Answering allegation against Petrosaudi

The following is a July 4th., 2011 article published as a favour for a friend.

It is meant to dispel allegations made against 1MDB that it's partner, Petrosaudi is a company with dubious operations. On the contrary, PetroSaudi have offices in Saudi Arabia, England and Switzerland. It has developed a worldwide reputation and developed partnership in many countries.

The Chnese version of the article to precede, and followed by the English translated version. As for the Tamil version, still looking for a translator. Volunteer can leave contact in commentary box.

Hope it answers the allegations.

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1MDB与沙地石油公司合作巩固沙地马沙两国的关系

近来一个马来西亚发展有限公司（1MDB）与沙地石油国际公司的合作关系频频受到诋毁。

有人根据误导概念指控沙地石油公司是一个不可靠的运作公司，罔视实情：它是一家知名公司，在沙地阿拉伯、英国和瑞士都有办事处及具有强大的网络。

事实上，反对党是对的：沙地石油公司已崛起成为世界知名的首选伙伴，与国际主要石油公司多有联营。

以下是两宗近来涉及沙地石油公司的事件，唯很多马来西亚人却忘记了。

月前，埃及发生政局动荡，沙地石油公司主席图尔基阿尔沙务王子借出两架波音747飞机，把马来西亚人从沙地阿拉伯载送回国。这是基于马来西亚与阿地阿拉伯国家拥有特殊历史渊源。

沙地石油公司总执行长达叻奥巴埃（Tarek E. Obaid）说，他们是代表该公司与沙地皇室成员而这么做的，这同时也表现出沙地石油公司对马来西亚的长期承诺。图尔基王子是沙地阿拉伯阿都拉国王的儿子。

这家勘探与生产石油的公司由沙地皇家成员持有，它是中东投资于马来西亚的媒体，与马来西亚政府全资的一个马来西亚发展有限公司合资87亿令吉。
在今年3月，阿都拉国王委派沙地阿拉伯的国家安全理事会秘书长班达苏丹阿都阿兹阿尔昭务亲王以特别使节身分捎来几个重要讯息，进一步巩固沙地阿拉伯与马来西亚的长期合作伙伴关系。

配合班达亲王的到来，沙地阿拉伯还缴付了额外的8150万美元（2亿4719万令吉）现金利润予一个马来西亚发展有限公司。

显然，沙地阿拉伯公司不是一个可疑的机构。它有良好的营运纪录，同时他们为“我们理解国际环境的独特挑战，我们与众不同的是我们以特有的敏感度，我们做生意的方式是投资在人民也投资在国家”，引以为荣。

他们在网站中指出：“我们在我们的工作中承诺维持最高的环保标准。”

它说：“沙地石油国际公司是一个私营的勘探与生产石油公司，在沙地阿拉伯、英国与瑞士都有公司。它在2005年创办，我们从引人瞩目的跨国项目中，为未来的能源领域铺路。

“沙地石油公司涉及世界各地能源生产领域的石油与天然气项目。我们明白诠释能源工业的多元全球生态，而我们与众不同的是我们与我们做生意的国家维持，以团队合作、经验、对当地文化和习俗的敏感度，来维持良好的关系。我们建立强大的国际网络，带我们晋入21世纪。”

2005年，沙地石油公司由达立依桑阿末奥巴埃与私人投资者创办。沙地石油公司荟萃了国际石油与天然气领域的一支举足轻重与饶富经验的核心领袖。他们可达致该公司的策略目标、解决21世纪上游的石油与天然气领域的诸多挑战。

显而易见，沙地石油公司并不是一些人所描绘的“凭空冒起”的。

“沙地石油公司投资在世界最重要的能源生产国的多元勘探项目。根据我们目前的劳动方针，我们已建造了相当大的内部地质科学、业务和商业能力，以及与深获认可的外部专家建立良好的关系。

“沙地石油公司处理的是趸售和购买天然气、液化石油气、喷气、喷气燃料、化工原料和汽油。我们已建立起一个多样化的能源组合，包括电子、生物燃料和环保产品。我们的目标是建造一个大规模、高素质发展和勘探的上游石油和天然气资产。

一个马来西亚发展有限公司曾说过，一个马来西亚发展有限公司与沙地石油公司的合资是其中一个较大的局观，以为马来西亚招徕数以亿计的外资。这是一个对一个马来西亚发展有限公司的长期投资架构，以维持它在合资中的利益。

尽管如此，造谣者仍然使用错误的讯息来抹黑一个马来西亚发展有限公司的名声。

去年，反对党国会议员潘俭伟说，一个马来西亚发展有限公司在2009/2010财政年的4亿2500万令吉盈利纪录，有“从左手到左手”的成分，包括广为人知的2011年6月新街场空军基地的转名交易。

针对这个课题，网络部落客Taikors and Taikuns说：“在大多数国家，类似的错误讯息总会引起 舆论压力，原告也极有可能被促下台，唯马来西亚人却似乎能够容忍反对党如是无中生有的指控。

在9月20日，反对党领袖安华依布拉欣作出另一项指控，指一个马来西亚发展有限公司永远看不到天日。

显而易见，他在中伤和散播有关沙地石油公司的误导讯息，唯一能够理解的原因，是为损坏沙地阿拉伯和马来西亚间的友好与信任。

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The English translated version:

Monday, 04 July 2011 09:33

1MDB-PetroSaudi Partnership Underscores Strong Ties Between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia

1Malaysia Development Berhad has been under attack by its detractors over its partnership with PetroSaudi International Limited.

Allegations were based on a misguided notion that PetroSaudi is a dubious operation, disregarding the fact that this is a reputed company with offices in Saudi Arabia, England and Switzerland with a strong international network.

In actual fact, the opposite is true and PetroSaudi has developed a worldwide reputation as a partner of choice, working in alliances with major international oil companies.

Here’s a quick reminder on two recent events involving PetroSaudi which many Malaysians have forgotten.

During the recent crisis in Egypt, PetroSaudi chairman Prince Turki al-Saud leased two Boeing 747s to bring Malaysians back home from Saudi Arabia after their arrival from crisis-hit Egypt. This was done In the spirit of the special historic ties between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

PetroSaudi CEO Tarek E. Obaid said the gesture, made on behalf of the company and the Saudi royal family, demonstrated PetroSaudi’s continued commitment to Malaysia. The prince is a son of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.


The oil exploration and production company, owned by the Saudi royal family, is involved in a RM8.7 billion joint venture with government-owned 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), a vehicle for Middle East investments in Malaysia.

In March this year, King Abdullah sent Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council secretary-general, Prince Bandar Sultan Abdulaziz Al-Saud, as a special envoy to deliver several key messages further cementing the long-term partnership between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

PetroSaudi has paid an additional cash profit of US$81.50 million (RM247.19 million) to the 1MDB in conjunction with Prince Bandar’s visit.

It is clear that PetroSaudi is not a dubious corporation. It has a good track record and takes pride that the company “understands the unique challenges of the international environment, and we distinguish ourselves through a particular sensitivity to and investment in the people and nations where we do business.”


“In addition, we are committed to maintaining the highest environmental standards in our work,” its website said.

TNT visited its website, http://www.petrosaudi.com to shed some light on the company.

It says: “PetroSaudi International is a privately owned oil exploration and production company, with offices in Saudi Arabia, England, and Switzerland. Founded in 2005, we are paving a pathway into the future of the energy industry through compelling multinational projects on the ground and in the marketplace.”

