Sarawak ministers in RM70mil kickback allegation

While the furore against Sarawak agriculture assistant minister Mong Dagang’s instruction to cease welfare assistance to a disabled person is still boiling, whistleblower website Sarawak Report has raised another shocking allegation.

The website claims that Mong ( left ) and his party president James Masing are involved in RM70 million kickback from a land development scheme in Mong’s constituency.

The allegation is based on a letter purportedly written by Mong on June 18, 1997, as the state assemblyperson of Bukit Begunan to Kho Chee Pheng of Megaruma Sdn Bhd, a company based in Kuching, asking for the kickback.

In the letter, first exposed in 2010 by a blogger, Mong allegedly authorised Kho to “propose, organise and invite any potential investor(s) intending to establish and to develop on a joint venture basis with the landowners of oil palm plantation in the Kelingkang Range, (Bukit Begunan), Sri Aman, Sarawak”.

‘Secrets land deals costing Sarawak billions’

There would be no need to revoke welfare aid to Sarawakians if the state administration practiced an open-tender policy on land sales, claims DAP.
 
KUCHING: The secretive sale of state land at grossly low prices to Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s family and friends has costed the state billions of ringgit in losses, claimed opposition DAP.

“If we total all the losses from the sales of state land, we could have lost several billion ringgits,” said state DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen.

He cited as an example a 269.9 acre plot of land at BDC which was directly alienated to Monarda Sdn Bhd, a company owned by Taib’s sons and other family members.

“It was sold at RM78.64 million at RM291, 000 per acre instead of RM500 million at RM1.5 million to RM2 million per acre. So here we lost about RM400 million.

“The 32- acre state land at Batu Lintang was alienated to Naim Cendera at RM900 million. It could have cost much more. All these lands are paid in kind.

Masing-Mong Dagang business partners ?

More controversy kicks in over 'secret' ties between Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing and his vice-president Mong Dagang.

KUCHING: Sarawak’s Senior Minister James Masing’s defense of Assistant Agriculture Minister Mong Dagang, who is embroiled in a controversy involving a disabled farmer, has spawned an interesting twist.

Are Masing, who is Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president and Dagang, his vice-president, business ‘partners’? It appears so if Registrar of Companies’ document is any proof. Their ‘partnership’ in Noble Rewards Sdn Bhd is fronted by their relatives.

The main shareholders of the company are Dagang’s wife Bawang Anak Deru, Masing’s brother Henry and Masing’s private secretary’s wife Leyta Kupa.

According to online investigative portal Sarawak Report, Noble Rewards Sdn Bhd has been allegedly taking kickbacks from the sale of plantation territories in Sri Aman. Dagang is the state assemblyman for Sri Aman.

The portal revealed proof in the form of a letter signed by Dagang wherein he “makes clear that he is seeking kickbacks from participants in a land scheme’.

Polis siasat pekebun OKU berhubung surat Mong

Nigel Aw 3:40PM Mac 7, 2012

Selepas bantuan kebajikan dan subsidi pertaniannya dihentikan kerana didakwa menyokong pembangkang, pekebun kurang upaya Frusis Lebi, hari ini disoal siasat oleh polis.

Beliau dipanggil ke balai polis Sri Aman pada jam 10.30 pagi berhubung laporan polis yang dibuatnya yang mendakwa Menteri Muda Pertanian Sarawa, Datuk Mong Dagang mengarahkan bantuannya dihentikan.

Ketika dihubungi, Frusis berkat, polis ingin tahu siapa yang mendedahkan surat itu dan bagaimana arahan mengenai pemberhentian bantuan itu disampaikan kepadanya.

"Mereka juga tanya sama ada saya tahu mengapa bantuan saya dihentikan dan mengapa saya membuat laporan polis.

"Saya jelaskan kepada mereka bahawa Mong salahgunakan kuasa dan saya sekarang sangat tertekan kerana dia melanggar hak saya sebagai rakyat Malaysia," kata Frusis.

Tak tahu nak buat macam mana

Mong pada Isnin, ketika dihubungi akhbar harian Inggeris The Sun mengakui mengeluarkan arahan menghentikan bantuan kepada pekebun itu dan mendakwa Frusis tidak layak ditolong kerana "beliau mampu menanam padi dan menunggang motosikal seperti manusia normal."

