Several bloggers aligned to Dr Mahathir have called for the same in the weeks after the last Umno elections where Najib’s camp won handsomely.These were among the same people who also agitated against Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who resigned as prime minister and Umno president in April 2009, a year after the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) suffered historic losses in the 2008 elections. five years ago and Najib took power with the promise that the days of government knows best were over, to relax security laws and liberalise the economy, transforming Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020, to the chagrin of the Mahathirists.The Mahathir years created fat cats who made money through crony deals and policemen who relied on the ISA as a crutch to keep peace instead of real detective work.It is no wonder that some people want to return to that era, to keep money and power for themselves in an increasingly level economic playing field and a shrinking global economy.But who can they replace Najib from among the parliamentary bench from Umno? The Mahathirists have named no one, save Dr Mahathir himself leading a council of elders to chart Malaysia’s future.That would say much about Umno’s internal talent pool after Dr Mahathir’s time in power.And show the kind of guided democracy to which Umno professes.
Seldom has a year begun with so much buzz. We have finally figured that politics is far too important to be left to thugs, scoundrels, scamps and scallywags. People are coming out in thousands to vote. Change is in the air.But that was another time, another season. Najib is not half as ruthless as Mahathir.As Najib popularity soars and people look up to him as a messiah, I can see myself almost going against the euphoria that surrounds the newest kid on the block. Sure, as Titiwangsa said in a piece in muslimmalaysia786.wordpress , it is not easy to go against the flow.Titiwangsa feel especially so since he think he have played some role in giving momentum to this flow over the past couple of years by constantly backing the anti corruption movements, irrespective of the name they acquired, whether Malaysia against Corruption whatever
In his latest blog posting, Datuk A. Kadir Jasin questioned Khazanah's ability to manage Malaysia Airlines and revive the fortunes of the ailing national carrier.
Kadir wrote that the recent proposed privatisation of Malaysia Airlines has resulted in Khazanah having to come up with RM6 billion.
The former New Straits Times editor-in-chief in light of previous overhauls, Malaysia Airlines was still bleeding losses, raking up RM 8.4 billion from 2001 to 2014. This raised questions over Khazanah's ability in reviving the national carrier.
"A month ago, Putrajaya announced that Malaysia Airlines would be privatised and restructured.
"Since then, Khazanah has entered the bond market in order to raise RM3.1 billion. It will not be surprising if more money has to be borrowed or assets sold.
"I am sorry to say this… but for me, Malaysia Airlines has become a bottomless pit which should just be buried.
"It is Khazanah which ought to be restructured," Kadir wrote, adding that Malaysians were also shouldering the burden of this “mega debt”.
The twin losses of flight MH370 and MH17, all within a span of four months, dealt a major blow to the struggling national carrier.
MH370 has yet to be found, after departing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 and was bound for Beijing with 12 crew member and 227 passengers. MH17 was shot down on July 17 while flying over Ukraine, killing all 15 crew members and 283 passengers.
The Straits Times Asia Report today said that although Khazanah's ambitious reforms of Malaysia Airlines sounded impressive, more was needed.
"There is a sense of deja vu when it was announced that a new holding company would be set up to house the delisted Malaysia Airlines.
"A similar plan had been introduced back in 2002 when a Khazanah-owned holding company had been set up, Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad (PMB)."
"RM5 billion of MAS assets and RM7 billion of debt had been transferred to PMB, which then leased aircraft back to MAS."
The report said initially, it appeared to work but it all went downhill. Since the government took over MAS in 2001, the airline has bled RM8.4 billion, including RM2.8 billion in losses by PMB.
central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop, yesterday alleged in a Penang forum that Dr Mahathir was one of four individuals responsible for the losses.
Rosli had reportedly said that the three others were former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, former Bank Negara governor the late Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein, and current Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Economic Planning Unit Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.
“The order to go and make money in the forex market was from Daim with Dr Mahathir’s blessing,” Rosli was quoted as saying by Lim.