“PetroSaudi is involved in oil and gas projects in energy-producing regions around the world. We understand the complex global systems that define the energy industry and we distinguish ourselves by forging strong relationships in every country we do business. Through teamwork, experience, and sensitivity to local cultures and traditions, we have built a strong international network to carry us into the 21st century.”

PetroSaudi was founded in 2005 by Tarek Essam Ahmad Obaid and private investors. PetroSaudi has brought together a core team of highly regarded and experienced leaders from the international oil and gas industry, well suited to meet our company’s strategic objectives and to address the numerous challenges of the upstream oil and gas sector in the 21st century.

Clearly, PetroSaudi is not a fly-by-night company some people are painting it out to be.

“PetroSaudi is making an investment in our future today through diverse exploration projects in the world’s most important energy-producing regions. Through our current operations, we have built considerable in-house geoscience, operational and commercial capability, and have forged strong relationships with industry-recognized external expertise.”

“PetroSaudi handles the bulk sale and purchase of natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel, chemical feedstocks, and gasoline. We have built a diverse energy portfolio, which includes electricity, biofuels and environmental products. We aim to build a substantive portfolio of upstream oil and gas assets comprising large scale, high quality development and exploration projects”.

1MDB has said the 1MDB-PetroSaudi joint venture is part of a bigger picture to attract multi billion ringgit investment into Malaysia. It has a long-term investment structured for 1MDB to keep its interest in the JV.

Despite the facts, detractors are still relying on false information to discredit 1MDB’s reputation.

Last year, opposition MP Tony Pua said that the RM425 million profit recorded by 1MDB had elements of 'right hand to left hand' deals implying that the FY2009/2010 financial accounts of 1MDB included the much talked about land transfer of the Sunga Besi Airbase. That transfer was only made several months later in June 2011.

TNT, reporting on this subject, has noted: “Whilst in most countries, factual errors like this will lead to public outcry and most probably the resignation of the accusers, Malaysians seem tolerant of the fact of these wild allegations being made by opposition figures.”

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had on September 20th made another accusation that the accounts of 1MDB will never see the light of day.

Now that it has been made public¸ he is casting aspersions and disinformation about PetroSaudi, an act that can only serve to damage the goodwill and trust between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Thinking of a Nanny Revolution

Are you Fraulien to Danny's baby? No, I am Julie Andrew

Dato Rashdan "Danny" Yusof's nanny story as told here did not end with his invocation of the name of Allah and quotation of Quran.

One part of the incident that needed highlighting was that babies are not allowed in first class. The baby cried and disturbed the passengers. One PAYING passenger complained but Danny totally ignored him. That is a behaviour unbecoming of top management of MAS.

Till to date, Danny is not reprimanded but rewarded to take charge of aircraft financing. Oh gawd! It took years for the former Encik Shahril to be well versed in aircraft financing. This short resume kid could just takeover like that?

Something must be done! Something massive must be done!


Really ... the Company needs support and sales from the public but arrogant Danny has no remorse to ignore the public in that incident.

If this is the case, employing consulting firm, Plane Consult to boost sales will not help. There is more on Plane Consult but read further of the incident on Wee Choo Keong's blog here and here.

Despite Danny's abuse of God's name to cover his guilt, MAS did not issue a press release of public denial. It only goes to show the Company did not believe Danny's denial. They are not sufficiently confident that Danny is telling the truth.

True enough, Wee dare Danny make his denial public because he threaten to reveal the Voyage Report. In due time, it will come out eventually. It is not only Wee that have a copy. The unions have seen it too and are demanding action from the Chairman.

In the meanwhile, Chairman and CEO is dragging their feet on this. Not only that, it is heard that Danny is further rewarded with more responsibility to take charge of aircraft financing.

If the Chairman and CEO is ignoring this blatant disregard for rules and regulations by a member of the top management, this is a form of suppression of the powerful against the weak.

A common staff would have been summoned to an enquiry, subjected to disciplinary action, and at times lose their job. However, a top management parachuted from outside could break rules without any sense of guilt and remorse and further rewarded.

There is no spinning of rules and regulation on baby in first class. It is a safety issue. Read the circular dated February 2010 circular:

CIRCULAR FROM SENIOR GENERAL MANAGER GROUP HUMAN RESOURCE

TO : All MAS Pilots
All Senior General Managers
All General Managers
All Assistant General Managers
All Managers
All Station Managers

REF : SGMHR 007/10

Date : 08 Feb 2010

RESTRICTION OF INFANT TRAVELLING IN FIRST CLASS

We wish to reiterate that no infant will be allowed to travel on First Class (FY) in all our B747-400 series aircraft.

This restriction has been imposed due to the fact that all our B747-400 series aircraft First Class cabin are not equipped with bassinet seat/facility. All our ground employees as well as ground handling agents world wide have been informed to adhere to the Ground Operations Manual – Passenger & Baggage, Chapter 19 (Handling of Infants) Page 19-2 Clause 3.6 & 3.10 which states ‘No seat sale for infant in FRCL cabin for new B747 aircraft type, therefore there is no bassinet seat and passenger are not permitted to bring and use IRD or car type seat in new B747 FRCL seat” & ‘ The new design B747-400 (Passenger) retrofitted aircraft do not accept any infants on FRCL as no facility (bassinet seat) is provided. We are also no longer offering bassinet placed on the floor”.

Kindly note that all applications for Annual Privilege Travel will automatically be made on Business Class for infant and one (1) accompanying adult.

We have been informed that many are not aware of this restriction and as a result there were a lot of inconveniences caused to both staff and our check-in personnel. We seek your co-operation in this matter.

EFFENDI ABDUL RAHMAN

c.c. Senior General Manager Airport Operations
AGM Distributions

This is not an archaic law that Anwar Ibrahim wants to repeal but exist for a reason. There are rooms for flexibility but there are procedures to be respected and adhered to.


Doesn't that make MAS rules and regulations irrelevant if the Deputy Managing Director himself refused to humble himself and set an example to respect and follow rules and regulations? Yet, he would expect the rakyat or manager and staff adhere to his directives.

He could say joining MAS Sdn Bhd is joining me and joining us? Oh ... how elite is his mindset? Even the Prime Minister does not behave such.

The union have raised this matter as far back as in early February. It means the late March sumpah story is old. Below is MESA’s e-mail to Md Nor, copied to AJ for actions:

From: Matdiah Mohammad
Date: 4/2/2012 7:48:43 AM
To: Md Nor Yusof
Cc: Nor Hayati Idris; Mohamed Yusof Ahmad Muhaiyuddin; Ismaizam Ismail; Norlina Abdullah @ Renata Liporado; Alias Aziz; Mohamad Alizam Kusrin; Philip Lee Beng Chuan; Abdul Rahman Hassan; Lee Min Ken; Haswandy Morshidi; Awang Musa Awang Kassim; MASEU – Graded Union; Ahmad Jauhari Yahya; ahmadz@mapa.org.my; Hizamuddin Zainal Abidin; Ab Halim Said; Chai Chee Kong; Chandran Sekhran; Amir Ihsan Abdul Latif; Hussin Shamsudin; Izwan Ismail; Jamaludin Sanusi; Kamarul Zaman Saisi; Najmi Rahimi Muzni; Tengku Fachruddin Tengku Suleiman
Subject: DCEO MH122 SYD-KUL Controversy

Salaam Tan Sri copy AJ, MESA Council and rest,

I wish to reiterate that as much as we would like to believe otherwise, the evidence is overwhelming to indicate that the DCEO was not telling the full truth about what actually transpired during the his flight MH122 SYD-KUL 01Jan12.

