63 billion ’soft-loan’ to PKFZ;
20. RM2.4 million on indelible ink;
21. Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid compensation amounting to RM38.5 billion to 20 highway companies. A RM380 million windfall for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from the toll hikes in 2008 alone;
22. RM32 million timber export kickbacks involving companies connected to the Sarawak Chief Minister and his family; Bailouts –
23. Two bailouts of Malaysia Airline System at RM7.9 billion. At a time when MAS incurred losses every year, RM1.55 million was used to buy three paintings to decorate its chairman’s (Munir) office;
24. Putra transport system bailout which cost RM4.486 billion;
25. STAR – LRT bailout costing RM3.256 billion;
26. National Sewerage System bailout costing RM192.54 million;
27. Seremban – Port Dickson Highway bailout costing RM142 million;
28. Kuching Prison bailout costing RM135 million;
29. Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam bailout costing RM8.3 million;
30. Le Tour de Langkawi bailout costing RM3.5 Million ;
31. Wholesale distribution of tens of millions of shares in Bursa Malaysia under the guise of NEP to cronies, children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth billions of ringgits;
32. APs scandal that has been going on year-after-year going back for more than three decades, involving a mind-boggling sum of tens of billions of ringgit;
33. Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of commercial land and forestry concessions to children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of ringgit;
34. Travel around Malaysia and see for yourself how many white elephants like majestic arches, roads paved with fanciful bricks, designer lamp posts, clock towers, Municipal Council buildings that look more like Istanas, extravagant places of worship, refurbishment of residences of VIPs, abandoned or under-utilized government sports complexes and buildings, etc! Combined they could easily amount to hundreds of billions of ringgit!
35. Since 1997, Petronas has handed out a staggering RM30 billion in natural gas subsidies to IPPs who were making huge profits. In addition, there was much wastage and forward trading of Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low price of oil then. Since the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of the Prime Minister only, we have absolutely no idea what the amount is.
Whatever amount it is, you can bet it is COLLOSSAL! In the Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, a South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore, Daniel Lian, figures “that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption.”
Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages and mismanagement which would increase the amount!
If the above list (which could have been money saved) is added to the nation’s coffers and together with Petronas’ profits; palm oil profits; and profits from rubber, tin, agriculture produce, aquaculture produce, electronic and hardware exports etc, for the past 5 decades, we can all agree on one thing – our country would be wealthier than Venezuela who has little resources except for oil. The petrol in Venezuela is RM0.16 per litre!
(Source: http://www.malaysiawaves.com/2008/06/summary-of-bns-wastages-that-rakyat.html)
So farked up!
