While Perkasa and company are making a lot of noise about communal issues, a few familiar faces in the corporate sector during the Mahathir era have been quietly making their presence felt.
Vincent Tan’s Berjaya Land Bhd entered into a conditional S&P Agreement to buy 57 acres of prime Penang Turf Club land at RM184 per sq ft in a green lung area for a property development project. (The last time someone tried to take over the Turf Club land was in 2007, when the well-connected Patrick “Badawi” Lim tried to build his PGCC project.)
Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines and TM confirmed that they had received a letter from the government regarding an out-of-court settlement of legal suits involving former MAS chairman Tajudin Ramli, a protege of Daim, under the Mahathir administration.
The Star reports:
MAS said that it was involved in three suits against Tajudin which include claim for damages for breach of fiduciary duties and other breaches, claim for breach of fiduciary duties and conspiracy to defraud MAS in the Hahn Airport case, among others, for losses of RM174.6mil and indemnity of 6.9 million euros and claim (by MAS Hotels & Boutiques Sdn Bhd) for specific performance to transfer the titles of certain lands pursuant to sale and purchase agreement.
Nazri had sent a letter to the GLCs informing them that the Government and the Finance Ministry had agreed to settle all civil claims against Tajudin. That raises the question: why didn’t the letter come from the Finance Minister?
The Edge, 15 August, expressed concern: “A settlement would in effect prevent the truth of who was actually responsible for the losses incurred from being revealed. In fact, in his affidavit, Tajudin had claimed that he was acting on instructions from the then government.”
Then there is the MAS-Air Asia alliance. Among the new directors at MAS, reported The Edge, is Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah, said to be close to Daim. “Wan Azmi is still active on the local corporate scene but has kept a low profile since 1998. This is his first major appointment to a GLC.”
Finally, you have San Miguel, the largest beer producer in the Philippines, taking over ExxonMobil International Holdings Inc’s 65 per cent stake in Esso Malaysia under an agreement dated 17 August. San Miguel Corporation will now be required to extend a mandatory take-over offer to the remaining shareholders of Esso Malaysia.
The WSJ reported that the offer price of RM3.50 per share represents a 29.3 per cent discount to Esso Malaysia’s closing price. The stock had surged 14.1 per cent to close at RM4.95 ringgit following news of the acquisition. Some questions have been raised about this and other related aspects of the deal at the Malaysian Finance blog.
According to the San Miguel website, the companies acquired are Esso Malaysia Bhd (EMB), a publicly traded company of which Exxon Mobil owns a 65% stake; and wholly-owned ExxonMobil Malaysia Sdn Bhd (EMMSB), and Exxon Mobil Borneo Sdn Bhd (EMBSB). The three subsidiaries form an integrated business engaged in the refining, distribution and marketing of petroleum products. Physical assets include the Port Dickson refinery with a rated capacity of 88,000 barrels per day; seven fuel distribution terminals; and a network of roughly 560 branded service stations, 420 of which are company-owned. The transaction is valued at US$610 million.
San Miguel plans to upgrade the Port Dickson refinery to make use of a wider variety of crudes and churn out value-added products.
Last December, San Miguel exercised a share option allowing it to gain majority control of Petron Corporation. Petron is the largest integrated oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines with a crude distillation capacity of 180000 barrels per day. It also has a network of over 1700 service stations in the Philippines. It is now upgrading its refinery to allow it to convert fuel oil to higher-value petrol, diesel and petrochemicals.
The San Miguel website added:
“Exxon Mobil’s Malaysian downstream business is attractive to San Miguel given that there is plenty of room to move up the value chain by upgrading refinery capabilities,” said SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang. “Our plan would be to upgrade the Port Dickson refinery so that it can make use of a wider variety of crudes, and produce higher-value products.” Ang added.
Mirzan Mahathir is listed as a director of Petron Corporation in its 2010 Annual Report.
The others in the family involved in the oil and gas sector are Mokhzani Mahathir, who has a 38 per cent stake in Kencana Petroleum Bhd (according to the firm’s 2010 Annual Report), and Mahathir himself, advisor to Petronas.