As intimated to you previously, I was personally shown a photocopy of the original hand-written Cabin Crew Voyage Report (VR) which indicates that the DCEO’s baby and maid did remained in the First Class Cabin of the B747-400 aircraft for the rest of the flight duration. I am convinced that at the point when I was shown the said VR, there were at least fifty others who may have already seen the same report. I was made to understand that till to date many more staff have seen the widely circulated document.

I understand that the initial circulation of such sensitive information was purely operation-driven, however it was leaked due a manifestation of utter disbelief and frustration among staff who saw the matter was an outright abuse and the perseption of inequality in treatment for gross disrespect of published in-house rules among the elite. As such, I sincerely hope that no attempt is made to vilify or attribute blame to any particular staff that just happens to be doing their job or were privy of the normal distribution trail.

The fact that Danny had chosen to override your imposed restraint during the Q&A session, and that he had voluntarily invoked the Almighty in his quest to convince the audience of his ‘innocence’, did not make the matter any easier or palatable as it served to further erode any remaining vestige of integrity in the eyes of staff and the general public.

Under the circumstances, I believe that his best recourse is to leave MAS immediately as his continued presence is untenable and would further impede organizational recovery.

I pray that you act accordingly.

Matdiah Bin Mohammad
Secretary, MESA

Imagine this.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia can openly tell the Malaysian people that the Government does not have all the answer. It is time to listen to the heartbeat of the people. It is a statement to express the need to be sensitive and humble in one's attitude and during the course of carrying out one's work.

The Prime Minister can say sorry for past mistakes of his party in which he was not the leader then. It takes a lot of courage and also humility.

The Prime Minister is willing to be criticised. The opposition, media and public do criticise and highlight his mistakes and the wrong decisions made by his trusted underlings.

Although he has yet to respond on his promise to give the union his decision, the Prime Minister is willing to change his decisions and response to the public and people on many matters of public interest.

The only difference between opposition vis-a-vis the media and public is that the opposition still criticise him when he correct the wrong by calling him flip flop and such.

That is the leader of the nation talking. Unfortunately that example is ignored by MAS management.

They chose to be tyrant that do not dispense justice of their subject. And they act like dictator, who chose ignore the voice and plight of the common people, to act for their ego and self interest in acquiring more wealth and power.

Is that an exaggeration and being melodramatic?

Then what is the basis of giving more responsibility to Danny to take charge of aircraft financing in Ahmad Jauhari's third new structure for MAS in 8 months. The picture below should give an answer:


To highlight further that the management team has no idea what to do, there is but again another change in business plan or model, which ever the sophisticated aura one wish to project.

A little bird told us that MAS dropped the short haul carrier plan. This is at least the 7th business plan of MAS, or it is more accurate to say, MAS has no business plan. Does that mean Danny is no more CEO of Short Haul?

Without any plan, it is really bewildering to understand what Air Asia-X Chairman, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz meant by not enough explanation to the staff.

Do they know what to explain?

So far heard, the MAS management can't explain it convincingly to the staff and managers. They are more experienced and well versed than the novice management team that need "nanny" in the form of Plane Consult and infusion of Air Asia staff into MAS.

Is Rafidah beginning to lose her touch?

All this only shows that there is a suppression of the rakyat in the "1Malaysia: Rakyat Didahulukan" airline. The common rakyat in MAS will be reprimanded but they close one eye on their pier.

With an Orwellian MAS management that have a Department to eavesdrop on ones conversation and detection of in- and outcoming emails, it is time for civil uprising.


Wee called upon MAS staff and union to be more vocal. That's fine and dandy. However, the staff and public can also make an impact and get change in a civil way, not like some PKR hooligans and PAS blind jihadists.

Let's us all of us send e-mails, post comments on their facebook and twitter to them in a big way, with and without fear, to:

Prime Minister:
YAB Dato Najib Tun Abdul Razak
ybmk@treasury.gov.my
www.facebook.com/najibrazak
twitter.com/najibrazak

Deputy Prime Minister:
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
tpm@pmo.gov.my or muhyiddin@moe.gov.my
www.facebook.com/muhyiddinyassin
twitter.com/#!/muhyiddinyassin

Members of the Board of Khazanah
Dato Najib Tun Abdul Razak
(see above)

Dato Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah
Minister of Finance II,
husni@treasury.gov.my
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmad-Husni-Hanadzlah/100002168923958

Tan Sri Nor Mohamad Yakcop
Minister in PM Department,
normohamed@epu.gov.my
http://www.facebook.com/nor.mohamed.yakcop

Tan Sri Mohd Nor bin Yusof
Chairman of MAS
mny@malaysiaairlines.com

Raja Tan Sri Dato' Seri Arshad Bin Raja Tun Uda

Datuk Azman Yahya (Symphony)
azman.yahya@symphony.com.my

Dato' Mohammed Azlan bin Hashim

Tan Sri Andrew Sheng

Tan Sri Dato' Azman bin Hj. Mokhtar
azman@khazanah.com.my

Khazanah Nasional e-Mail: info@khazanah.com.my

Members of the Board of Directors of MAS:

Tan Sri Mohd Nor bin Yusof (see above)
Dato Ahmad Jauhari aj.yahya@malaysiaairlines.com
Datuk Azman Yahya (Symphony)
Tan Sri Dr. Wan Abdul Aziz bin Wan Abdullah
Tan Sri Krishnan Tan (IJM)
Datuk Rohana Rozhan (Astro)
David Lau Nai Pek
Tan Sri Tony Fernandes
Datuk Kamarudin Meranun
Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah. rei@rohaseuco.com

Malaysian Airlines Berhad:
http://www.facebook.com/malaysiaairlines

* The missing e-mails, facebook url and twitter handle will be added later.

If one fear and worried of one's job or position, one can still do it from outside the office so that the assigned MAS officer to play "big brother", Sharifah Izora could not detect.

Do not use office e-mail but personal e-mails. Send the e-mail or Facebook message from a cyber centre or cafe like that Yahudi cafe, Starbuck or DAP kopitiam, Ipoh White Coffee cafe.

For any other devices, only Blackberry protects your confidentiality. With an anonymous handle, twittering from a Blackberry is safe.

Be selective in one's revelation of nonsense in the company. Some company secrets are better kept from competitors.

DAP's consistently inconsistent

Tony Pua did a Mas Selamat yesterday on his blog.

No ... he can't be accused of being a Muslim terrorist. Some say he is a Christian but his chicken rearing body builder father, Jackson Pua near Minyak Beku, Batu Pahat is a Buddhist. There happen to be a place called Sungai Ayam in Minyak Beku.

It does not matter. Mas Selamat is only a description of Tony's blog ability to be elusive.

Yesterday, we swear he posted The Malaysian Insider's news report of himself criticising Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Education, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Tony Pua rubbished Muhyiddin Yassin for citing Malaysia's 14th ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 issued by The World Economic Forum (WEF) under the category of quality of education. In rapid successions, he cited various parts of the report and other studies to deny Muhyiddin and was short of being graphic.