However, Rosli implicated Nor Mohamed for the losses arising from speculating in the foreign exchange market.The veteran opposition leader cited the 1992 foreign exchange (forex) market scandal as an example, estimating that Bank Negara Malaysia may have lost RM30 billion in the episode.
He said the central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop, yesterday alleged in a Penang forum that Dr Mahathir was one of four individuals responsible for the losses.
Lim said that Bank Negara had gambled on the British currency, but “when the pound was devalued, Bank Negara lost US$5.5. billion… (and) then claimed it was only paper loss of RM9.3 billion.” For the sake of clarity, one normally calls such “schematic understatements” in layman’s English as doing creative accounting to cook one’s books to mislead the audience reading those books. Isn’t false accounting a crime in Malaysia?
this is only the tip of the iceberg, what about the tin speculation . LIke Mubarak he won’t get away.The government toying with rakyat’s hard earned money sickens me… both huge forex losses and the scorpene bribe scandal..
Lim Kit Siang is dead right.. If Barisan loses and Pakatan wins, it will be the worst nightmare scenario for Mahatir and other Barisan warlords. It will clobber time for Pakatan and slammer time for Barisan.PKFZ, Perwaja, Bakun, Bank Bumi, Labuan Off-shore, MSC, Crooked Bridge, … the list goes on.
It will be sweet justice. And hence , all this scaremongering and underhand tactics by Barisan. Pakatan rocks. If there is any proof using the central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop allegations should just lodge police report to take Tun M and others book instead of waiting until he loses the election.It is impossible because all the evidence has been kept under OSA. Once PR takes over, it will be much easier because of freedom of information. You don`t want to side with BN then. This is not allegation. Think about it, our country is rich with natural resources and have been plundered by government cronies. It is embarassing to say we still have poor people in our country with all the mismanagement of wealth by present government.Dr. M says he is an economic genius. He has a record to prove it. What is Dr. M’s record? Highest corruption since independence, dictatorial high-handedness and unashamed cronyism, slowest economic recovery ever, billions of federal gov’t debt and responsible for more debt than all other PMs combined.
those who commit crimes must pay for those crimes justly no matter how long it takes to bring them to face justice. Otherwise, we will end up killing the concept of Justice and losing the principle of the Rule of Law which is what ultimately guides and underpins the proper workings of any democratic nation. After justice has been fairly dispensed to any criminal then the people may or may not decide to show further humanity and offer a pardon to that convicted criminal through the proper channels set aside for that discretionary goodwill gesture.
A RCI or a Truth Commission should be incorporated into PR’s GE manifesto. This commission should be tasked with unravelling all the plunders and theft of the country’s wealth by the present and past regimes so that future generations will know the truth of what damage had been done to the country’s economy and more importantly, never to allow this to ever happen again. Dr Mahathir is already afraid of Anwar Ibrahim’s shadow, and now you have to come up with another worrisome news that if Pakatan Rakyat were to capture Putrajaya it will re-open investigations into the allegedly RM30 billion forex financial scandal. He had been out of his mind worried of his sons’ fortune and the protection of his legacies (if any), that lately he had been incoherent with his many statements. He accused that the Bersih 3.0 rally, which incidently included his own daughter and granddaughter,was to topple the BN government, a la mode to an Arab Spring style demonstration. His unfounded fear continued unabated when he wildly accused Pakatan Rakyat, without any iota of evidence, that they would hold violent demonstrations should they lose the next GE.The saddest part of the whole affair is that his ‘virus’ had infected our top leaders’ minds. Today,even our deputy PM, Muhyiddin Yassan, echoed Mahathir’s ‘sickness’ for the whole country to see. BN has to go.Malaysia’s failure is not Badawi nor Najib..it’s him who is trying to manupulated by choosing them to cover his ill scandals, hope the laws will catch-up will him.Pakatan needs to come into Putrajaya to cleans off all those corrupts and put them to jail.Expect MORE “wild and preposterous” statements from someone who can’t be sleeping that well, now that the specifics are coming out!Tun Mahathir hates the Jews and called them Zionist, but he plunder and bank in USD into Israeli Bank in Singapore for his whole family, including the BN cronies. They must pay for their greed and stolen wealth from the country.