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Umnoputras went about pilfering malaysians public wealth while providing peanuts to the bulk of Malays, the breadcrumps as we tend to view them, while siphoning contracts and concessions with seriously marked up pricing that made productivity and meritocracy as thing of the past. (Their) contribution to Malaysia’s wealth is limited to racial and religious rhetoric while non malays contribute largely, dare say more than 85%, of Malaysia GDP… Have these umnoputras ever wondered what they will be doing, so used to pilfering for themselves, when the oil money dries up, non Malays with the resources leave country out of frustration… Read more »
Several years ago I already wrote to you about the intention of … of turning the turf club into bungalows but you blocked out his name. Who do you think bring Vincent Tan into this deal with the Penang Turf Club? … ! But anyway, this is not the gist of my message here. There are two things I need to tell you: 1. BBC radio news did air the “Heritage of George Town” in their “World Today” segment. I heard it last Friday when I was in Singapore (They have BBC radio in Singapore, 88.9 FM) 2. There is… Read more »
Thanks for the info, but sorry I couldn’t include the name as I don’t have anything to verify it. But what you revealed is similar to what I heard.
Last Saturday, Dr M’s statement in the news paper commenting that all “Malays” should be united otherwise “others” may take advantage on the nation. What a silly statement! it is true that Malays been divided into two groups “but it is not unusual” the divisions already started during his reign (era) as PM and that fact he cannot deny. My presumption, Dr M is the cause of all divisions. Generally Malays are known for people of good sense of humor, hospitality and helpful even during their time of difficulties (financially), a cup of coffee and some “cucur” (fried snacks) can… Read more »
Malays can never be united under one camp as we cannot mix the reigious/pious group with the corrupted group. Simple as that.
However, such wishful thinking is being exploited by Tun M to gain the support of the rural malays, who unknowingly being manipulated all these decades by Umno as their channel of information is via RTM/Utusan. That’s why dpm is deadly against PPSMI as the learning of English will make the malays accessible to alternative views in the internet.
The one possible way of ‘bringing down’ the alternative media barrier surrounding the rural Malay folks is for the non-Malays to migrate to rural kampongs, understand Malay cultures and mix freely with them thus sharing the media of truth of the real Malaysia via community Internet. Once you are neighbors with the friendly kampong Malays, all initial curtains of discrimination, mistrust and Barang Naiki make believe racist bias are throw to the rivers to be swallowed by crocodiles and kelah fish. Actually rural Malays can be your good friends and ‘bruther-bruther’ once you know them well and win their trust.… Read more »
Saudara tunglang is always welcomed by the rural malay community, to create a new wave of 21st century peranakan culture in Malaysia, but he may have to sacrifice his passion for non-halal food in order to assimilate successfully in the kampung.
In the age of easy mobility, this is no problemo, bruther. A little sacrifice for some who love the countryside lifestyle as well as know the many access to non-halal food centres. I would love to live in Ulu Perak nearer to Belum yet still have access to Taiping and Ipoh for Taugeh Chicken Rice or Bak Kut Teh. I get the best of both worlds. The only one thing I will miss is the old world charm kopitiams of Penang and its irreplaceable Kopi-O kau kau. Never mind, I get Hornbills and Pak Cik for coffee companions at the… Read more »
Taiping’s & Ipoh’s landed property with big compound still about 60% of current Penang Island’s price.
Jangan tunggu lama lama, nanti di ambil orang !
Yeah, Taiping & Ipoh landed properties are still value for money. The weather is also better than Penang’s frequent heat waves or out of the blue black cake’s oven over-heat waves. For me, a downshifted ex-middle class, I be more practical to go for Malay-style air-cooled kampong house in free-ranging neighborhood or better still squat-ala-Sakai in the fringe of the rainforest. I get free ice-cool water and no disruption of electricity (from mobile generator). And no ass-essment rate, maintenance fee, quit rent or home insurance to foot. And best of all, no hourly nuisance cell-phone calls from brain-dead banks or… Read more »
Until (this man) leaves the scene … all his old (men) will be safe. Unless and until PR takes over Putrajaya, all these “sons of the gun” will escape scot free!…
Poor Marina is being confused by PKR etc. Some more asked to declare assets.