This morning that posting is no more there but replaced by announcement of his duel with Dato Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Was Tony right and fair in his criticism? Why was the posting taken down? Is Tony trying to escape being caught wrong?

Before rebutting Tony, read the MI report below:

Pua: Study proves local school system inferior to West’s

UPDATED @ 02:37:13 PM 02-04-2012

By Clara Chooi

April 02, 2012

Pua said Muhiyiddin made a “complete fool of himself” by making the comparison. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — DAP MP Tony Pua has rubbished Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s boast over local education standards, citing today a recent international study that showed Malaysian students lagging far behind western nations in terms of literacy, mathematics and scientific understanding.

Labelling the deputy prime minister a “jaguh kampung” (village hero) for his boast, Pua pointed out that according to the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) 2009+ report released last December, Malaysian students ranked 55th out of 74 countries in terms of reading literacy, 57th in Mathematics and “only marginally better” in 52nd position for Science literacy.

“The results are extremely discouraging on the state of affairs in Malaysia’s education system,” Pua told a press conference in Parliament today.

The PISA 2009+ study, conducted in 2010 and released last December, reviewed the literacy, mathematics and scientific understanding of 522,000 students across 74 countries, with nearly 4,999 students coming from Malaysia.

Muhyiddin, as the education minister, Pua said, had made “a complete fool” of himself for proudly proclaiming Malaysia’s standard of education is far better than that of the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Muhyiddin had made the claim on Saturday, citing a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) which stated that Malaysian students were getting a better education than their counterparts in the UK, the US and Germany.

The deputy prime minister had pointed out that the WEF’s 2011/12 Global Competitiveness Report ranked Malaysia 14th among 142 countries in terms of quality of education.

He was quoting findings in the Executive Opinion Survey portion of the report, which polled top business figures on the competitiveness of various sectors and institutions.

But Pua pointed out today that the WEF study was merely based on the opinions of 87 local businessmen who were asked to rate on a scale of one to seven how much they felt the country’s educational system has met the needs of a competitive economy.

He said two government-linked agencies had been commissioned by the WEF to carry out the survey — the government-linked Institute Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) and the government-owned Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) — suggesting the possibility of biasness in the study’s outcome.

“Surely such a tiny survey with such ‘surprising’ outcomes must be benchmarked against other credible international studies before it is accepted at face value.

“And surely, as the education Minister, he (Muhyiddin) would have seen many objective studies on the quality of our education and students,” Pua said.

Malaysia had achieved a weighted average score of 5.1 in the WEF study, as did Australia, Lebanon and Barbados.

Switzerland, Singapore and Finland led the rankings after each secured a rating of 5.9.

Germany placed 17th with a score of 4.9, Britain came in 20th with 4.8 and the US got the 26th spot with a 4.7 rating.

Despite Malaysia placing 14th, the WEF report said in its summary for Malaysia that as the country becomes more and more innovation-driven, “it will need to improve its performance in education and technological readiness”.

Comparatively, Pua pointed out that the conclusion for Malaysia in the PISA report was completely unlike the WEF’s when it was reported that only “56 per cent of students are estimated to have a proficiency in reading literacy that is at or above the baseline level needed to participate actively and productively in life”.

This, he said, meant that a whopping 44 per cent of Malaysian students had scored below the baseline level.

For mathematics, the PISA study revealed that only 41 per cent of students are proficient in the subject at the baseline level.

For science, 57 per cent made the baseline level.

“Why did Muhyiddin not cite the PISA study which he is fully aware of, which is the objective in its study across countries using standardised tests?

“PISA was also conducted with the co-operation of the Education Ministry... (but) instead, Muhyiddin decided to endorse and boast of a survey of 87 local businessmen on a single, subjective question,” Pua said.

The questioned part of the WEF report (find here) can be found in page 444. The table is reproduced below:



Tony failed to realise that the study refers to the quality of the higher education and it is one of the many indicators of the education the country. Since the report is on higher education, the critic shouldn't be leveled at Muhyiddin.

Nevertheless, Tony failed to realise that Muhyiddin is aware of all those studies and reports he had quoted. He had conveyed the issues Tony and others raised in speeches to his Ministry. [Search the Ministry's website.]

Unfortunately, the subject of education is not as exciting as the news of another Fasha Sanda affair. The quoted reports were not picked-up by the mainstream newspapers.

What so wrong with Muhyiddin sharing some positive news to boost the morale of the thousands of teachers, lecturers, and administrators.

Tony is not the only one. There are other criticism to Muhyiddin's statement. Other's are sincere but Tony is not. His is on a destructive political mode. Let's discuss.

One criticism claimed that Malaysia's tertiary education lacks behind in terms of quantity and tertiary educated Malaysian are far behind with the German and UK University leavers.

Other that the WEF, critics cited sources here and here to compile enrollment statistics as below:

PRIMARY: Malaysia (94.1) UK (99.6) Germany (97.6)

SECONDARY: Malaysia (70.2%) UK (93.7%) Germany (87.7%)

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY: Malaysia (26.2%) UK (59.5%) Germany (46.3%)

With nearly 60% of their citizen received tertiary education, it is not a surprise that UK is only several notches behind Malaysia in terms of quality.

To answer that, they had raised the issue of enrollment deal and that deals with QUANTITY. Muhyiddin's statement deals with QUALITY.

The WEF reports differentiates the two criteria. It gives weightage of 33% for quality and 33% for quantity.

If they had bothered to refer to page 48 of the report, it stated that tertiary enrollment rate is 36.5%.

It does not show the quality of our education as low, but the places at tertiary institutions are limited and admission is highly competitive.

The subsequent questioned raised by this critics are why are there too many dropouts among Malaysians at the tertiary level?

Quantity aspect is fairly straight forward and can be quantified using hard fact and official data. WEF gathered official data and distribute scores based on it. The reality with low enrolment rate is the low score on quantity.

Returning again to the WEF report, quality is more subjective.

There is no available data on the overall quality of educational system. WEF used the Executive Opinion Survey to measure quality. Those participants of the survey viewed the quality of our educational system to be more superior than that of US, Germany and UK.

If it is viewed as an anamoly, the same applies for other perception surveys.

The opposition can go to town with Malaysia's low score on the perception based corruption index. Why is it that this time they disturbed by the perception survey on education?

Tony should realise that the THES ranking of Universities worldwide used by opposition used to condemn the low ranking of our public Universities is also a perception survey?

Off course, he would not answer and response to this blog. He will be to remain silent when cornered. The last he wants is the public to read this non-Oxford going blog owner reply and made mince meat out of his blatant misinterpretation.

Tony and DAP only wants to hear negative news of the country. If possible, they want to paint a TOTALLY bleak picture of the education system and every aspect of the nation.

There should not be FDIs going into the country, particularly the Barisan Nasional runned states. If there are plans for one like of Lynas, Vale, Pengerang, etc, DAP must sabotage. They are willing to lie and create perception using falsifying fact on radioactivity, environmental, international dumping, and what may you.

They can be so inconsistent and make excuses as to believe AELB recomendation for a Batu Kawan factory but are against AELB recomendation for Lynas. It is alright for Shin Etsu in Selangor to deal with rare earth but not for Lynas in Gebeng.