The central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop, yesterday alleged in a Penang forum that Dr Mahathir was one of four individuals responsible for the losses.
Rosli had reportedly said that the three others were former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, former Bank Negara governor the late Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein, and current
The central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop, yesterday alleged in a Penang forum that Dr Mahathir was one of four individuals responsible for the losses.
Rosli had reportedly said that the three others were former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, former Bank Negara governor the late Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein, and current Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Economic Planning Unit Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.
“The order to go and make money in the forex market was from Daim with Dr Mahathir’s blessing,” Rosli was quoted as saying by Lim.
However, Rosli implicated Nor Mohamed for the losses arising from speculating in the foreign exchange market.The veteran opposition leader cited the 1992 foreign exchange (forex) market scandal as an example, estimating that Bank Negara Malaysia may have lost RM30 billion in the episode.
He said the central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop, yesterday alleged in a Penang forum that Dr Mahathir was one of four individuals responsible for the losses.
Lim said that Bank Negara had gambled on the British currency, but “when the pound was devalued, Bank Negara lost US$5.5. billion… (and) then claimed it was only paper loss of RM9.3 billion.” For the sake of clarity, one normally calls such “schematic understatements” in layman’s English as doing creative accounting to cook one’s books to mislead the audience reading those books. Isn’t false accounting a crime in Malaysia?
this is only the tip of the iceberg, what about the tin speculation . LIke Mubarak he won’t get away.The government toying with rakyat’s hard earned money sickens me… both huge forex losses and the scorpene bribe scandal..
Lim Kit Siang is dead right.. If Barisan loses and Pakatan wins, it will be the worst nightmare scenario for Mahatir and other Barisan warlords. It will clobber time for Pakatan and slammer time for Barisan.PKFZ, Perwaja, Bakun, Bank Bumi, Labuan Off-shore, MSC, Crooked Bridge, … the list goes on.
It will be sweet justice. And hence , all this scaremongering and underhand tactics by Barisan. Pakatan rocks. If there is any proof using the central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop allegations should just lodge police report to take Tun M and others book instead of waiting until he loses the election.It is impossible because all the evidence has been kept under OSA. Once PR takes over, it will be much easier because of freedom of information. You don`t want to side with BN then. This is not allegation. Think about it, our country is rich with natural resources and have been plundered by government cronies. It is embarassing to say we still have poor people in our country with all the mismanagement of wealth by present government.Dr. M says he is an economic genius. He has a record to prove it. What is Dr. M’s record? Highest corruption since independence, dictatorial high-handedness and unashamed cronyism, slowest economic recovery ever, billions of federal gov’t debt and responsible for more debt than all other PMs combined.
those who commit crimes must pay for those crimes justly no matter how long it takes to bring them to face justice. Otherwise, we will end up killing the concept of Justice and losing the principle of the Rule of Law which is what ultimately guides and underpins the proper workings of any democratic nation. After justice has been fairly dispensed to any criminal then the people may or may not decide to show further humanity and offer a pardon to that convicted criminal through the proper channels set aside for that discretionary goodwill gesture.
