Big money is at stake in negotiations between national electricy corporation TNB and private electricity producers (IPPs).
The stakes can get really high. Check out what happened in Sabah during negotiations between TNB subsidiary Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) and an IPP said to be Sabah-based.
This report from the NST:
Present were 14 people, including TNB officers, representatives from the IPP and the TNB subsidiary, as well as lawyers and an official from the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry.
The discussion was to thrash out a deal for TNB to purchase power from the IPP, which has a 100MW capacity.
The going was tough and one of the SESB officials told the IPP representatives not to twist their arms.
“The leader of the IPP’s team said ‘arm-twisting is nothing’, then took out his pistol and brandished it in front of them,” said a source.
The move left the negotiating team in shock, which only intensified when the man, a Datuk, took out his gun again and laid it on the table as the discussions went on.
The incident was all the more alarming as it happened at TNB’s National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) in Bangsar — a top security facility designated “Key Point Level 1”, for areas of national security importance.
Who do these IPPs think they are?
It’s time for the government to get tough and renegotiate the deals with the IPPs, many of which are way too lop-sided in favour of the private companies – at the people’s expense. Of course, it was the BN government, mainly during Mahathir’s time, that came up with these lop-sided power purchase agreements in favour of the IPPs. The result: TNB, which the Malaysian public largely owns via Khazanah and EPF, is today bleeding red ink as it forks out cash to the IPPs for electricity it doesn’t need.
| Please help to support this blog if you can. Read the commenting guidlelines for this blog. |
Do you wonder why the TNB subsidiary in Sabah is not able to perform well, with intimidation and interference like this sort of thing going on? To TNB and SESB, you have a responsibility to the public, don’t let such underhand tactics overwhelm you (even though this Datuk may be backed by the powers that be)!
“It was reported in the Sin Chew today quoting the police saying that there is no police case as there was no threat. The person took the pistol out to adjust the holder as they had a long meeting session” Gimme a break… he pulled out a gun in a negotiation meeting to “adjust the holder” and at the same time saying “arm-twisting is nothing”!!… and then pulled it out again and put it on the table… I guess he was adjusting his gun on the table then huh? I wonder if next time he pull out a grenade or… Read more »
This datuk guy should be picked up and locked up under ISA. ISA is designed for such kind…. I support ISA for this purpose.
Mr. Badawi should do something before he leave……or Najib is gone as good. Should have listen to DSAI when he debated with Sabri Chik regarding this IPP.
people in peninsular might find very unusual that Sabah IPP brandishes their gun during negotiation but for us in sabah which have been long oppressed by the powerful Datuks, see things as usual. There were numerous such incident happened in Sabah. one of the incident, one prominent Datuk (allegedly) brandished his gun and threaten a security guard due to some private parking lots argument. Another incidents where involve another Datuk which is also ex-minister who (allegedly) kill a fish monger’s son using his private rifle due to a heated argument between his son and fish monger’s son. It was very… Read more »
Judging from the comments to the NST report,TNB CEO Che Kabilb has once again succeeded to blame IPP’s for TNB woes. I am amazed by Che Kalib maneuvering and the way he runs TNB. Last year he tried to increased his salary and benefits to more than Rm1.5m per year from the present Rm1.0m,. He failed. He … named CEO of the year in spite of the heavy losses reported by TNB to the tune of RM900m. I believe TNB can make a lot of savings if TNB can cut the wastages and leakages in the procurement and implementation of… Read more »
just lodge a police report. it’s illegal to carry concealed weapons and then brandish it to threaten and intimidate. after all, there were so many witnesses to this act. tnb and its subsidiaries should not allow the ipps to have the upper hand in this way.
I’m not surprised with (such) a Govt at helm.
BN Boleh!!! … Tahniah Mahathir dan Najib!!!
Rakyat jangan nak melawan,nanti kena tembak hidup-hidup!!!
1. I am amazed at how gingerly they handled this datuk. By carrying a gun into a high security building should straight away land him into jail with arm guards. What i read into this behavior is probably this guy and his company is politically linked somewhere. Otherwise he wont be so brave. 2. Secondly, as most of the IPPs are politically link, they will try to corek as as much as possible. They will behave like mafia to get their way. I think the other IPPs will behave in similar way. 3. As a taxpayer, I demand the govt… Read more »
This is something the old secret society can learn from: you do not need to make all the dirty money with all your blood in prostitution, gambling, money laundering,robberies, kidnapping for ransom etc. Why bother with all these illegal and violent underground business! The returns are not good, some more have to live dangerously on knife’s edge.You can do it legally and in broad daylight and the reward is billions and billions without sacrificing even one life and one bullet.Just lay a gun on the negotiating table with TNB. As simple as that. But, of course, the bigger question is… Read more »
I doubt there will be any follow-up action … it is always a case of double-standards and I am sure the Datuk who brandished his gun knows it very well he will get away with it, otherwise he won’t do it twice….
This bullying samseng in a suit deserves to have his gun licence & datukship revoked IMMEDIATELY! Cowboys in business & politics….
guess that datuk must be a BN supporter.
you see, birds of the same feather flock together.
live by the sword, die by the sword
TNB needs to keep electricity tariffs up inorder to feed these connected IPPs. From day 1, they have been milking the rakyat.
The best thing this and many other issues is like, what you gonna do about it. You think they care?
Spare the rod on the IPPs and now you have spoilt children who will think nothing of putting guns on the table during negotiations. Malaysia has truly arrived. We are now just like those Wild West cowboys in the Hollywood movies – except that these IPP guys are real thugs. Congratulations UMNO. Good job BN. Way to go Malaysia! In my view, we should just nationalise all these IPPs in the name of national service and pay them each one ringgit for their power plants. After all, they have made billions thanks to us. Why waste more money on these… Read more »
Spare the rod on the IPPs and now you have spoilt children who will think nothing of putting guns on the table during negotiations. Malaysia has truly arrived. We are now just like those Wild West cowboys in the Hollywood movies – except that these IPP guys are real thugs. Congratulations UMNO. Good job BN. Way to go Malaysia! In my view, we should just nationalise all these IPPs in the name of national service and pay them each one ringgit for their power plants. After all, they have made billions thanks to us. Why waste more money on these… Read more »
It was Ani Arope who tried to save TNB from Mahathir’s goons…but lost. Ani Arope knew the national electricity board was being sold to the devil….by Mahathir. But no one listened. Because of the national blackout Ani became a convenient scapegoat. Tajuddin who took over refused to continue his tenure because he too knew that our power and security was being sold to ….. But with Najib in…the country will be run by …. The damage Mahathir has done to this country and is still doing is incalculable. Roads, power, oil, … everything has been sold. The fate of the… Read more »
TNB officials should come out in public about it.
Next time, have secret recording about this and expose to the public. So, these IPP gangster-owners want to bleed the people more?
Try increase power rates in Sabah and BN is dead. Sabah has frequent power failures and it’s all because of incompetent and neglect by the fed govt on Sabah’s welfare.
To TNB, don’t give in to the IPP’s gangster demand!
It has finally come to this…..
Rest assured that this matter will be all swept under the carpet (after all, this is bolih-land) and would-be investors will be scared of Malaysia….but hey! You know what? Lay the blame on the opposition!
Who do these IPPs think they are?
They think they are our Lords, of course! In actual they’re … thugs, whose business was created via patronage by the previous UMNO/BN… And it’s so rampant in all the other business too. Everybody who have paid heaps of money to … thinks they have a right to fleece us.
all they want is to korek more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
What we can do????????????????????????????????????
Wake up PEOPLE POWER
To counter that, the TNB folks should brandish their water pistols. LOL.