NFCorp’s RM1.7m Kazakhstan office under probe, say sources

By Yow Hong Chieh

March 07, 2012

MACC investigators arrive at NFCorp’s offices in Kuala Lumpur, December 23, 2011. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 7 — Commercial crimes police are now investigating the National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFCorp) purchase of a RM1.7 million apartment in Kazakhstan for use as an office, sources within the department have said.

It is understood that the property, which is located in the southern city of Almaty, was bought in September last year, just a few months after the company signed on to help the Kazakh government breed cattle.

BN dancing to bosses’ tune

When the minimum wage battle is between people and profits, the ruling coalition will not have the courage to defy its masters.

COMMENT
By S Arutchelvan

When the government stated that the Minimum Wage Act will be announced in March, the bosses dished out threats by saying the usual things – the implementation of the Act will bankrupt the nation, more studies are needed, many factories will close down, more time is needed to implement the law and that productivity must increase first etc etc.

Previously, the bosses managed to stall the implementation of monthly wage by various means including buying time by doing more in-depth studies. Most of these studies and researches are funded by the bosses themselves to keep wages low.

They also managed to create a cheap labour policy by bringing in migrant labour as well as many laws to curb trade union activities and keep wages low so that bosses can maximise profits. They will continue to pursue policies such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) so that corporate taxes will be brought down and the tax burden will be transferred to the people.

‘Ministers are towkays, voters are servants’

Sarawak senior minister James Masing's support for a fellow minister's directive to revoke aid to a disabled man has further fuelled the controversy.

KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing has come under fire for supporting Assistant Minister Mong Dagang’s action in revoking government aid to a disabled man for backing the opposition.

Dagang, who is the Assistant Agriculture Minister (Research and Marketing), is also PRS vice-president.

Masing told voters to “follow a rule of life – jangan lawan towkay [don't fight the bosses]” following Dagang’s directive to cancel the aid to the disabled man.

Sarawak PKR vice-chairman See Chee How said that Masing deserved the severest condemnation for showing such arrogance.

“One would have expected Masing, as a senior minister, to control the damage inflicted on the Barisan Nasional government in the wake of Dagang’s action.”

Taib keeps his YBs wealthy

Taib Mahmud's 30-year tenure as Chief Minister and Sarawak Barisan Nasional chairman has spawned many millionaires within its circle of Ybs, says Sarawak Report.

KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s secret to staying in power is bribery, at least that’s what the ‘political insiders’ here are saying.

According to them, Taib has allegedly “bribed” MPs and assemblymen with timber concessions, plantations, contracts and whatnots in return for their absolute loyalty over the past 30 years.

Taib has been in power since 1981 and whilst he has himself amassed an unexplainable amount of wealth which runs into billions in US dollars, here and abroad, he has also ensured that his ‘immediate’ circle of political allies have also become as wealthy.

Take for instance his loyal deputy Alfred Jabu Numpang. Jabu has been Layar assemblyman for over 35 years, but the constituency is reportedly in a pitiful state. The man and his family however have reaped millions simply for keeping the native Ibans there convinced that Taib is ‘god-sent’.

Jabu has allegedly received contracts, concessions and kickbacks each time Taib awarded himself some goodies.

Major Expose ! - Deputy CM’s Company Nets HALF A BILLION In Contracts

Man of conspicuous wealth -

so where did the Deputy CM

get all his money?

Over the past week we have exposed how public contracts amounting to RM100million were gifted to each of two companies, Dema Tega, owned by Federal Minister Jacob Sagan and Embun Pelangi, owned by Naroden Majais, one of Taib’s key assemblymen.

However, the largesse corruptly handed out to to a company owned by the immediate family of Deputy Chief Minister, Alfred Jabu and their politically connected colleagues has dwarfed such sums.

KACC Construction Sdn Bhd has received contracts worth almost HALF A BILLION RINGGIT from the public purse over the past decade!

Another fortunate YB and Jabu
relative all rolled into one. Robert
 Lawson Chuat is a shareholder
 in KACC Construction

The company is a joint concern between the families of the DCM, Alfred Jabu; the State Secretary, Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani and Fadillah Yusof, who is the BN MP for Petra Jaya and Deputy Minister for Science.

