Najib: Govt studying IPP deals

Najib: Govt studying IPP deals

2011/06/13
By Eileen Ng
news@nst.com.my

Share |

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is studying concession agreements with certain independent power producers.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said: "The government will explain soon because we are relooking the agreements with certain IPPs." Najib also responded to criticisms that the government was favouring IPPs by allowing lopsided concession agreements.

"The majority of the IPP agreements are no longer as one-sided as before. We are in discussions and it is not true we protect the IPPs. We champion the people," he told a press conference after opening the Ampang Umno divisional meeting and its new building yesterday.

Najib was also asked to comment on the setting up of a cabinet committee, comprising three ministers, namely Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohd Yakcop, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin and Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, to look into the issue.

Najib urged all quarters to give the cabinet committee time to study the matter.

"The three ministers are working to find a solution that is acceptable to all." To a question whether the IPP agreementswould be opened to public scrutiny, Najib said the matter would be addressed later and "q uite soon".

In Ipo h, Bernama reported that Ahmad Husni noted that the committee would not confine itself to matters related to IPPs, but include all aspects of power supply as well as subsidies.

He said it would present a report to the cabinet as soon as possible although no deadline had been set.

"The committee will study various aspects (of power supply) and not just relating to the IPP problem... among them (production) costs and (requirements for) the future because some IPP concessions will end in 2014 and 2015." Ahmad Husni said this after opening the Rukun Tetangga beat base for Kampung Tengku Hussin.

He was commenting on a statement by Gua Musang member of parliament Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who suggested that the government set up a royal commission of inquiry to look into IPP concessions.

Read more: Najib: Govt studying IPP deals
http://www.nst.com.my/articles/Najib_GovtstudyingIPPdeals/Article/#ixzz1P6wBGMsl

BN on last legs of power, says Kit Siang

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

June 08, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — Lim Kit Siang claims Barisan Nasional (BN) is on the verge of electoral defeat, and that proof of this was an Umno minister’s acceptance of the possibility that the country’s next prime minister could come from Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

The DAP parliamentary leader said this in reference to minister in the prime minister’s department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s recent claim that Hadi was aiming to replace Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as PR’s prime minister-designate.

In his analysis of the just-concluded PAS polls, the Umno supreme council member had said a glaring trend had emerged in the usually conservative Islamist party — a newfound lust for power.

“(This) strikes discerning Malaysians as the latest example of the debilitating loss of confidence enveloping Umno and BN leaderships that they are on the last legs of power until the 13th General Election.

“Now a senior Minister of the Najib Cabinet is seriously canvassing the scenario of UMNO and BN losing federal power in Putrajaya and, for the first time in the nation’s history since Merdeka in 1955, a Prime Minister not from Umno after the next 13th general election,” said Lim in a statement today.

Hadi has already stated that he does not want to be prime minister even if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) were to win in the upcoming general election, and explained that PAS’s current goal is to implement a welfare state concept.

Lim (picture) said that as far as PR was concerned, all were in agreement that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be the country’s next prime minister should the federal opposition take over Putrajaya.

Anwar's lawyers yet to interview PM and wife

Anwar's lawyers yet to interview PM and wife

Kuek Ser Kuang Keng
Jun 2, 11
8:47am

Share

With just days to go before Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim begins his defence in his second sodomy trial, the police have yet to arrange for the defence team to interview Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

PAS ganti Umno negara jadi lebih baik ?

PAS ganti Umno negara jadi lebih baik?

