Without crony capitalism, YTL could still be Syarikat Pembinaan Yeoh Teong Lay Sdn Bhd

Ignore first the issue of Malay Mail Online cum ex Malaysian Insider's, Leslie Lau rettracting their earlier report on Tan Sri Francis Yeoh's comment in PEMANDU organised Global Malaysian talk series at the Securities Commission on Monday.

He has been getting a lot of brickbats on all sides from that remark and is trying to turn around to blame Malay Mail Online. [One Malay blogger Semut Hitam wrote of it here.]

And there have been lots of responses in our e-mail to share too. But, we'll just go straight right to the point at tell the man that made a humongous wealth, and influence in this country from direct negotiated tenders that he would not have made it without crony capitalism.

After building much capability and financial power, his recent loss in the bid for Track 3B IPP tender only highlight the point that without the help of those in the corridor of power, YTL couldn't win the four way bid could not make it as they are today.

The only way they could revive their IPP business, in which their first Malaysian IPP will expire soon will be to use high level connection and direct negotiated contract. 

Sometime in February 2014, YTL lost in a bid for Track 3B of the new 2,000 MW IPP in JImah Negeri Sembilan against 1MDB and Mitsui & Co. Ltd of Japan. The bidders that lost were YTL Power International, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Malakoff Corp Bhd, a unit of MMC Corp.

Perhaps, Francis Yeoh comments was aimed at 1MDB because he thought his lower bid could have bagged the contract. The basis that the Energy Commission rejected it was that he was trying to "cheat" his way with a lower bid by using a technology with unproven track record.

In Utusan Malaysia report yesterday, they highlighted that Francis evaded the issue of YTL's long string of direct negotiated country. Irrespective of YT:'s issue with Malay Mail Online reporting, other media heard it fine.

Utusan Malaysia gave the same headline and quite sure they have sufficient number of reporters to be there and hear him speak. In fact, the whole event was recorded in full so Francis Yeoh's so-called own version of the video can be easily debunked.

Let us share this e-mail received from a media friend, below:

Dear Editor,

I read in awe the comments made by Tan Sri Francis Yeoh (FY) reported in your Malay Mail Online Portal on Tuesday, 3rd June 2014, and several other newspaper including The Malaysian Reserve and The Edgedaily, quoting him at Pemandu's Global Malaysia Series Forum at the Securities Commission.

Francis Yeoh is probably the last person qualified to comment on cronysim, racial and religious rhetorics. For someone whose family is one of the biggest beneficiary of crony capitalism, political corruption and high handed business tactics, Francis Yeoh should just keep his fake views to himself and continue planning his transfer of wealth overseas.

Lets recap how FY and YTL "won" the first IPP in the country in 1994. 

All you have to do is read the Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope to know first hand of how high handed Francis Yeoh bulldozed his way through his IPP which has cost the Malaysian citizens billions of Ringgit. Its the same billions which Francis Yeoh has now transferred abroad acquiring assets in UK, Australia and Singapore, all from the grossly inflated electricity tariff YTL got in 1994 on the back of the power crisis in 1992.

Francis Yeoh called the IPP as "innovation".  I and most Malaysian citizens would call it daylight robbery. 

The innovation was to produce electricity at 23 sen, sell it at 30 sen, when TNB was producing it at 8 sen and selling it at 17 sen. Innovation was land-grabbing the Paka and Pasir Gudang sites from TNB and building his IPP. Innovation was arm-twisting Petronas to sell gas at a huge subsidy. Innovation was forcing through a "take or pay" mechanism in the Off-take Agreement. Innovation was bulldozing through the IPP via EPU through whatever means to get the sweetheart deal. Innovation was forcing Tan Sri Ani Arope, the TNB CEO then to resign for refusing to accept YTL's terms.

Francis Yeoh is probably the only Chinese who dared walk through like a King into an UMNO General Assembly those days to see the Prime Minister and nobody dared questioned him or stopped him.

Lets move on to the Express Rail Link which is also another innovation by FY which he touted as  a runaway success without government help. 

Oh, he forgot to mention and most people didnt know that RM5 of every passenger airport tax paid by travellers going through KLIA is paid to ERL even though less than 5% of them uses the ERL to get to KLIA. 

And not to forget that the government paid RM100m for the recent extension of ERL to KLIA2, and the passengers now to pay an extra RM2 to get to KLIA2 to cover the costs of the extra trip to KLIA2.

Perhaps we should give FY the "Malaysian Innovator of the Century" for all the "innovation" he had done that ripped off billions of Ringgit of taxpayers money including mine.

Now lets move to the topic of racism. 

Can FY come clean on how many Malays and Indians YTL Group has employed? I would like to see it broken down by category of senior management, management and kulis. Its the same FY who employed a token Malay as Executive Director in his Group who doesnt have to actually go to work, so he wont learn their trade secrets. 

On corporate governance, YTL has the infamous Kitchen Board comprising of family members only that meets and decide on key things. The formal Boards of his listed companies only meet to rubber stamp decisions and tick their attendances for publishing in the annual report.

Francis Yeoh participated in a recent forum of Top 50 PLCs chaired by the Prime Minister at the Securities Commission recently. 

At the session, a study on graduate employment by 2 lecturers (Dr Lee Hwok Aun and Dr Muhammad Abduk Khalid) in University Malaya was tabled, which highlighted how malay graduates are discriminated against in job applications. 