A RCI or a Truth Commission should be incorporated into PR’s GE manifesto. This commission should be tasked with unravelling all the plunders and theft of the country’s wealth by the present and past regimes so that future generations will know the truth of what damage had been done to the country’s economy and more importantly, never to allow this to ever happen again. Dr Mahathir is already afraid of Anwar Ibrahim’s shadow, and now you have to come up with another worrisome news that if Pakatan Rakyat were to capture Putrajaya it will re-open investigations into the allegedly RM30 billion forex financial scandal. He had been out of his mind worried of his sons’ fortune and the protection of his legacies (if any), that lately he had been incoherent with his many statements. He accused that the Bersih 3.0 rally, which incidently included his own daughter and granddaughter,was to topple the BN government, a la mode to an Arab Spring style demonstration. His unfounded fear continued unabated when he wildly accused Pakatan Rakyat, without any iota of evidence, that they would hold violent demonstrations should they lose the next GE.The saddest part of the whole affair is that his ‘virus’ had infected our top leaders’ minds. Today,even our deputy PM, Muhyiddin Yassan, echoed Mahathir’s ‘sickness’ for the whole country to see. BN has to go.Malaysia’s failure is not Badawi nor Najib..it’s him who is trying to manupulated by choosing them to cover his ill scandals, hope the laws will catch-up will him.Pakatan needs to come into Putrajaya to cleans off all those corrupts and put them to jail.Expect MORE “wild and preposterous” statements from someone who can’t be sleeping that well, now that the specifics are coming out!Tun Mahathir hates the Jews and called them Zionist, but he plunder and bank in USD into Israeli Bank in Singapore for his whole family, including the BN cronies. They must pay for their greed and stolen wealth from the country.
“The order to go and make money in the forex market was from Daim with Dr Mahathir’s blessing,” Rosli was quoted as saying by Lim.
However, Rosli implicated Nor Mohamed for the losses arising from speculating in the foreign exchange market.The veteran opposition leader cited the 1992 foreign exchange (forex) market scandal as an example, estimating that Bank Negara Malaysia may have lost RM30 billion in the episode.
He said the central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop, yesterday alleged in a Penang forum that Dr Mahathir was one of four individuals responsible for the losses.
Lim said that Bank Negara had gambled on the British currency, but “when the pound was devalued, Bank Negara lost US$5.5. billion… (and) then claimed it was only paper loss of RM9.3 billion.” For the sake of clarity, one normally calls such “schematic understatements” in layman’s English as doing creative accounting to cook one’s books to mislead the audience reading those books. Isn’t false accounting a crime in Malaysia?
this is only the tip of the iceberg, what about the tin speculation . LIke Mubarak he won’t get away.The government toying with rakyat’s hard earned money sickens me… both huge forex losses and the scorpene bribe scandal..
Lim Kit Siang is dead right.. If Barisan loses and Pakatan wins, it will be the worst nightmare scenario for Mahatir and other Barisan warlords. It will clobber time for Pakatan and slammer time for Barisan.PKFZ, Perwaja, Bakun, Bank Bumi, Labuan Off-shore, MSC, Crooked Bridge, … the list goes on.
It will be sweet justice. And hence , all this scaremongering and underhand tactics by Barisan. Pakatan rocks. If there is any proof using the central bank’s former deputy governor, Dr Rosli Yaakop allegations should just lodge police report to take Tun M and others book instead of waiting until he loses the election.It is impossible because all the evidence has been kept under OSA. Once PR takes over, it will be much easier because of freedom of information. You don`t want to side with BN then. This is not allegation. Think about it, our country is rich with natural resources and have been plundered by government cronies. It is embarassing to say we still have poor people in our country with all the mismanagement of wealth by present government.Dr. M says he is an economic genius. He has a record to prove it. What is Dr. M’s record? Highest corruption since independence, dictatorial high-handedness and unashamed cronyism, slowest economic recovery ever, billions of federal gov’t debt and responsible for more debt than all other PMs combined.
those who commit crimes must pay for those crimes justly no matter how long it takes to bring them to face justice. Otherwise, we will end up killing the concept of Justice and losing the principle of the Rule of Law which is what ultimately guides and underpins the proper workings of any democratic nation. After justice has been fairly dispensed to any criminal then the people may or may not decide to show further humanity and offer a pardon to that convicted criminal through the proper channels set aside for that discretionary goodwill gesture.