If she is indeed the flip side of the same coin, then we can be expecting some fireworks soon.
I was watching the Hungry Ghost Festival’s Puppet Show the other night. There was this master puppet which went around ‘behind’ the other puppets hacking them while whispering “apanama” as if forgeting its crucial lines.
Such was a ‘scene’ of puppet show on public display very familiar with our daily racist socio-politics of behind the back stabbing cum manipulation and apanama-ing, even the ghostly audience cannot master!
Time for my favorite Kopi-O kau kau at my favorite kopitiam while watching ‘free show’ on stage for the real and salivating hungry ghosts or ‘Ho Hia Tee’.
Mubarak, Marcos with M as initial shared the same fate towards the end of their “scheming” years.
I have a dream at this time when hell lets loose and apanama will share the same fate when imaginery becomes reality because one cannot escape from bad karma !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tajudin Ramli always maintained that he was the front for Daim and Mahathir.
It doesn’t take much imagination where the MAS billions went.
I guess that’s why Tajudin Ramli is ‘untouchables’ even in court, otherwise he would have spilt the beans to expose which pockets the lost MAS billions went to. Perkasa has remained quiet in this matter, leading us to believe that Perkasa (has the backing of) the ‘Top 1%’ who have deceived the poor to enrich themselves.
Kenapa Perkasa tak buat bising San Miguel itu bisnes haram buat arak?
aiyoh- i am the GREAT PRETENDER by nat king cole, i am also the great PLUNDERER from BMF TO MAS TO PKFZ- all billion dollar scandals. MAS lost *8 billions n now all law suits are forgiven through OFF SITE SETTLEMENT. BMF _ 27 years later all is forgotton, wow what a generous n forgiving nation n citizens. we welcome millions to our shores n now grant these millions amnesty, ah so good n kind leaders.poor malaysia n poorer citizens, what a nation we are in under BN UMNO. so WHAT IS MCA N GERAKAN doing- keep silent n do… Read more »
The Malays are permanently split in to those who were religious and those not so. Then the not so are split between the corrupted and the enlightened who knew they had been cheated … Tun M thinks that only Malays defend the nation because the police, the armed forces and the civil services are manned mainly by Malays. But they are firstly the instruments of UMNO, and secondly the defenders of their own interests. Malaysia could be colonized sooner or later whether Malays are united in their ketuanan Melayu concept, or split into groups pursuing their common interest because the… Read more »
Dear Anil, I agree with Aranda Del Rio, (Some of) the Malays have been victimize every another day in the name of “Bangsa Malays” by some dirty politics. What can we do, about 50% of the Malay population still believing that one day they (Government) will enjoy better life in Malaysia. For the past 53 years they have been hoping but there were no enlightenment thus far. even they had enough wealth but there are no sure of how to invest and keep them safe because most of their mind are crippled or … Materialistically, they may get help from… Read more »
A ‘doktor’ (tending to) corrupted diseases of the mind cannot be a good leader of a country rich in resources including human capital. He should have been rendered senile in his early years of misadventures in our political landscape and educational institutions so as to be avoided like a plague by the ordinary simpletons of once beautiful Malaysia of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.
The minds of the malays has been constricted to just ‘ikut perintah’ in the name of their master.
Anil
Hav u ever written article about the so-called “Rahman Theory” ?
What’s the latest prophecy now with Dr M still calling the shots ?
All signs are that Tun M era is on its way back.
Apanama is paving the ground to begin new dynasty with the end of RAHMAN prophecy. Dpm will be use to (betray) PM, then made the scapegoat for the son M to take over?
Open secret now who is the apanama “Puppet Master” ?
whats the difference betwee Badawi and Najib.
Nothing except solgans.
I wonder if Muh comes to numero uno. His slogan “Malay Race to 1”?