However, there are not ashamed to claim FDI into Pakatan states as their effort, despite knowing well that it is MITI's effort that brought investment to their states irrespective of each state's political inclination.

Perhaps, there could be political brownie points to fulfill the negative perception of Chinese voters. That should not be because the Chinese are smarter than that. They are not supposed to be gullible.

It further proves the stark reality that today's DAP is filled with hypocrasy and inconsistencies.

In Tony's excitement to condemn anything good of Government's effort to reform the education system, he had showed that he did not properly read and understand the reports and studies he cited.

Nazri ... Nazri ... Check la dulu

Sinar Harian organised a Wacana Sinar recently.

The forum involved Deputy Commissioner of MACC (Operations), Dato Shukri Abdul, MP for Kota Belud, Abdul Rahman Dahalan, PKR's Rafizi Ramli and Just World Executive Director, Chandra Muzaffar discussing the subject, "Political Bribery: Reality or Perception."

Malaysiakini had spinned Shukri's words in their report as though he is laying the blame for non prosecuted cases to the Attorney General (AG). Read in another of Din Merican's copy and pastes of articles from Malaysiakini here.

Conspiring with Malaysiakini, Sin Chew Daily relayed the spinned of Malaysiakini to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Dato Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Without any prior consultation, Nazri responded with a drubbing of Shukri.

Shukri could be pissed with Nazri for wrongly scolding him in public.

He can't respond appropriately. As a public servant, he understand that it is improper to pick a quarrel in public. More so, his issue is with an elected official like a Minister.

Shukri could raise issues with Nazri but it could be misconstrued as getting even.

This will further strained the already strained relationship between elected official with public official from the recent episode of SPBA and SSM.

Nazri should have checked first before making such remark.

In his effort to defend the AG Office, Nazri has inadvertently provide fodders for opposition to put both MACC and AG Office in the spotlight. He had actually assisted the opposition to paint a negative perception on two important Government institutions.

Apanama posted the devious manouvring of Malaysiakini and Sin Chew Daily here.

Shukri said the following:

"Masalahnya sekarang, masyarakat nak dakwa di mahkamah. Betul tak? Betul. Ini yang masyarakat nak. Itu kalau tuan-tuan tanya saya, tuan-tuan put the question to the wrong person.

"Banyak kes-kes yang kita cadangkan kepada DPP, pada pandangan kita ada kes, tapi pada dia, tak cukup bukti. So, what can we do? Itu pada dia, dia lebih arif, the final say tetap pada timbalan pendakwaraya, macam mana? Kita tak ada kuasa."

Malaysiakini spinned it as follows:

“The problem is, many people want the cases to be charged in court, but if you ask me on this issue, you are asking the wrong person. To us, there are valid cases (to be charged in court), but to the Deputy Public Prosecutor, there is no case to answer, so what can we do?” Shukri told the participants, who responded with loud cries of lawan (fight).

Giving the audience a dry smile, Shukri replied: “How to fight? MACC has no (prosecution) power.”

They had Sin Chew Daily get a response from Nazri using Malaysiakini's spinned phrases.

Nazri blew his top and Malaysiakini conveniently spinned the issue further using Sin Chew Daily's quotes:

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz has chided Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy commissioner (operations) Mohd Shukri Abdull for complaining about corruption cases being rejected by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“I think Shukri (left) has a weak character. He should not make complaints openly,” Nazri is quoted by Sin Chew Daily as saying in Kuala Kangsar last Saturday.

“In fact, he does not need to make any explanation to the public because it is the job of AG’s Chambers to prosecute an individual. His job is only to investigate. I hope this will not confuse the people.”

Nazri also demanded that Shukri stops making such statements in the future.

Relationship between Nazri and Shukri and MACC could be effected by negligent on Nazri's side to not check with them to find out whether Shukri actually said those words.

With election drawing near, Government will not reprimand the press, more so if it is a Chinese press.

Big Cat's comment here of the incident:

About Malaysiakini intentionally misrepresenting a statement by MACC about the AG Chamber. I don't really understand why people want to subscribe to Malaysiakini. The reporting is blatantly one sided and with clear cut agenda to undermine what ever is good about this country. If you are so gian to read pro-Pakatan bullshit, read Malaysian Insider. At least you don't pay to get conned. That makes you only half stupid.

Nazri was conned by the insidious pro-oppositiopn media. Nazri ... Nazri ... Check la dulu.

He is a senior Minister. How could he be so sloppy as to fall for that obvious opposition media trick?

The Ku Li's new clothes

On July 17, 2010, Malaysian Insider here reported Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin's insult of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in his Tweeter in response to Ku Li's negative comment of the Youth wing.

It was only two years ago that he questioned Khairy's UMNO Youth disinterest in speaking up on Malay issues. That void is taken up by Perkasa.

Khairy responded to say, “With due respect, Tengku Razaleigh is way off here. If that is the void that needs filling, I don’t want to fill it.”

This statement will come in handy when Khairy's performance as Chairman of PUNB in developing the Malay retail sector is scrutinise.

It is Khairy's subsequent remarks on his Twitter that is revealing.

“It appears that Tengku Razaleigh has shown his true colours since John Pang stopped writing his uber liberal speeches,” said Khairy.

John Pang was his former aide who now heads CIMB’s Asean Research Institute but questions have been raised of his background. He could be a fake. Read Malaysia Today here

“I guess without John Pang tweeting liberal thoughts on his behalf, Tengku Razaleigh is still stuck in a bigoted, analogue worldview,” Khairy added.

In the light of Khairy's past remark, what clothes is "old has been" wearing now?

Many friends in Ku Li's camp could be annoyed by that brutally honest label. However, we kept telling them that he is out of touch and still mentioning rubber and tin commodity market in discussions on the economy.


He's got no computer on his desk. His scheduler, Haji Redhuan's PC looks like an old 486. That can only mean he is not aware of the new frontier in the cyberspace and blogosphere.

The world is no more about access to information but applying information efficiently at the quickest of time. It is ultimately about ideas and ideologies. On this score, Dr Mahathir is far ahead in appreciating and anticipating such changes.

For quite a while, Ku Li have been playing games.

With the Perkasa crowd, he glorified the NEP. When invited by Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, British Graduate Alumni or one private college in Cheras, he carries a different tone. His NGO Amanah carries another totally different tune.

Note that we are quoting events we attended as to tell that we are aware of his thinking.

Of late, he has been talking in strange language and getting more out of touch, like saying Felda settlers will lose their land from FGV listing.

And this report on Malaysia insider below:

Only Captive Minds hang on to the NEP, says UMNO’s Ku Li

The Malaysian Insider
April 1st, 2012

by Shannon Teoh@www.themalaysianinsider.com

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah resumed his attack on the New Economic Policy (NEP) today, stating that “captive minds” continue to support it despite Malaysia moving further from its objective of redistributing wealth through pro-Bumiputera policies.

The UMNO veteran said there has been “no intellectual inquiry” into why “despite many years of implementing the NEP, inequitable distribution of income continues to plague the people” as “we have become incapable of devising an analytical method independent of current stereotypes about Malays, Chinese, Indians and others.”

“If the doctor keeps on prescribing the same medicine which produces opposite results, then something must be wrong with the doctor, and something more serious must be wrong with the patient who keeps on trusting the same doctor.

“Our thinking is based completely on a racial world view when it comes to matters of politics, education, economics, planning, and so forth. Needless to say, we promote a racial world view that thrives on the policy of divide and rule,” the Kelantan prince said at a book launch in Ipoh this morning.

Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as Ku Li, had in February said “as a former Finance Minister, let me emphasise that it was never the intention of the NEP to create an incubated class of Malay capitalists.”

His statement further fueled scrutiny of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s policies after the Najib administration decided to settle out of court the RM589 million debt owed by former Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS) chief Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli.

The settlement sum was undisclosed, prompting intense public criticism and attacks from the opposition over the right of taxpayers to know the amount of public funds recovered.

Tajuddin, 65, had served as the airline’s executive chairman from 1994 to 2001 and was a poster boy of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s now-discredited policy of nurturing a class of Malay corporate captains on government largesse during the Mahathir administration.

Ku Li, one of the greatest critics of the NEP and Dr Mahathir’s handling of the policy, had challenged the long-serving prime minister for leadership of UMNO in 1987, which he subsequently lost by a narrow margin.

He said in his speech today that the country’s education system does “not encourage the moral and intellectual reform of the mind” resulting in a lack of debate on major issues such as good governance, corruption and rule of law.

“To this very day, the electorate has not understood the implications of the NEP which has produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The longer we try the policy, the further we are from the original goal.

“The discrepancy between vision and reality has taken an alarming turn. It has gone far beyond economics into the realm of ethics and morality. In numerous instances it has taken the form of corruption and decadence which has pushed the economy further down the drain,” he said.

He said “wanton corruption and wasteful spending” had resulted in spiraling national debt that now amounts to RM456 billion or 53 per cent of the GDP, which “if we are not careful, it won’t take us long before we become another Greece.”

Still vivid in our memory of Tengku Razaleigh delivering his speech entitled “Pemikiran dan Visi Tun Abdul Razak dalam pembinaan negara-bangsa Malaysia merentas semadan etnik” on March 30hb, 2007 at University Malaya.

Below are extracts of an old posting dated May 23rd 2007 of Ku Li's speech here:

... saya bersyukur dapat diperingatkan jasa arwah Tun Abdul Razak oleh Tengku Tan Sri Razaleigh bin Hamzah pada Mac 30hb, 2007 baru-baru dalam ucapannya bertajuk “Pemikiran dan Visi Tun Abdul Razak dalam pembinaan negara-bangsa Malaysia merentas semadan etnik” di Universiti Malaya. Langkah-langkah strategik Tun Abdul Razak begitu berkesan dalam usaha “nation building” dalam aspek pendidikkan, ekonomi dan sosial .

Tun Abdul Razak telah mengenalkan juga satu pembaharuan politik menerusi pembentukkan politik “berideologi” mesyuarah dan kesepakatan antara kaum yang diamalkan Barisan Nasional. Sehingga hari ini, belum kedapatan lagi formula mesyuarah dan kesepakatan kaum dikalangan parti-parti pembangkang, melainkan khusus untuk menghadapai pilihanraya.

At the end of the posting, we highlighted:

Diakhir ucapan Tengku Razaleigh, beliau telah mengemukakan cabaran: “Apakah kita mempunyai apa-apa pilihan atau “model” lain yang dapat menggantikan wawasan Razak itu sebagai formula yang terbaik untuk memajukan negara ini atas LANDASAN PERPADUAN NASIONAL YANG SEBENAR?

A more extensive coverage of the event on Bigdogdotcom here. It will also revealed of how convinced Ku Li of the NEP that any form of liberalisation of the NEP was opposed vehemently.


Tun Dr Mahathir was in the audience and he was invited to come up to give his comment of the title.

Everyone in the audience knows that part of the reason Ku Li was critical of Tun M that eventually led him taking on Tun M in UMNO party election and later convening a new party, Semangat 46 was Tun M's easing of the NEP.

The one in particular that Ku Li was sore was the abolishment of his baby, The Industrial Coordination Act.


Subsequently later in 2008, Ku Li went around on a nationwide campaign to get division nominations is his bid for the UMNO Presidency against Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, which the candidate turned out later to be Dato Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak.

ABITW had tagged along.

His campaign theme then was of saving the Malays and rest of rakyat from Abdullah's neo-liberal policies, complacent attitude and reliving his corruption, croynism and nepotism slogan.

This new so-called liberal Ku Li is an oxymoron.

If Ku Li had changed clothes, it would have rendered his whole life political struggle and battle against Tun M as invalid. He'll have to swallow back some of his critics of Tun M.

And to a smaller extent that of Khairy.


There can only be one explanation for Ku Li's attempt to have a fresh new image with presence on You Tube to encourage young defying voters to come forward.

Khairy revealed it below:

“Because I choose not to be part of a coup Tengku Razaleigh is trying to orchestrate, my support for the PM is dismissed as superficial.”

We have heard of it but we can't be believing Khairy's words.

At his old age, Ku Li can't be playing deceptive politics like his younger days. More so, when PM Najib extended an olive branch.

He allowed Ku Li to announce allocation for program he suggested for the Orang Asli in his constituency. Read mStar here.

The gentlemen we know in him should stop this futile attempt. He is too old to look cool in blue jeans and bizarre T -shirts.

We wish to maintain our respect for this stateman. But, we plead upon him to sensibly chart his retirement from politics, while he is still a "winnable candidate." Give way and groom younger leaders. For instance, Yusof, the current ADUN of Nenggiri is eager.

Ku Li could do a lot more to society than spending time in Parliament merely listening.

Sorry Tengku to have to say that sometime people around you are too overawe with you that they can't be honest enough.

You sounded grossly out of touch. On few occasions, you were like Abdullah sleeping in public.

And you didn't lose the few nominations you expected to get due to money politics. Najib does not need to spend and nobody did. The boys around you were merely speculating to cover their inadequacy.

Malam Johor Di Hati Ku

Picture taken with a Blackberry

The Persatuan Anak Melayu Johor (PMAJ) had it's annual dinner on Saturday night, March 31st recently at the Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur.

Gracing the event was the Sultan of Johor, DYMM Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar and DYMM Raja Zarith Sofiah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah. It was truly nostalgic to hear the Johor state anthem played upon the arrival of Tuanku.

Present together was Deputy Prime Minister, YAB Tan Sri Dato Haji Muhyiddin Bin Haji Mohd Yassin, Menteri Besar of Johor and former President, YAB Dato Haji Abdul Ghani bin Othman, Minister for Higher Education, Dato Khaled Nordin, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Dato Ahmad Maslan and other political personalities from Johor.

Seen present is Shell Chairman and fellow Alumni, En Mohd Anuar Taib, Chairman of Apex Communications Sdn Bhd, Tan Sri Abdullah Ali and others not within sight of the filled to the brim Dewan Merdeka hall.

Also present from Apex Communication is ADUN Bukit Naning, Dato Abdullah Ali or Abang Dolah as we would address.

The Johorean bloggers Bigdogdotcom, Kuda Kepang and yours truly made our presence felt too.

Chairman for the Organising Committee and former Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Dato Syed Hussein Alhabshee made the welcoming speech and explained the theme of the night.

The night's theme was Johor Di Hati Ku and those present were asked to come in Baju Melayu Telok Belanga.

Sometimes we wonder if the young Johoreans know that Telok Belanga is in Singapore. Our late father used to serve at the Johor Sultan Mosque and Mausoleum, Masjid Telok Belanga.