Ismail Hashim

SHAH ALAM, 31 Mei: Ketua Dewan Pemuda PAS Pusat, Ustaz Nasrudin Hassan at-Tantawi hari ini menegaskan kesediaan PAS untuk menggantikan Umno dalam usaha mentadbir negara ke arah yang lebih baik. Beliau yang menang tanpa bertanding untuk penggal kedua jawatan itu sesi 2011-2013 berkata, masyarakat dan rakyat sudah merindui satu kehidupan lebih harmoni di bawah panji perjuangan Islam yang diterajui oleh PAS dan sudah lama muak dengan sikap Umno selama ini. Menurutnya, dalam PAS kini sudah wujud satu badan khas, Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS (DHPP) yang dianggotai rakyat Malaysia bukan beragama Islam yang meyakini dasar perjuangan PAS. Nasrudin berkata demikian ketika bercakap dan menyampaikan hujahnya di dalam Wacana Sinar Harian siri 4 yang diadakan di Kompleks Kumpulan Media Karangkraf (KMK), dekat sini, petang tadi. Turut menjadi panelis adalah Ketua Pemuda Umno Malaysia, Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar dan bekas Mufti Perlis, Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin dengan pensyarah UIAM, Dr Maszlee Malik sebagai moderator. Hadirin yang kebanyakannya penyokong kedua-dua belah pihak memenuhi dewan namun tahap kebisingan mereka tidak seteruk suasana wacana bulan lalu yang tidak dikawal dengan sebaiknya. "Saya mempunyai nekad ingin membawa anggota PAS khasnya pemuda agar mengamalkan dasar dan sistem politik berakhlak, hemah, bermaruah dan tidak tidak mahu politik jijik, keji apatah lagi menjatuhkan dan membina jatidiri di atas sikap kesengsaraan dan penderitaan orang lain," tegas Nasrudin. Dalam sesi sama, beliau mempertahankan akhbar Harakah yang disifatkan oleh Khairy sesat dan enggan menarik balik tuduhan itu, lantas Nasrudin mempersoalkan tindakan akhbar pro-Umno, Utusan Malaysia, lebih teruk dengan menyiarkan gambar lucah dan menjolok mata pembaca. Sebelum itu di awal wacana, Nasrudin menyebutkan tentang perjuangan PAS yang meletakkan Islam sebagai dasar perjuangannya dan yakin dengan peranan agama Islam itulah menjadi pembimbing dan pendorong kepada ahli-ahlinya ke arah terbaik. "Namun di sana, tidak bermakna semua anggotanya maksum tetapi sekurang-kurangnya dapat memagar, membantu dan membina agar tidak terlalu terdedah kepada maksiat dan mungkar. "Dengan dasar itu, mereka dapat menjadi insan, pejuang dan ahli politik yang baik namun di sana seperti agama Islam sendiri di mana ada yang masih tidak mentaati Islam, secara umumnya ini keluar dari dasar," tegasnya lagi Menyentuh tentang tajuk wacana, beliau berkata fitnah bersifat umum, ia boleh berlaku sama ada dalam dan luar parti politik dan di dalam masyarakat dan individu. Mereka yang melakukan fitnah memang dimurkai Allah SWT kerana di sana sudah hilang peranan dosa pahala, syurga neraka dalam tindakan mereka terbabit. Beliau menambah, politik negara ini kini menjadi terlalu ganas melepasi syurga neraka, dosa pahala, sebagai contoh, bila menuduh, mereka hendaklah membawa empat saksi, bukannya empat klip video. Katanya, walaupun kini senjata sudah moden dan sangat canggih namun mereka yang ketandusan idea politik akan tetap menggunakan senjata fitnah untuk membunuh musuh politik mereka. Ustas Nasrudin melahirkan rasa simpati kepada Khairy dan rakan-rakan yang sering menerima fitnah sesama mereka dalam usaha mendapat tempat dalam kedudukan politik mereka. Tegasnya, rakyat negara sudah ingin kepada sistem politik berasaskan hujah, berhikmah, telus dan tulus serta pandangan berasas serta bernas dan bukan berhasrat menjatuhkan lawan begitu sahaja dengan fitnah. Sekitar 10 soalan dikemukakan hadirin dan dijawab dengan baik kecuali satu soalan yang dibuat oleh seorang Muslimat mengenai 'sampai bila Umno ingin berhenti dari terus melakukan fitnah' yang gagal dijawab oleh Khairy dengan baik.

