KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — A residents’ group in Perak opposing the RM4 billion iron ore hub being built by the state’s biggest investor said yesterday the project may hurt the environment and the interests of the state and its citizens.
The Coalition of Concerned Citizens of Perak (CCCP) said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir has given Vale, the world’s leading iron ore miner, a “free hand” in the project “and that is a recipe for disaster.”
“We believe this project could be heading for a disaster if proper controls are not put in place. Besides the environmental impact, there is also a cloud of worry and despair hanging over us should this project proceed unchecked,” CCCP chief Zainal Abidin Osman said.
Zainal said in a press statement that contracts worth millions of ringgit were handed out without a tender process, adding this only benefited foreign companies as state-linked firms were not directly involved in the transhipment hub.
“Why did Perak give exclusive rights to Vale to construct a RM700 million jetty when it is considered a legal landing point and should remain in the hands of the government as a national asset?
“The lackadaisical attitude of the state government under MB Zambry is worrying because he has not put any in place any safety net for the people,” he said.
Ports in Malaysia are viewed as key assets and it is standard practice that either the state of federal government will hold a golden share.
It has been reported that Dutch firm Royal BAM and Australia’s McConnell Dowell secured a RM677 million deal along with local contractor See Yong & Son to build a jetty in Teluk Rubiah.
This is the second billion-ringgit project in Malaysia that has faced resistance from locals this year, after Kuantan residents effectively forced the delay of Australian miner Lynas Corp’s RM1.5 billion rare earth plant there citing fears of radiation pollution.
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Residents’ group claims RM4b Perak ore hub ‘recipe for disaster’
December 23, 2011
Posts Tagged ‘Perak
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham filed a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Ipoh today accusing Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir of selling land at a loss of at least RM1.2 billion.
The former senior state executive councillor said he had “concrete proof” that since Barisan Nasional (BN) took power on February 6, 2009 until July this year, the Perak mentri besar alienated nearly 28,000 hectares of land for just over RM150 million.
“I have concrete proof that the land was approved by the BN government since its power grab,” the Beruas MP said in a statement today.
“I suspect there is abuse especially of the industrial and farm land that has been approved at about RM375 per acre (0.4 hectares).”
He said the market price for land in Perak was now about RM50,000 per hectare, meaning that “an open auction would have fetched at least RM1.2 billion for the state government” for the 24,500 hectares of industrial and farm land.
Zambry refuted the allegations on Monday, stating that the land was given to the state religious authorities’ public-funded schools and other state-owned agencies for a nominal fee.
But Ngeh, who was part of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government ousted over 30 months ago, said he believed “the land approved for these organisations are just a small portion of the total”.
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Ngeh claims Zambry sold state land on the cheap
October 21, 2011
The statement by a politician that Barisan Nasional (BN) would retain power in Perak in the next general election is barely credible. The sentiment on the ground does not really favour the incumbents. According to political pundits, the next general election would see a keen contest in Perak between Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and BN and the outcome would see PR taking over the state government with a simple majority.
The loose Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition of the DAP, PKR and PAS won Perak in the 2008 political tsunami but fell from power during the infamous 2009 power grab by BN. Perak was under PR government for only 10 months until the BN power grab in February 2009. This political fiasco for PR still hounds not only those assemblymen who had to concede defeat in the Assembly but also the electorate in Perak.
The state of Perak has a Bumiputera population of 55.74 percent, Chinese 28.77 percent, Indians 12.15 percent and Others including Non-Citizen 3.44 percent. The electorate ratio is an approximate 6:3:1 respectively among the Bumiputera, Chinese and Indians. However, the racial compositions of electorate are not proportionately distributed between the urban and rural areas and between Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera majority constituents – a common gerrymander that colours almost all constituents in the country to favour the incumbent government.
The choice of PAS assemblyman as CM
In the 2008 general election Perak, DAP won 18 seats, PKR seven and PAS six. Even PKR and PAS combined (thirteen) did not exceed the total number of DAP seats. These three parties represent PR. Despite the DAP having the majority seats, it was a PAS legislator who was chosen to become the chief minister(CM) or menteri besar. The appointed CM came forward to become a very popular and capable leader. However, the PR government fell to Barisan Nasional after three of their representatives left the coalition to become independent and BN-friendly assemblymen. The people of Perak, apparently, have not fully forgotten the mystified ways PR government was ousted a year after holding power. For this reason, the next general election would see the joust between BN and PR a very close one where premonitory symptoms on the ground reveal that they do not really favour BN. There is an optimistic hint that PR would win back the state with a simple majority.