Syed Hussein had also expressed the general sentiment of the attendees who were pleased with the presence of Tuanku and had come amassed. There must have been at least 1,000 present.

Someone in our table jokingly complained that a Syed should not be delivering the welcome speech since he can't be Menteri Besar in Johor.

However, there are others that realistically can't make Menteri Besar of Johor that night.

There was former Deputy President of Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN), Abdul Rahman Othman from Muar, who had his family in the adjacent table. He quit the later PKR in June 21st 2007 and is now a member of PAS Subang Jaya. It's been many years since we last saw of him.

Perhaps, my father's cousin, 77 year old Haji Ismail, an avid Anwar supporter and living in Kg Tunku, present that night would not realistically make Menteri Besar in Johor too.

Have to hold back the identity of his son.

Before Tuanku delivered his speech, Association President and former Deputy Minister, YBhg Siti Zainab binti Dato Sheikh Abu Bakar delivered her speech to represent the members of Johoreans residing in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

In his speech, Tuanku expressed his happiness to be able to meet the Johorean dispora in the Klang Valley.

Tuanku believed Johoreans are proud and have strong affinity towards their home state despite seeking a living for many years outside Johor and established themselves here.

He asked Johoreans to maintain the good name of the state and preserve their Johorean Malay identity.

Tuanku acknowledged the many national leaders from the state of Johor and reminded them not to forget to bring development to the state.

On a lighter note, Tuanku quipped about if there are projects, give it to companies from or owned by Johoreans. Who else will help Johor, if not orang kita.

That way it could help to create job and grow the economy of Johor. Tuanku have expressed concern with projects in Johor that has not benefited the state, including Iskandar Malaysia.

Tuanku reminded members of PAMJ not to use the association for personal benefit but to help fellow Johoreans. Members should come forward to help and contribute to the association.

Johoreans, who have made it and are successful, should contribute their knowledge and experience to help the state of Johor grow and prosper.

On a serious note, Tuanku reminded those present that the power to award medals lies with the ruler. He will decide according to his observation and foresight. There should be no attempt to lobby and not to believe in any medal brokers.

Those qualified will have to be patience and continue their good work. Tuanku quipped that his vision is not dim yet.

In his final words, Tuanku asked all to pray for the safety and prosperity of Johor.

Those present were treated with a sumptous nasi beryani and entertained by recording artistes from Johor, Ayai, Syura and another one we can't recall.

There was an inspiring performance by a University Teknologi MARA student from Johor rendering the P Ramlee classic, Getaran Jiwa on a Chinese traditional musical instrument, the Erhu.

Johor is never short of talents in music. This blog here claimed there are more than 100 active ones.

The most prominent has to be Datuk Shake from Kluang Johor who made his name in France at an early age.

There are no shortage of Johoreans who travelled to Europe and played as sessionists with some big named rock bands in the 70s.

With the presence of Ghani Osman, the Zapin dance can only be expected. He has devoted time, money and effort to preserve and popularise Johor Zapin.

The night ended with the Johor state anthem replayed again at 10:30. Many took the opportunity to meet up old friends and resume their stately bonding.

Other than existing welfare and social events, many more events and programs to improve cooperation and networking could be done by PAMJ to help elevate Johoreans in their respective fields.

Let PAMJ not be just limited to those whose made it and trying to improve further but an association all Johoreans can have a sense of belonging to.

Proud to be Johorean.

Dewan Merdeka PWTC
March 30, 2012

Anwar took the bait again

Pressured by the prominence given in the mainstream media, Anwar finally came up with an answer to dispel the perception created that he refuse to be subpoena.

It means he is willing to be subpoena and appear in court in the lawsuit by Hong Leong Bank on the participants in the excercise to takeover Kewangan Bersatu Berhad.

Whether he delay the court date by 50 times, it will not matter. Just like he did on Dato Nalla's, he has taken the bait.

He was hoping that the issue would not gain prominence but it is too good for Raja Petra and me to pass off.

Old players like us can smell shit even if wrapped under ten layers of plastic. Or we can defend it.

As always with RPK or Pet, there are things we agree and many things that we do not agree. Sometimes we agree on an issue and on other days and the same issue, we do not agree.

Oh yes ...Pet. Allow me to extend this message.

It is a not a priority issue for us now but our common blogger friend is not happy that your British citizen brother is the leading Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad.

The Hong Leong Finance lawsuit is gaining prominence in public and Anwar knows it. And he knows also it's implication.

Hopefully it is a good catch. It will remind the public, especially the vounger naive voters that Anwar is as corrupt if not more than the UMNO he accuse off.

At least, corrupt UMNOleaders are being dealt by the authorities. No suicide, no drama, and no SELCAT or DAP Disciplinary Committee to do cover-ups.

The public should be reminded of the list of privatisation projects released by Tun Dr Mahathir at the UMNO General Assembly in the late 90s to show Anwar's cronyism.

It was Anwar, his pink forms and monthly bank-ins that was responsible for corrupting UMNO grassroot. He is as corrupt as his despicable description of corruption on UMNO is.

By his logic, if UMNO does not deserve to rule, he is equally or more undeserving.

Tan Sri Kadir Sheikh Fadzir should have blamed his lost for the UMNO Supreme Council seat to Anwar for bringing up money politics in the big way.

Along the way, do not be ashamed to blame yourself too, Kadir.

You were a party to it!


If the court case blow open, it would render former the denial of Assistant Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Dato Murad to a statutory declaration he made during the reformasi as irrelevent.

The case would corroborate the story of Arus Murni, Hong Leong and Faiz Abdullah in the statutory declaration. See how Soh Chee Wen-funded Free Malaysia Today present the story:


Read it here.

Another from The Choice directly points at him:



Read here.

The Choice wrote that:

"These allegations could prove explosive for Anwar and his bid to become Prime Minister at GE13. His sales pitch to voters is based on presenting himself as a clean alternative to his Umno colleagues of the past."

"Now he stands accused of using his power and influence to receive money through a syndicate of lenders allegedly for use to fund his political machinations."

However, Anwar is aware of the exchanges in the court room. We can bet on Anwar sending his man to take notes.

The FMT report in full:

Anwar’s ‘cronies’ named in court

Teoh El Sen | March 29, 2012

Businessman Low Thiam Hoe told the court that he was a ‘victim’ of a ‘larger scheme’ involving Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and Hong Leong chairman Quek Leng Chan.

KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Low Thiam Hoe, who is being sued by Hong Leong Finance Bhd (HLFB) in a breach of repayment suit involving RM445 million syndicated loans given in 1997, today named several individuals whom he identified as “cronies” of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Taking the stand at the Commercial High Court here today, Low said that he was “the victim” in a deal in which he was assisting Anwar as well as HLFB executive chairman Quek Leng Chan.

However, when cross-examined by the bank’s lawyer, Andrew Chiew, Low admitted that he had nothing in black and white to prove that he was simply used as a “nominee” of Anwar – the then finance minister and deputy prime minister – and Quek.

“Sometime in March 1997, two individuals by the name of Hamzah Harun and Mohd Faiz Abdullah (Anwar’s speech writer), both from a company known as Arus Murni Sdn Bhd (AMSB), told me that they were acting on behalf of Anwar and Quek,” Low said during examination-in-chief by lead counsel, D Paramalingam.