Malaysia's Submarine Scandal Surfaces in France

Malaysia's Submarine Scandal Surfaces in France

TAG IT:

Written by John Berthelsen

FRIDAY, 16 APRIL 2010

Murky arms deal linked to international pattern of kickbacks A potentially explosive scandal in Malaysia over the billion-dollar purchase of French submarines, a deal engineered by then-Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak, has broken out of the domestic arena with the filing of a request to investigate bribery and kickbacks from the deal in a Paris court. Although the case has been contained for eight years in the cozy confines of Malaysia's courts and parliament, which are dominated by the ruling National Coalition, French lawyers William Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and Joseph Breham put an end to that when they filed it with Parisian prosecutors on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, which supports good-government causes. Judges in the Paris Prosecution Office have been probing a wide range of corruption charges involving similar submarine sales and the possibility of bribery and kickbacks to top officials in France, Pakistan and other countries. The Malaysian piece of the puzzle was added in two filings, on Dec. 4, 2009 and Feb. 23 this year. For two years, Parisian prosecutors, led by investigating judges Francoise Besset and Jean-Christophe Hullin, have been gingerly investigating allegations involving senior French political figures and the sales of submarines and other weaponry to governments all over the world. French news reports have said the prosecutors have backed away from some of the most serious charges out of concern for the political fallout. The allegations relate to one of France's biggest defense conglomerates, the state-owned shipbuilder DCN, which merged with the French electronics company Thales in 2005 to become a dominant force in the European defense industry. DCN's subsidiary Armaris is the manufacturer of Scorpene-class diesel submarines sold to India, Pakistan and Malaysia among other countries. All of the contracts, according to the lawyers acting for Suaram, a Malaysian human rights NGO, are said to be suspect. With Najib having moved on from the defense portfolio he held when the deal was put together in 2002 to become prime minister and head of the country's largest political party, the mess has the potential to become a major liability for the government and the United Malays National Organisation. Given the power of UMNO, it is unlikely the scandal would ever get any airing in a Malaysian court, which is presumably why Suaram reached out to French prosecutors. "The filings are very recent and have so far prompted a preliminary police inquiry on the financial aspects of the deal," said a Paris-based source familiar with France's defense establishment. "There isn't a formal investigation yet. The investigation will most likely use documents seized at DCN in the course of another investigation, focusing on bribes paid by DCN in Pakistan." The source said police have confined their inquiry to bribery allegations so far and have not looked into the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman in Malaysia who was a translator on the deal for Najib and his friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, during a visit to Paris. There have been numerous deaths involving DCN defense sales in Taiwan and Pakistan. Prosecutors are suspicious that 11 French submarine engineers who were murdered in a 2002 bomb blast in Karachi – first thought to have been the work of Al Qaeda – were actually killed in retaliation for the fact that the French had reneged on millions of dollars in kickbacks to Pakistani military officers. The Malaysian allegations revolve around the payment of €114 million to a Malaysia-based company called Perimekar, for support services surrounding the sale of the submarines. Perimekar was wholly owned by another company, KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which in turn was controlled by Najib's best friend, Razak Baginda, whose wife Mazalinda, a lawyer and former magistrate, was the principal shareholder, according to the French lawyers. "Over the past years, serious cases have been investigated in France by judges involving DCN," lawyer Renaud Semerdjian told Asia Sentinel in a telephone interview. "This is not the first case of this kind that is being investigated. There are others in Pakistan and there are some issues about India. To a certain extent, every time weapons of any kind have been provided, suspicion of violation of the law may be very high." As defense minister from 2000 to 2008, Najib commissioned a huge military buildup to upgrade Malaysia's armed forces, including two