In a just concluded independent survey, it was found that 6 out 10 people in Perak still found it knotty to accept the present Perak state government and the rest are divided as who should govern Perak next. Nine out of ten people surveyed would want a stable government and would want the people to decide using the ballot box to choose their preferred government. According to them, the court should not have decided on matters relating to politics – it’s the people who should decide whom to choose as their leaders. 52 percent of the respondents across the board surveyed in Malay-majority areas vouched for PR for a change and 76 percent of the respondents across the board in the non-Malay majority areas would do the same. It appears that, the Chinese, Indians and Malays are still in favour of PR to win if an election is to be held anytime time before the middle of next year. This manifests that the people have not really forgotten the political debacle that happened in 2009 in Perak.
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Nizar Jamaluddin and the future of Perak politics
30 September 201 – Malaysia Chronicle
Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir came under fire today for claiming that he had been unaware of the rare earth deal between the state government and Hong Kong-based company Commerce Venture Manufacturing (CVM) Minerals Ltd.
His predecessor Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin said Zambry “is not telling the truth. As chairman of the investment arm, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak (PKNP or Perak State Development Corporation), it is impossible he did not know. And if he truly doesn’t, he should give up before he destroys the state”.
Zambry has said that he was not aware of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked between the PKNP and CVM Minerals as it had been carried out “at agency level”.
Nizar, the Bukit Gantang MP, called the decision to sign the MoU as “simply arrogant” on the part of the state government.
“We learnt our lesson about the risks of rare earth in Bukit Merah back in the 1990s. The cleaning-up costing hundreds of millions is still going on… to allow this Hong Kong company to come back is just plain stupidity,” he said.
“They (state government) are doing it for investment purposes and to boost morale – to show that they can bring in investments. The state government does not know what it is doing,” he added.
For an event with only two outcomes, there is a 50-50 chance of it happening either way. So you would have thought. Consequently, many wanted the verdict of 9 February of the country’s top judges in the apex court to reflect that logical outcome. More so in a constitutional impasse that has drawn attention of the entire nation, nay the entire world.
But wouldn’t it be a wishful thinking to have ever thought that MB Nizar would win? Yes, perhaps, given the state of our very-much-to-be-desired judiciary. But in a not-so-clear-a-case like this acrimonious debate, you still harbour a little hope for a close call at least.
When the federal court returned a verdict of a thrashing 5-0 win to MB Zambry, you can’t blame the many that have alleged that the law has truly become an ass. I could still recall MB Nizar wanted a full 9-member bench. The country has just been saved from being humiliated, the greatest shame of the century with a 9-0 verdict!
In the same vein, imagine the battle of two titans in a world cup with an outcome of 5-0 win. Now imagine a 9-0 win. Mind-shattering, too bizarre! That’s exactly the state of affairs in our beloved country right now, Mr PM. Beleaguered.
It’s most pathetic to have heard you, Mr PM, say, “let’s accept the court’s verdict and move on”. That was your knee-jerk response as usual, nothing really go high up beyond your brain-stem. You have ‘to say something’ each time and you did. But true leaders have really ‘something to say’, regrettably, you didn’t.
We shall wait in anticipation, for the time when the rakyat will one day tell you to just accept the verdict of the election, Najib ie your defeat, and move on. It may not be the next 13th GE as yet. But it could well be. You and your First Lady must pack your bags and get out of Putrajaya.
Continue reading ‘Very sad day for democracy – Gross understatement’
Death of democracy in Perak
The liberating power of Iconic Symbols for Democracy – The final lesson, or silver lining, I could see or learn from this debacle is that the Perak crisis gave birth to two powerful symbols of democracy. The Tree and the Speaker. One must never underestimate the liberating power of symbols and icons in mobilizing and unleashing forces of democratization around the world. We all remember the Tank Man, who on that bloody day of June 4th 1989, caused the entire world to hush in silence, where for 5 minutes, it felt like time had stood eternally still, when he, armed with just a shopping bag, out of defiance of the unstoppable, crushing military might of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, stood his ground and immobilized an entire line of armoured tanks trying to enter the city of Beijing, in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Massacre.
