KIDEX deal: Umno always pays its dues

Being Umno's running dog has its perks and ex-Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi is in heaven because it's raining money with the RM2.2 billion Kinrara Damansara (KIDEX) highway deal.

COMMENT

Umno is blind, deaf and dumb. Umno is blind to the abuses of power by its leaders and deaf to the clamour from the rakyat for a halt to these abuses.

And Umno must be dumb in its inability to understand what it has and will lose in support from the rakyat by these abuses of power.

But again this is arguable. Umno cannot be dumb when it can conjure up a RM2.2 billion highway concession to gift its loyal former chief justice (CJ), Zaki Azmi, who was also the former deputy chairman of Umno’s disciplinary committee and party lawyer.

This up-and-coming Bumiputera businessman is almost a billionaire even before he starts business and it’s not even six months since he retired.

Ahhh! the perks of being Umno’s running dog!

In the last conscious moment of your life Tun, before you leave this physical world… where will your mind wander?

Will it drift to that episode with Hayati across the border? (the Tun was involved in a controversial divorce from his second wife, Nor Hayati Yahaya, 32. Their marriage was solemnised by a Thai kadi at a textile shop in Perlis in May 2005.)

Or will you mull on your years of “service” in Umno that readied you for mediocrity as the numero uno in the judiciary in return for the plunder of the rakyat’s ringgits in the years yonder? Or some regrets perhaps for duty not done and trust abused?

In our judiciary system, loyalty to Umno and moneymaking opportunities lie in bed together. It is akin to an incestuous relationship between brother and sister. Totally sinful but deliciously so.

Corruption is corruption

If RM10,000 must be corruption, RM100,000 too is corruption. On the scale of what they give to this Tun, it is no longer corruption, it is daylight robbery.

And this ex-CJ is the epitome of what is morally and ethically wrong with the judiciary and with Umno.

It is the manner by which they conduct themselves – NOT according to their oath of office – suka sama suka pintu belakang buka!

Like Abdul Razak Baginda, for services rendered sans integrity, sans duty to country and King, sans self-respect and loyalty to oath of office, Zaki, in the tradition of another Tun from the MCA, is now the genuine article: “A Tun who is wont to accept what gift-bearing Umno offers to him”.

True, while the other Tun from MCA was clever enough to take for himself what was not given to him in PKFZ, alas Zaki does not have the intelligence to do likewise.

So it had to be presented to him on a platter.

And what a gift Zaki received – the Kinrara Damansara (KIDEX) RM2.2 billion highway concession that was first proposed by UEM/PLUS to link Kinrara and Pusat Damasara.

One of the new highways planned under the 2011 Budget – a gift to be shared between the lawyers and judges that made legal the stealing of Perak from the electorates by BN.

And another tale of Malaysia Boleh takes its place in Umno folklore so that when it comes again for Umno to ask a favour of a sitting CJ, A-G (Attorney General) or any DG (director-general) – Umno can always bring out the story of Zaki and his KIDEX RM2.2 billion highway concession and proudly intone that Umno always pay its dues.

And why should Umno not pay its dues… after all, it is not its money that it uses. It’s ours.

Golden handshake under Najib’s eye

By what criteria does Umno measures itself in these shenanigans?

The Russian Mafia or the Italian one? Noreiga or Marcos? Papa Doc or Idi Amin? You wonder sometimes at the level of self-worth these Umno leaders must have.

The mystery to me is how Umno’s rank and file can proudly bask in their ability to proclaim that the chief justice is “orang kita!”…that the Inspector-General of Police, the A-G, the KSU (Ketua Setiausaha/secretary-general) all do the bidding of Umno for money and they are all “orang kita!”

There will be more stories to tell as the election nears.

For now do not forget that Zaki’s golden handshake was conceived, given birth to, nurtured and executed totally under Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s watch.

If I can draw any comfort at all from this sordid caper, it is this: the RM2 billion golden handshake to Zaki is worth a few thousands votes going Anything But Umno’s (ABU) way.

In any marginal seats these numbers are fatal. In any seat in a general election that is too close to call, it might decide who will form government.

And what of Zaki? Upon securing the letter of award, he will get upfront between 1% and 3% of the contract sum from the main contractors.

The main contractor would want to keep him on as chairman of the board to act as their “go to” guy when dealing with the authorities right through the period of the contract.

Any further remuneration for Zaki will be for work done as required by the contractor and, of course, with all the perks of being a chairman.

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.