A RCI or a Truth Commission should be incorporated into PR’s GE manifesto. This commission should be tasked with unravelling all the plunders and theft of the country’s wealth by the present and past regimes so that future generations will know the truth of what damage had been done to the country’s economy and more importantly, never to allow this to ever happen again. Dr Mahathir is already afraid of Anwar Ibrahim’s shadow, and now you have to come up with another worrisome news that if Pakatan Rakyat were to capture Putrajaya it will re-open investigations into the allegedly RM30 billion forex financial scandal. He had been out of his mind worried of his sons’ fortune and the protection of his legacies (if any), that lately he had been incoherent with his many statements. He accused that the Bersih 3.0 rally, which incidently included his own daughter and granddaughter,was to topple the BN government, a la mode to an Arab Spring style demonstration. His unfounded fear continued unabated when he wildly accused Pakatan Rakyat, without any iota of evidence, that they would hold violent demonstrations should they lose the next GE.The saddest part of the whole affair is that his ‘virus’ had infected our top leaders’ minds. Today,even our deputy PM, Muhyiddin Yassan, echoed Mahathir’s ‘sickness’ for the whole country to see. BN has to go.Malaysia’s failure is not Badawi nor Najib..it’s him who is trying to manupulated by choosing them to cover his ill scandals, hope the laws will catch-up will him.Pakatan needs to come into Putrajaya to cleans off all those corrupts and put them to jail.Expect MORE “wild and preposterous” statements from someone who can’t be sleeping that well, now that the specifics are coming out!Tun Mahathir hates the Jews and called them Zionist, but he plunder and bank in USD into Israeli Bank in Singapore for his whole family, including the BN cronies. They must pay for their greed and stolen wealth from the country.
A BEDTIME STORY STARTS WITH ‘ONCE UPON A TIME…’ AND LULLS THE VOTER TO SLEEP. THE SECOND IS AN ENERGIZER THAT ADDRESSES A FRESH DAWN.
Will the great Najib wash his blood clean from UMNO hands?
many recall those horrific days of UMNO Barisan, and many entangle themselves in unending debates, opinion on Mahathir remains as polarized as the UMNO is.And, this debate will never end because we never learn to know,the difference between Milk and Toddy of same colour but different in tasteif you were either the hunter or the hunted THE MALAYSIANINSIDER’S BIG PICTURE SAYS Jahabar Sadiq we journalists are living in a bubble
We were caught prostituting in 2008. Ever since, we’ve been rich with umno’s money
Public trust in the Government Widespread cynicism and distrust will force the Government to shelve many policy and business initiatives.
BN’s ability to command public support without extensive consultation and stake holder engagement has evaporated.Put all this together and what do you get? A very, very interesting 2012/13 result indeed.
I am an Indianmuslim and I am angry about what is happening to voters in Malaysia.
Does that mean I can walk to an Umno minister and slap Nor Mohamed Yakcop while he is giving a speech?
What kind of lame excuses are the Umno thugs making up? Their leaders are keeping quiet and the police inaction speaks volumes.Umno might come back to power with a greater majority, but in the process you are creating thugs and gangsters who continue to function as such.Can Umno leaders live with that? It’s time to rethink what you are doing with these youth.
Yet another election promise by our honourable prime minister. He may assume that all Malaysians believed him, have faith in him and willing to support all his ideas, suggestions and promises.I have sad news for you: for a party leader whose organisation is synonymous with corruption, lies and deceit just to stay in power, your statement rings hollow.
This is why the Badawi camp has rushed around suggesting that Najib will continue to give Badawi his long-held Kepala Batas seat to contest, as well as retain Nor Mohamed Yakcop in Tasik Gelugor.But Nor Mohamed is already so tainted by corruption allegations that it immediately discredits and kills off the very speculation the Badawi camp is trying to spread to pressure Najib. If Nor Mohamed, the economic minister and former Bank Negara trading chief who lost billions in the forex market, and whose political aide was caught with RM2 million in cash, can still be rated as ‘winnable’, then Najib deserves a grilling from other warlords as to why he is rejecting them for someone with such a record.British pound sterling.
