Najib should not lie to Mara students

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has selective amnesia. Perhaps, he did not want to disclose the whole truth when he met students and parents at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Jasin campus of Melaka UiTM in Seri Mendapat.

He apparently told the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students and alumni that their success was due to the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

Najib said the BN government had transformed the livelihood of Malaysians through education.

What he did not tell the students was that education is the democratic right of each citizen and that it is the responsibility of the government, to enlighten its citizens. It does this by making information available to citizens and giving them the opportunities to hone their skills and increase knowledge, in schools and learning establishments.

We pay our taxes and the taxes pay for the schools, universities and teachers. If Najib needed further reminding, we pay for his salary and that of his Cabinet.

Najib is disingenuous to give the impression that the campus is a BN effort. It is not. The rakyat paid for it. Not BN.

Furthermore, Najib is full of deceit when he criticised the Pakatan-led Selangor government's rejection of a proposal to build a UiTM campus on land belonging to PYBK Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of the Poverty Eradication Foundation (YBK), in Serendah, Hulu Selangor, in December 2009.

He said that with the relocation of the campus to Seri Mendapat, Jasin, it was the people of Melaka who stood to gain from the venture.

Najib’s performance to further discredit Pakatan would have won him an Oscar.

He said, “I was saddened when I heard about this case of YBK, which was established to help the poor and orphans. How could the Selangor government be so cruel to a foundation for the poor and orphans? It is not a question of development only in Serendah. Without the UiTM campus, the people of Hulu Selangor will lose out. The beneficiaries will be the people of Seri Mendapat.”

He feigned regret that “the Selangor government was foolish to turn away good fortune”.

How could Najib stand up in a future place of learning and tell lies? He is showing a terrible example to future students by claiming that without BN they had no future. Also how could he withhold the true reasons as to why the school was relocated?

Eventually, those who tell lies, get caught out.

Najib did NOT tell the crowd that in late 2009, both YBK was involved in a controversy with the Selangor state government and was battling it out in the courts.

Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim said that neither the foundation nor its subsidiary Permodalan YBK Sdn Bhd (PYBK) had submitted an application for the project.

BN had promised to approve the building of a UiTM campus on YBK land in Serendah, which had been held back by the Pakatan government.

A report, compiled by the state government in April 2010, and which was handed to all state assemblypersons and the media, revealed that land issued by the state to YBK for the purpose of poverty eradication have been misused or mortgaged.

Selangor rejected the UiTM project and demanded that the Menteri Besar be made the foundation's new chairman and three other Selangor exco members be appointed as trustees, to ensure transparency.

The foundation and its subsidiaries owes the Selangor government RM7.376 million in of quit rent arrears.

When the Selangor Audit Department officers tried to conduct an audit, they were barred from entering YBK's premises.

True to fashion, BN-Sungai Burong Shamsuddin Lias said the audit report was “irrelevant”.

PYBK is now suing the Selangor State government for RM74 million because of the cancelled UiTM campus project.

A list of the pertinent points as reported in the MalayMail online titled, “White Paper on YBK on hold” on 14 April 2010 are below.

High points in State government's findings

• YBK is headed by its chairman, Datuk Zainal Abidin Sakom, since its inception. The foundation and its subsidiaries are also controlled by him and his family members. His wife Datin Hartini Osman is also one of the YBK directors.

• Neither YBK nor PYBK submitted proper applications to the State to build a university campus on the Serendah land.

• The State government approved a total of 1,977.428 acres of land in several districts to YBK since its inception in 1990.

• YBK and its subsidiaries were given land for poverty eradication activities but some became commercials project. One of them the Rawang project, where 8.5 acres were identified for "Penempatan Rakyat Termiskin Daerah Gombak" but was scrapped to allow for the development of 410 units of shophouses, medium-cost apartments and low-cost flats.

• A total of 16 land lots of Permodalan YBK Sdn Bhd (PYBK), one of its subsidiaries, were mortgaged or placed under caveat in the name of individuals and companies. This means land given to YBK is in danger of falling to third parties.

• YBK and its subsidiaries owed a total of RM7.376 million in quit rent arrears.

• The financial report uploaded on YBK's website does not reveal activities of its subsidiaries, including the mortgaging of land.

• Poor management of YBK projects to provide homes to hardcore poor are not properly handled as some units are occupied by those who are financially stable. - Malaysia Chronicle