Slippery oil sheikhs of Malaysia
By
Chua Jui Meng
Chua receiving a file of the latest
information on the Scorpene scandal probe in France from Chegu Bard after
delivering his ceramah in Taman Kota Masai. Chegu Bard is the head of
Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (Malaysia’s Young Children’s Solidarity)
movement.
THE
RM250 million Cowgate fracas has hardly settled and now we have the RM40
million Sabah Umno crony scandal.
If
the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) had not been hijacked by the Shahrizat
family, low-income Malaysians today would be enjoying affordable beef.
We
will not be paying about RM27 for a kilogramme of beef now when it was only
about RM7 per kg in 2000.
The
NFC project would have been successful if the RM250 million had been distributed
to 1,000 experienced cattle breeders nationwide, with each getting RM250,000 to
expand their herd of cattle.
What
knowledge or credentials do Shahrizat’s husband and her children have to
justify them to be given the project allocation?
A section of the 5,000-people crowd at
the Le Tour de Scorpene Scandal ceramah series outside Pasir Gudang PKR’s
service centre on Jalan Betik 1, Taman Kota Masai.
Now
we have Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz’s defence
of Sabah Umno crony timber tycoon Michael Chia.
After
defending Chia in Parliament, saying there was nothing wrong with Chia carrying
RM40 million in a suitcase for Sabah Umno, we are shocked by his son Nedim’s
connection with Chia.
Nedim
was seen driving a more than RM500,000 Hummer registerd in the name of Michael
Chia. Not only that, pictures of Nedim wearing a Richard Mille Tourbillon
(model RM 002 V2) watch worth RM1,072,000 have surfaced in social network
facebook.
What
is happening to Malaysia and its ruling lawmakers? Scandals that expose their
enormous wealth are surfacing regularly while our RM502 billion federal debt
continues to climb.
How
many more financial scandals that has emptied our national coffers can Malaysia
afford?
Lawyer Fadiah Nadwa of Suaram was among
the speakers who had the 5,000-people crowd listening attentively and
responding with applause throughout the night.
Petronas
was set up in 1974 and its first CEO Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah recently revealed
that there were plans for the
establishment of a Tabung Warisan Petrolium (National Petroleum Heritage Fund)
for the future of Malaysians when our oil wells run dry.
Has there been any such oil fund set
up? As far as I know there has never been a disclosure by the government of the
existence of such a fund.
With the billions or even trillions
of ringgit in oil revenue over some four decades, there is absolutely no excuse
that is acceptable to Malaysians for this tragic betrayal of the people’s trust
by our “oil sheikhs ... Mahathir, Abdullah and Najib”.
Norway, where they have oil in the
North Sea, the country’s oil fund known as Norway Pension Fund stands at US$656
billion or RM2 trillion. And the country
has a population of only five million people.
UAE-Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s
oil-revenue sovereign wealth fund is at US$627 billion or RM1.9 trillion.
Almost all oil producing countries
have established their own oil funds for their peoples’ future but not
Malaysia. This is a serious indictment of the present regime.
Instead, after 55 years, the corrupt
BN government has given us a RM502 billion federal debt that is fast growing.
Another
section of the 5,000-people crowd in Taman Kota Masai.
The
Petroleum Act 1974 must also be amended to
remove the prime minister’s absolute powers over Petronas and its finances.
Now,
no one has the right to question the prime minister’s decision.
Only
the prime minister, not even his deputy, is privy to Petronas’ accounts.
Pakatan
Rakyat (PR) has pledged to make Petronas accountable to Parliament and this
should lead to the establishment of the long awaited National Petroleum Heritage
Fund.
Just
before Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stepped down as prime minister, he paid an
official visit to the Sultan of Brunei, signing and giving away two oil fields
to Brunei as gifts.
Abdullah
claimed that the gifts were in exchange for Brunei dropping its claim on Sabah’s
Limbang.
However,
the Brunei government immediately denied Limbang was ever discussed in that
visit.
What
actually happened? Where have all the rakyat’s wealth and oil wealth gone to?
What
business does Abdullah have to give away two oil fields to one of the richest
man in the world while the majority of Malaysians continue to live in debt and
poverty.