submarines from Armaris and the lease of a third, a retired French Navy Agosta-class boat. There were also Sukhoi supersonic fighter jets from Russia and millions of dollars spent on coastal patrol boats. All have come under suspicion by opposition leaders in Malaysia's parliament but UMNO has stifled any investigation. Asked personally about the cases, Najib has responded angrily and refused to reply. Despite efforts to bury it, the case achieved considerably notoriety after the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian translator and Razak Baginda's jilted lover, who participated in negotiations over the purchase of the submarines. By her own admission in a letter found after her death, she was attempting to blackmail Razak Baginda for US$500,000. She was shot in October 2006 and her body was blown up with military explosives by two bodyguards attached to Najib's office after Razak Baginda went to Najib's chief of staff, Musa Safri, for help in keeping her away from him. Not long after being acquitted in November 2008 under questionable circumstances of participating in her murder, Razak Baginda left the country for England. The bodyguards were convicted but no motive was ever established for their actions despite a confession by one which was not allowed in court, but which said they would be paid a large sum of money to get rid of her. The submarine deal was never brought up in court during a months-long murder trial that was marked by prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge working studiously to keep Najib's name out of the proceedings. A private detective hired by Razak Baginda to protect him from the furious Altantuya filed a statutory declaration after the trial indicating that Najib had actually been the victim's lover and had passed her on to Razak Baginda. The detective, P. Balasubramaniam, said later that he was unceremoniously run out of Kuala Lumpur. He eventually emerged from hiding in India to say he had been offered RM5 million (US$1.57 million) by a businessman close to Najib's wife to shut up and get out of town. He also said he had met Nazim Razak, Najib's younger brother, and was told to recant his testimony. In the current complaint in Paris, the issue revolves around what, if anything, Razak Baginda's Perimekar company did to deserve €114 million. Zainal Abidin, the deputy defense minister at the time of the sale, told parliament that Perimekar had received the amount – 11 percent of the sale price of the submarines – for "coordination and support services." The Paris filing alleges that there were neither support nor services. Perimekar was registered in 2001, a few months before the signing of the contracts for the sale, the Paris complaint states. The company, it said flatly, "did not have the financial resources to complete the contract." A review of the accounts in 2001 and 2002, the complaint said, "makes it an obvious fact that this corporation had absolutely no capacity, or legal means or financial ability and/or expertise to support such a contract." "None of the directors and shareholders of Perimekar have the slightest experience in the construction, maintenance or submarine logistics," the complaint adds. "Under the terms of the contract, €114 million were related to the different stages of construction of the submarines." The apparent consideration, supposedly on the part of Perimekar, "would be per diem and Malaysian crews and accommodation costs during their training. There is therefore no link between billing steps and stages of completion of the consideration." As Asia Sentinel reported on April 1, services for the subs are being performed by a well-connected firm called Boustead DCNS, a joint venture between BHIC Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of publicly-listed Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, and DCNS SA, a subsidiary of DCN. Boustead's Heavy Industries Division now includes Perimekar as an "associate of the Group. PSB is involved in the marketing, upgrading, maintenance and related services for the Malaysian maritime defence industry," according to Boustead's annual report. Originally Boustead told the Malaysian Stock Exchange that the service contract was for RM600 million (US$184.1 million) for six years, or US$30.68 million annually. However, the contract later ballooned to RM270 million per year. Boustead Holdings is partly owned by the government and has close connections with UMNO. "There are good grounds to believe that [Perimekar] was created with a single objective: arrange payment of the commission and allocate the amount between different beneficiaries including Malaysian public officials and or Malaysian or foreign intermediaries," the complaint states.