And so in Perak, the year is 2009. The images of the Tree of Democracy, and then the Speaker, Sivakumar, being dragged out, humiliated by an arbitrary display of violence by unaccountable police power. He is our very own Tank Man, reminiscent of that lone, solitary individual, who withstood the might of the Chinese regime. Just as how it was etched in the collective psyche of all freedom and democracy-loving citizens of the world, the physical overpowering of Sivakumar must never be forgotten in the annals of a People’s History of Malaysia, to be written by ordinary Malaysian citizens. These events help form the narrative of the historic struggle between the ‘have-nots’ against the injustices and oppression of the ‘haves’ in maintaining the status quo of elite interests and crony-capitalism.
Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin has accused Barisan Nasional of planning yet another “coup d’état” if the Federal Court rules in his favour next week and reinstalls him as Perak mentri besar.
“When the Feb 9 (court) decision comes out, Umno will launch yet another coup de tat of the worst kind to wrest power away from us.
“They will do anything in their power to make sure that the Pakatan (Rakyat) would not hold [the] government,” he said in a speech during a breakfast session with the public at Chemor, here this morning.
Later at Sungai Siput, Nizar explained to The Malaysian Insider that he was “pre-empting” Umno’s next move in predicting what would happen once the Federal Court delivers its decision in the MB vs MB case next Tuesday.
“If the decision sides with me, they will get (deputy Speaker) Hee Yit Foong to convene a special assembly sitting so that they can move a vote of no-confidence against me as the mentri besar,” said Nizar.
A vote of no-confidence against Nizar would see the fiery leader losing his post as mentri besar once again for PR only holds 28 seats in the 59-seat assembly.
While BN also shares the same number of assemblymen, they would also get supporting votes from the infamous three “frogs” who have become “BN-friendly independents.”
Although Hee, by chairing the assembly, will be unable to cast her vote, BN would still have a two-seat edge over PR.
Nizar said he would not put it past BN to perform yet another power grab.
The Law is not a casualty. It is the integrity and reputation of a great number of the country’s judges that has been tarnished. Those affected are the judges of the High Court but mostly they are the judges in the higher echelon of the judicial hierarchy.
They think they can ignore the provisions of the Federal and the Perak State Constitutions, even the statutes enacted by Parliament, so long as they side with the government of the day. Whether or not they have intentionally taken one side or the other is not the point, it is the public perception of their decisions that they are one-sided that matters.
The recalcitrant judges have sullied the good name and reputation of our nation irreparably. In the eye of the international community, Malaysia is now a pariah state; it is no better than Zimbabwe, Myanmar and other rogue nations where the rule of law is only a myth and where the notion of separation of powers or the independence of the judges seems to be beyond the reach of their comprehension.
But this is not the essay that I wish to write. I want to write about the phenomenon of a growing public awareness in this country of the people’s ability to judge the judges. These people already know right from wrong.
Continue reading ‘Perak – ‘The people know when a judge has done wrong’’
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The most fundamental right — even more fundamental than the right to vote — is the right to fair and equal treatment under the law. That is why the Magna Carta is such an important document — it is the first codified instance of the rule of law. Nobody, not even the royalty or the Prime Minister, is above the law. Everyone is entitled to be treated as the law prescribes — nothing more, and nothing less.It is fundamentally dictatorial and antithetical to democracy for people to be above the law. If someone were to murder or steal, it does not matter whether he is a prince or a pauper — he is wrong. It undermines everything about a democratic and constitutional state for the government to be above the laws imposed on the people it governs.
And yet, that is exactly what happened in Perak. Barisan could have waited for the Pakatan Rakyat speaker to convene the state assembly, pass a motion of no confidence in the government, and get on with business. It wouldn’t be particularly fair to the people of Perak, who voted for a Pakatan government, but at least it would be in accordance with the law.
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Flimsy suspension bridge
A wooden or concrete beam bridge instead of the suspension bridge that gave way over a river at Kuala Dipang, Kampar could have avoided the tragedy which left one student dead and two others missing.
Two civil engineers who were contacted by theSun and who have expertise in building bridges agreed that the suspension bridge which collapsed at Kuala Dipang was poorly engineered without safety in mind after viewing photos published in newspapers.
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Although the authorities said the bridge was opened several weeks ago, villagers in the surrounding areas said it was barely a week since it was in use.