The key shareholders are Jabu’s daughter Jennifer and his cousin Robert Lawson Chuat (a known proxy who just also happens to be yet another of Taib’s loyal PBB State Assemblymen), as well as the State Secretary’s brother, Mohd Taufik Abdul Ghani and also a niece and nephew of a fellow Taib crony, Federal MP Fadillah Yusof.


Their father, who is Fadillah’s brother Bustari Yusof, has himself received massive timber concessions and has been described as one of Taib Mahmud’s key nominees.

Video : Rampasan Tanah Adat Lagi... Hidup BN !

Uploaded by Trulysabahan on Mar 4, 2012

Dear Sarawakian people... Close not your heart, eye and ear... Hear the voice of your very own people... Forsaken them no anymore... Remeber the Will from your Rajah Charles Brooke... You the people of Soil must protect the sovereignty that has been granted by British on the July 22, 1963. Sarawak and North Borneo (Sabah) do not enter Malaysia. But Sarawak and North Borneo (Sabah) formed Malaysia. THIS IS THE FACT AND NOBODY SHOULD CHANGE THE HISTORY! Together with your neighboring country, Sabah (the name Sabah will be change to North Borneo after separate from Malaysia) develop your nation and become one of the strongest country in South East Asia and World in all aspects such as economy, education, administration, etc.

Alasan, jawapan menolak debat - Saifuddin Abdullah

SAIFUDDIN ABDULLAH
5 Mac 2012

Debat politik baik untuk demokrasi. Ia peluang untuk mencetuskan idea yang bernas dan mempertahankannya dengan cerdas. Rakyat akan menilai.

Namun, terdapat mereka yang menolak debat. Tidak mengapa jika tidak ingin berdebat kerana itu pilihan masing-masing, tetapi usahlah menolaknya bulat-bulat.

Di sini, disenaraikan 10 alasan yang menolak debat dan jawapan terhadapnya.

Alasan 1: Tiada apa hendak didebatkan.
Jawapan 1: Takkanlah tokoh politik tidak punya idea. Banyak perlu didebatkan, contohnya dalam bidang politik apakah politik baru, transformasi politik, inovasi demokrasi dan pemikiran politik progresif untuk masa depan? Bidang-bidang lain juga ada isu yang wajar didebatkan.

Alasan 2: Tidak perlu debat, ucapan mencukupi.
Jawapan 2: Ramai boleh berucap. Adakalanya teks ucapan disediakan orang lain dan yang menyampaikannya tidak fahampun kandungannya. Kekurangan ucapan ialah idea itu tidak dapat diuji kebenaran dan kekuatannya. Sebaliknya, melalui debat, pendebat bukan sahaja perlu menyampaikannya, tetapi lebih penting lagi perlu mempertahankannya.

Young Malaysians push for Najib-Anwar debate

Merdeka Centre also found that live debates would help fence-sitters make up their minds.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak may have to concede to a live debate with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim if he wants to capture the hearts of young voters, particularly the Malays.

A recent survey by Merdeka Centre found that 56% of 1,022 registered voters surveyed across Peninsular Malaysia supported the idea of live debates between the two leaders as a means to showcase their respective “ideas and policies to the nation”.

The survey, conducted last month, comprised 59% Malays, 32% Chinese and 9% Indians and was aimed at gauging their perceptions of current developments in the country.

A significant 67% of those in favour of live debates were below 30-years-old followed closely by the 31-40 and 41-50 age groups, both at 58%.

The survey findings also indicated that live debates would help fence-sitters make up their minds as 62% of voters are still undecided on where to cast their votes.

Angry Murut converts cry foul over land promise

Mass conversations to Islam in exchange for land titles were a norm in Sabah in 1979 but today many natives are crying foul at a government that has since cheated them.
 
TENOM: Murut natives who had converted to Islam in 1979, under the then Berjaya government-linked mass Islamisation programme which promised new ‘recruits’ individual land titles, are now claiming that the government had cheated them.

The converts were given land plots in Kpg Masanopi, Kembong and have been occupying this area since then. However they have now discovered that the land is not theirs and instead belongs to someone else.

A villager, Ariffin Abdullah, 70, whose original name is Arot Bin Ukab, said that the ‘planned’ village was created in 1979 during the rule of the Berjaya government as a new settlement for a group of Muruts who were willing to convert to Islam.