GURU ....SIAPA YANG BELA PENSYARAH UNIVERSITI??????

Guru sekolah rendah kecewa
Oleh Matzidi Dris, Osman Lisut dan Faizatul Farhana Farush Khan
bhnews@bharian.com.my
2011/05/18

Majlis minta agihan insentif menyeluruh


KUALA LUMPUR: Gabungan Majlis Guru Besar Malaysia (GMGBM) meminta satu kajian dibuat Kementerian Pelajaran berhubung insentif diumum Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, kelmarin, kerana ia meminggirkan warga pendidik sekolah rendah.

Yang Dipertuanya, Roslan Madon, berkata kerajaan perlu mempertimbangkan insentif kepada guru besar dan guru di sekolah rendah serta Sekolah Kurang Murid (SKM).

"Nyata, kerajaan terlepas pandang warga pendidik di sekolah rendah, walhal alam persekolahan bermula di sekolah rendah. Kenapa jasa warga 7,900 pendidik sekolah rendah tidak diambil kira," katanya.

Sempena Hari Guru, kelmarin, Najib mengumumkan guru terbabit dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran (PDP) berpeluang menikmati kenaikan pangkat hingga ke gred DG54 berbanding setakat gred DG48 sekarang, mulai 1 Januari depan, selain berpeluang mencapai Gred Khas C dan ke atas sebelum bersara.

Beliau juga mengumumkan guru kini diklasifikasi kepada empat kategori iaitu Guru Biasa, Guru Kanan, Guru Wibawa dan Guru Pendeta dengan mereka yang mencapai dua kategori tertinggi berpeluang mencapai sehingga gred DG54.

Selain itu, kerajaan bersetuju menaikkan gred jawatan semua Pengetua Sekolah Menengah gred DG48 ke DG52, manakala semua Guru Penolong Kanan (GPK) Sekolah Menengah dinaikkan dari DG44 ke DG48. Bagi GPK sekolah rendah kluster, mereka dinaikkan pangkat dari gred DGA32 ke DGA34.
Roslan berkata, GMGBM akan mengadakan pertemuan dengan Kementerian Pelajaran tidak lama lagi bagi meminta supaya guru besar dan guru sekolah rendah turut diberikan insentif bagi menaikkan semangat serta motivasi mereka.

Sementara itu, Kesatuan Perkhidmatan Perguruan Kebangsaan (NUTP) juga mahu mengadakan pertemuan dengan Najib dalam masa terdekat berhubung pemberian insentif itu.

Setiausaha Agungnya, Loke Yim Pheng, berkata ia bagi membincangkan tuntutan dikemukakan NUTP kepada kerajaan sebelum ini tetapi tidak dilaksanakan.

"Kami juga akan menyuarakan kekecewaan kami kerana insentif yang diberikan tidak membabitkan guru sekolah rendah dan menengah," katanya.

Di KUCHING, Jawatankuasa Bersama Kesatuan Persatuan Guru Malaysia (JBKPGM) menyifatkan insentif diumumkan kerajaan tidak adil kepada masyarakat guru keseluruhannya kerana ia hanya membabitkan guru berijazah di sekolah menengah.

Naib Pengerusi JBKPGM, William Ghani Bina, berkata insentif itu langsung tidak membabitkan guru bertugas di Kementerian Pelajaran, Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri, Pejabat Pelajaran Daerah dan 160,000 guru yang mengajar di 7,800 sekolah rendah.

Oleh itu, JBKPGM yang mengadakan Mesyuarat Tergempar di Kuching, malam kelmarin, memutuskan meminta Kementerian Pelajaran mengkaji semula kaedah baru kenaikan pangkat guru yang diumumkan kelmarin.

Ghani berkata, JBKPGM juga berkata beberapa permintaan dikemukakan mereka terlepas pandang. Antaranya, elaun khas untuk Pengetua sebanyak RM600 dan Guru Besar RM500 kerana penyandang jawatan itu hanya menerima RM150 dan RM100 sekarang.

"Elaun yang mereka terima selaku ketua di sekolah terlalu rendah berbanding dengan elaun guru dilantik sebagai warden asrama iaitu RM280 untuk Ketua Warden dan RM240 bagi Guru Warden, selain RM250 untuk Guru Pendidikan Khas," katanya.