George Soros, the global forex player, was also speculating on the same currency but for different reasons.But both shared a common desire. They went for the kill. The battleground was the London foreign exchange market.
Both believed that they were going to make money from the British.One believed he could make fast and big money, the other wanted to profit from the expected fall of the pound.
Smart Soros
The one that believed the Pound would appreciate took billions of US currency from Bank Negara foreign reserves fund (actual figure unknown).
The “wiser” speculator who believed the British Pound would fall was not using his own funds. He borrowed from British banks to the tune of 10 billon pounds and changed the money to German Mark.
The moment of truth came when on Sept 16, 1992, Britian left the ERM.Unable to stand the economic and market pressure on its overvalued Pound, Britian, instead of floating the pound, officially devalued its currency causing the pound to fall.
It was not what the European countries and Mahathir had expected. Luckily for Mahathir the currency did not crash.
The British government had a two-pronged strategy – firstly to devalue the Pound to stimulate the economy through cheaper and hence higher exports and more costly imports thereby reducing imports in order to regulate the country’s general economic fundamentals.
Secondly after the devaluation, the sterling was automatically floated to regulate the market fundamentals.
Had Britain directly floated the pound, the erratic rise and fall would disrupt Britain’s plan to stimulate the economy although it may have helped the pound to appreciate which speculator Nor Mohamed Yakcop had expected.
Bank Negara losses never revealed
Consequently Soros, who took the loan from the British banks, repaid it in Pounds which was then cheaper and pocketed the difference of more than US$1 billion.
While the Nor Mohamed Yakcop Malaysian gambler,, lost about US$4 billion. Later in 1993, Bank Negara again lost another US$2.2 billion in speculative activities.Malaysia’s total loss by this time stood at US$6.2 billion equivalent to RM15.5 billion (based on the exchange rate as at Sept 1992. US$1=RM2.5).
However, the actual figure for Bank Negara losses were never revealed.Instead, the central bank, when put under scrutiny for its dubious activities, gave conflicting and confusing data to make it difficult for the opposition to get to the bottom of the mess.
Bank Negara had abused the foreign reserves which were meant to finance imports, stabilise the ringgit and pay off foreign debts.The British government made the right decision.The devaluation made the pound cheaper thereby stimulating exports and made imports expensive.
Nor Mohamed Yakcop gambled away nation’s money
The fall based on devaluation is different from a fall by floating.The former is an economic adjustment to regulate the macro-economic fundamentals such as national output, employment, among others, while the latter is a market adjustment to regulate market forces such as the exchange rate of a local currency vis-a-vis foreign currencies and the share prices in the stock market .
Hence, once the nation’s currency has been devalued, it can be floated without the possibility of a currency crash because the effect of devaluation has already stabilised the country’s general economic fundamentals.
Mega gambler Nor Mohamed Yakcop had committed a serious crime by secretly compelling Bank Negara to use its scarce foreign reserves for unethical and unauthorised purposes.
What was more serious was that he had gambled away the nation’s hard-earned money worth billions of ringgit in high-risk global speculative activities.
He should be held accountable for this squandering.Malaysia did not have the expertise in global forex speculation the likes of global forex player Soros. What should Malaysians do to this mega crook who always denies any wrongdoing? Bank Negara, in this case, was in cahoots with Mahathir.
Nor Mohamed Yakcop must pay
Bank Negara is supposed to be the regulator of the financial market, not player/speculator. It can use its own foreign reserves to go into the forex market in Malaysia in order to regulate and stabilise the ringgit, but it should not speculate in forex markets. As such, its action was unethical. Foreign reserves of a country is a crucial item to service imports, regulate the country’s currency value and to pay off foreign debts.
The Bank Negara governor at that time was Jaffar Hussein and the head of the forex trading unit was Nor Mohamed Yakcop. Both resigned after the speculation fiasco.