The converts then went on to develop and till the land providing for themselves by planting rubber trees, orchards and padi. Ariffin was their village head or Ketua Kampung.

NCR issue: Sarawak BN leaders are clueless

Barisan Nasional leaders should stop shooting their mouths off on NCR issues and instead study the court's judgments on its definition.

KUCHING: Are Sarawak Barisan Nasional leaders so naive that they dare to trivialize or consider as ‘old issues’ the native customary rights (NCR) which include land-grabs by the state government, the issuing of provisional leases and the illegal encroachment?

Well, it’s either naivety or over-confidence that led BN officials to recently warn the opposition here not to harp on the NCR issues in the coming general election as they did in last April state poll.

Slamming Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) official William Limong recently, state PKR chief Baru Bian said: “I leave it to the final judgment of the people.

“NCR land issues that are unresolved and continue to plague the people are not considered old issues.

“It is precisely because this is an aggravating and ongoing issue that Suhakam is currently conducting a public hearing for the national inquiry into the land rights of indigenous people.”

Disabled ‘punished’ for supporting PKR

A Sarawak State Assistant Minister allegedly showed his 'cruel' side when he instructed two government departments to revoke aid to a deformed man.

SRI AMAN: Fifty-one-year-old Frusis Lebi’s hands and feet are deformed. So it came as a double blow to him when he discovered last year that both his welfare allowance and his subsidies for fertilitiser and seedlings were revoked.

Lebi, who lives in Entulang longhouse in Sri Aman, is an opposition supporter who believes he has been victimised by Mong Dagang, the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Youth chief, who is also the State Assistant Minister of Agriculture (research and marketing)

Lebi’s biggest mistake is that he openly supported the opposition in the last state election and hoisted a PKR flag in front of his house.

A “heartless” Dagang had apparently instructed his officers to cancel Lebi’s subsidies and allegedly advised the Welfare Department to do the same. Both forms of aid stopped in October last year.

PKR pours more scorn on 1Care

There will be a forum in Kuching on Friday to discuss the Health Ministry’s plan. Physician-politician Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj is one of the featured speakers.

KUCHING: PKR today continued its tirade against the 1Care health plan, with the vice-chairman of its Sarawak chapter saying it was hatched in secret by Health Ministry officials and a select number of private doctors and pharmacists.

See Chee How, who is also the state assemblyman for Batu Lintang, said the government should have consulted a broad range of stakeholders in the health system.

He said it was unlikely that 1Care would improve the system considering that it had become prone to massive financial leakages since the 1980s, when the government began to privatise various health services.

“It beggars belief how 1Care is going to reform and improve the current public health system via further privatisation, a national health insurance scheme and ill-conceived basic care packages,” he said.

See’s office is organising a public forum on 1Care this Friday at the Grand Continental here. It will start at 7.30pm. Two physicians will be on the panel. One of them is Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj of Parti Socialis Malaysia. The other is Dr. Ng Swee Choon, an official of the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations.

Admission is free.

SAMM dedah gambar gangster dengan pemimpin Umno

KUALA LUMPUR, 29 Feb: Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) semalam mendedahkan gambar penglibatan pemimpin Umno dengan mereka yang terlibat dengan kejadian ganas dalam beberapa program kebelakangan ini.

SAMM mendedahkan, pelaku keganasan di Jalan Kebun, Klang mempunyai hubungan dengan Senator Ezam Mohd Nor manakala di Pulau Pinang pula mempunyai kaitan dengan Datuk Helmi Yahya.

(Gambar Senator Ezam Md Nor bersama dengan ketua penyerang jalan kebun yang konon sedang diburu polis.)

Ekoran itu, Pengarah Propaganda SAMM, Edy Noor Reduan mendakwa, Umno sedang membawa suasana politik negara ke satu suasana yang kurang sihat.

Ini kerana, Umno semakin lemah dan sedar mereka telah gagal untuk menggunakan otak bagi berhujah, dakwa SAMM.

(Gambar Datuk Helmi Yahya bersama dengan antara kumpulan penyerang yang menyerang Lim Guan Eng baru minggu lepas.)

Tindakan ini juga dibuat kerana malu dengan Najib yang tidak berani berdebat maka Umno menggunakan keganasan dan gangsterism mengganggu program pendidikan politik rakyat, tambahnya.

PKR releases Orang Asal manifesto