Low said that HLFB, through Quek, was then pushing to acquire Kewangan Bersatu Bhd (KBB), which was at the time acquired by Arus Murni Corporation Bhd (AMCB) from one Ishak Ismail for RM390 million.

He said he agreed to be a nominee, or “conduit”, for the syndicated loan transaction.

The other individuals and companies used as nominees were Hood Osman, Nik Hussain Nik Mohamed, AMSB and Mekuritek Sdn Bhd, whom he described as “cronies” of Anwar.

Paramalingam: How are these companies and individuals related?

Low: From what I know, they are all cronies of Anwar Ibrahim.

Low said he did not apply for the loan as “the whole thing was arranged by Hong Leong’s representative, namely Seow Lun Hoo”.

Quek’s right-hand man

He also said that he was informed that Seow, who was president and CEO of Hong Leong Credit & Leasing Bhd at the time, was “essentially Quek’s right-hand man”.

Low said the loan given to him was RM30.161 million but a credit assessment was never done on him at all.

“It was all pre-approved. I just had to turn up to sign the necessary documents, that’s all. I was unemployed at that point in time.”

Low also said that he signed the relevant loan documents at a hotel in Singapore in March 1997 as HLFB “wanted to avoid paying stamp duty”.

“Syndicated loans were also given out to the other nomiees as well to reach the plantiff’s target of RM445 million for the acquisition of AMCB. A sum of RM80.1 million was given to Hood, RM80.1 million to Nik Hussain, RM30.161 million given to Mekuritek and RM224.478 million to AMSB,” he said.

However, he said that the plan to purchase KBB did not take place by the end of 1997.

“It was only at that point in time that we discovered that Seow, on behalf of Quek, was the mastermind of the whole transaction. The plantiff through Seow deliberately sabotaged the scheme…”

Low said that the plaintiff, HLFB, had “acted in bad faith” when it breached its fiduciary duty, and he and other nominees were “clearly cheated by them”.

“We were left high and dry,” he added.

Bigger picture

During cross-examination by Chiew later, Low was aggressively grilled on his credibilty.

Chiew: The two individuals told you they were acting for Anwar and Quek. Did you take any steps to check?

Low: Yes.

Chiew: Did you talk to Anwar?

Low: No.

Chiew: Did you talk to Quek?

Low: I was in no position to contact Quek.

Chiew: If they were to hoodwink you, they could have, couldn’t they?

Low: No. I had no reason not to believe (them)… Faiz was Anwar’s speech writer…

Chiew: But what about Quek? The point is this. You were told about this deal. Any documents to work out how this deal is to be srtructured? Was it presented to you by Faiz?

Low: I had no reason to believe…

Chiew: My question is… Was there any paper in writing?

Low: No, but it was all arranged at top level

Chiew: You are a director of a public-listed company, with experience in financing. Is that your position: you believed these two persons about this deal, which seems ‘phantom in nature’ by your own answers? When you entered the deal, you knew what you were going into…

Low: I knew what I was getting into. I was just a nominee. But can I add… it was on a bigger picture. It was linked to Anwar and Quek.

Chiew also repeatedly asked why Low did not raise this “bigger picture” 14 years ago when the case was first filed.

“Fourteen years later you suddenly have an inspriration. I’m putting to you this was done in bad faith,” Chiew said, to which Low denied.

Chiew also asked Low to explain and clarify several statements he made – including allegation about Anwar’s cronies, the meetings that took place and the credit assessment done on him as well as the allegation that HLFB wanted to purchase KBB at RM350million.

Low admitted that it was Hamzah who supplied him with those information.

Chiew: This contention that you have this representation/collateral contract… it doesn’t exist. It never existed. It is really an afterthought.

Low: Of course based on all the documents here… there is nothing to support my contention.

Chiew: I am putting it to you that you are putting up this fantastic story about Anwar and Quek. Correct? You got this from strange publications found on the Internet? Hence you are stringing this defence together? There is no basis to your contention about this so-called larger scheme?

Low: No.

Full confidence

During re-examination by Devanandan S Subramaniam, Low said his reason for raising this issue 14 years later was that initially, he had full confidence that Hamzah would “take care” of the case.

On March 19, High Court judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail dismissed Low’s application to amend his defence statement to include Anwar as “the person behind the deal”.

In rejecting his application, Hadhariah said it was made at the “eleventh hour” and had come too late in the course of the trial.

However, the court had last week allowed the defence to subpoena four individuals namely Anwar, Quek, Hamzah and Faiz.

Six witnesses of the plaintiff had already taken the stand.

In 1998, Hong Leong Finance filed a suit against Low, Merkuritek and Arus Murni over non-payment of the syndicated loans amounting to RM445 million.

The loans were given to the parties in a bid to acquire financial institution AMCB which owns KBB.

Each defendant was sued for over RM28 million plus interest for the non-repayment of the loans.

In 1999, Low filed a counter-claim against HLFB, HLG Capital Markets Sdn Bhd and Hong Leong Credit Bhd’s former CEO Seow Lun Hoo asking for damages for alleged wrongful or negligent advice.

Hong Leong also filed another suit against Mekuritek and three guarantors – Hussin Abdul Karim, Agus Salim Mohd Dom and Abdullah Abd Karim Bajerai – as defendants for a similar claim of RM28 million.

He knows there is nothing legally proven that can joint the dots to him. However he cannot tahan reports like the one by Bernama. He has been coward to refuse questions on many instances, but with the case still fairly safe, this challenge insults him.


Read it in full here or in Tunku's here.

Anwar had Latheefa Koya issue the statement below:

We refer to press reports where the lawyer for the Defendant in the case of Hong Leong vs Low Thiam Hoe, counsel D. Paralingam had accused Anwar Ibrahim of purportedly refusing to accept a subpoena served on him on 28th March 2012. The subpoena is to compel Anwar to assist the court in a lawsuit against Hong Leong Finance Berhad, filed in 1998.

We are shocked at the ignorance displayed by the lawyer on basic and fundamental Parliamentary rules and privileges i.e. no summons nor court processes can be affected upon any Members of Parliament in the premises of the Parliament. The lawyer’s action to serve the subpoena at the Parliament premises was a wrongful act and may invite contempt of Parliamentary proceedings.

Anwar Ibrahim has no objection to receiving the said subpoena and is eveready to appear in court if its relevant, necessary and not an abuse of the court process. Anwar’s lawyers would like to advise D Paralingam that there are proper etiquette to serve a subpoena on a Member of Parliament, what more the Opposition Leader. D. Paralingam may contact Messrs Daim & Gamany to fix an appointment in order to serve the subpoena if he is truly interested to call Anwar as a witness and not resort to unwarranted sensationalism.

Released by,

Latheefa Koya
Legal Bureau Director
Parti Keadilan Rakyat

The parliamentary previlages were just an excuse. Anwar took the bait.

The "lawan tetap lawan" Anwar fell for it, just like he fell for the challenge by Dato Nalla and the gang of former PKR leaders and activists, except for Dato Salehuddin Hashim.

If it is truly Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan doing a favour for Najib to allow him to do business undisturbed, the cross examination of Anwar Ibrahim by Low Thiam Hoe's lawyer, D. Paramalingam should be something to look forward.

How much can he make Anwar spill out? Will it be enough to destroy Anwar's reputation and campaign once and for all?

The court to reconvene on April 12th. Put that in your Blackberry or Smartphone reminder.