The golden rule is if any Malaysian wants to bet in any foreign exchange market he should use his own funds, not that of the nation.Mahathir must be held accountable for his action.The government’s use of the very tools of democracy to go against democracy is becoming an evil art form. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has been more than his hyper-active self in the past fortnight, not only making preposterous statements about the political situation in the country but doing his utmost to fob …
A BEDTIME STORY STARTS WITH ‘ONCE UPON A TIME…’ AND LULLS THE VOTER TO SLEEP. THE SECOND IS AN ENERGIZER THAT ADDRESSES A FRESH DAWN.
Will the great Najib wash his blood clean from UMNO hands?
many recall those horrific days of UMNO Barisan, and many entangle themselves in unending debates, opinion on Mahathir remains as polarized as the UMNO is.And, this debate will never end because we never learn to know,the difference between Milk and Toddy of same colour but different in tasteif you were either the hunter or the hunted
Another Nor Mohd Yakcop blunder coming up!
The Edge Review reported that a London panel of arbitration will make a decision on the dispute between Malaysia and Singapore on levy usually imposed by Singapore on the JV company between Khazanah 60% and Singapore's Temasek Holdings 40%.
It is the usual practise for Singapore local authority to charge levy on any development on the island. Malaysia contested the levy and claimed the history of the deal should be the basis for exemption.
The levy could be similar to any payment to local authorities for development and property ownership like quit rent, land premium, etc. Does it mean the practise in Malaysia is for Khazanah to be exempted from such payments to local authorities?
Tan Sri Nor Mohamaed Yakcop will testify for Malaysia.
Well ... if he fail to win, it should not be a surprise. Losing and pocketing public money is nothing new to him. What is a couple of hundreds of million when he has lost billions.
Malaysian Insider has a report on the Edge Review report, below:
London panel to rule on US$1 billion Malaysia-Singapore dispute, says report
A dispute between Malaysia and Singapore will come to a close in a few weeks when a London arbitration panel decides on a US$1.12 billion (RM3.54 billion) development charge the island state imposed on a joint-development project in which Malaysia has a 60% stake, The Edge Review reported today.
The weekly regional magazine reported in its Informer column that the closed-door hearings in London concluded earlier this month after leading Queen's Counsels representing both nations had argued their case.
Former second finance minister Nor Mohamed Yackop testified for the Malaysian side, while Singapore's former foreign minister George Yeo was the key witness for the island state in the hearings, sources told The Edge Review.
Both parties have resolved to accept the panel's decision, expected in a few weeks.
"The worst case scenario is that the developer will have to pay the charge or an amount ruled by the (arbitration) panel," a senior financial executive figure familiar with the arbitration told The Edge Review.
"But the Malaysian side strongly believes that there should not be a charge because of the history behind the deal," he said, adding that the figure was seen by the government as being on the "high side".
The levy was slapped by Singapore on the joint-development project shortly after its state-owned Temasek Holdings and Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional finalised the deal three years ago.
Under the deal, four parcels of land in Marina South and two in Ophir Rocher are being developed by M+S, the joint-venture company that is 60%-controlled by Khazanah and 40%-owned by Temasek.
Malaysia reportedly demanded that the charge be waived on the grounds that the development project was the result of a unique political arrangement between the two governments.
But Singapore, which imposes the levy on all projects on its shores, is said to have adopted a strict business approach to the dispute.
Both countries decided to proceed with the project and to resolve the impasse through arbitration.
The projects are reportedly a direct result of a breakthrough deal in 2010 to overcome a decades-old dispute for control over a railway corridor that runs from Malaysia to Singapore's central business district.
But the issue comes at a time when relations between the two neighbouring countries are strained by the recent row over toll charges for vehicles crossing the causeway, as well as several large development projects in Malaysia which could have an environmental impact on Singapore.
Keep failing and he will continue to stay on. No firing, even how incompetent they are.
That is the new meritocrasy.
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