It was Francis Yeoh  his most eloquent, when he was asked to give his views. He managed to say about 5 words and "innovated" his way out by changing topics.

Francis Yeoh's latest innovation is to now team up with royalties for business. 

This is after years of currying favours from politicians until his true self showed up and no politicians wanted to have anything to do with him. 

After he bad-mouthed Tun Dr Mahathir to just about everybody who cared to listen, the same Tun Dr Mahathir who made him a billionaire many times over. After years of loathing the royalties, now they are his favourite people. 

But things didn't go according to plan. After losing out in the Project 3B IPP tender, FY managed to "innovate" his way through bypassing the open tender method to win Project 4A just days ago.

Another brilliant innovation by FY is to metamorphose YTL from a mere Chinaman contractor turned power producer to also now be a brilliant telecommunications company. How much did you pay for the 4G licence Francis Yeoh? 

And also the highly inflated Bestarinet project to wire up all the schools in the country, so that you can plant your base stations paid for by the people! Another brilliant innovation by YTL should be your company tagline, no need to hire a bumiputera PR company to come up with a tagline for you.

And what about KTM land in Sentul FY? I suppose taking land from a bleeding KTM at rock bottom price makes you a national saviour?

After benefitting from all these sweetheart deals, you later called for "brutal competition" as the only way for the country to progress. 

When you get all these deals, its innovation and entrepreneurship, when a bumiputera like Tan sri Syed Mokhtar gets them, its cronyism and unfair privileges for the bumiputeras. 

You criticised the affirmative action plan which is a national policy giving unfair advantage to the bumiputera, but i can assure you that all the small contracts handed out to the small contractors the last 21 years since you got your innovative IPP does not even come close to the contracts and businesses YTL has got from the government and the people

I can go on and on, and i am sure there are many more people who knows more than me who can add to it. Not enough in attacking and insulting our intelligence, FY is also now attacking bumiputeras, saying the non-bumis now have no chance in business in Malaysia.

My message to Francis Yeoh is maybe its time for you to sell out the remaining 15% of business which are still in Malaysia and start packing your bags to move to UK. A lordship awaits you in the land of the fair.

Hamid
Anak Malaysia

************

Yes Hamid, the list is longer than that. One recent "crony" project would be the Majestic Hotel near the Kuala Lumpur Railway station which NPC held it's recent Annual Award night. 

If we could add on, the Kuala Lumpur Singapore High Speed Rail project is filled with strange on-goings. Why was it that the Singaporeans which should be bothered only with their side of the project be involved in the planning of the WHOLE project?

Being privy to information, it is heard that the Sigaporeans have grabbed all the choiciest land all along the line. So it is claimed to be without government help but it is only land, isn't it Francis?

IPP

As far as the first IPP story, there is more than just what Tan Sri Ani Arope claimed.

For one, nobody bothered to find out Ani Arope's motivation to spill the bean. Perhaps, not many know that he had an interest in a planned RM1 billion fund raising for TNB via a certain family member in an Investment Bank. When Ministry of Finance rejected the proposal, he went berserked.

On top of that, he was the one cooking up stories and spreading rumours as though there was a conspiracy to trigger the nationwide blackout by intentionally connecting a lower capacity cable. It was preposterous but it was easy those days to just blame it on Tun Samy Velu.

Another unknown part of the story in the PPA was the rate. There are letters at the Ministry of Finance and TNB containing an instruction to increase the rate.

The reason is so that Malakoff which was under MRCB and under Real Mild could get a higher rate.

Look up who was the Minister of Finance then.

In case one forgets, he is the same guy who makes an issue of IPP in a certain Buku Jingga and debate with Dato Shaberry Cheek.

So lets not overdo on the first IPP because YTL was just a Chinaman contractor that built the old bangunan MARA then.

There are justification on the part of government for negotiated tenders and also for the first IPP. In defense, we had no experience in IPP and such privatisation so deliverable of electricity supply was the priority.

Political liability

TNB staff have been fuming everytime the see YTL Power's Profit and Loss for decades. That is TNB's profit and their bonus been stolen away.

Many have turned anti-Government because of that.

But, they failed to realise that it is one of them that leaked the IPP paper to YTL for mere RM1 million "consultancy fee".

Talking of being anti-government, teachers are now screaming up to their neck with the Bestari.net system.

The school have to pay for it but the damn thing is not working.

As a result, everything the Ministry is trying to do is being seen with cynical eyes and 90% of teachers so they say have turned anti-government.

When Bumiputera Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli or another crony Tan Sri Vincent Tan started their telco, they had to build customers from ground zero. YTL entered the industry with a guaranteed license and customer. 

They were able to begin installation and spent RM1 billion before license was issued. Thanks to Tan Sri Rais Yatim. MACC should investigate both Rais and YTL.

No way YES, but NO to anything YTL!

Most of the comments from political activist on YTL are that despite being given much helped from government, YTL not only stabbed the government in the back but does not help the ruling party politically.

In fact, when YTL tookover Lot 10 in late 90s from Dato Sulaiman Manan's Taiping Consolidated, the biggest event held that year was a New Year party for all gays from Malaysia and Singapore on the rooftop. Our brother in law was working with the caterer that night

There is more of them now thanks to YTL's social destruction!