Najib's 'funny business' in MRT contract awards

YOURSAY 'Syed Ali, you are no George Kent; you have not been in the business of water meters and therefore not qualified for plumb deals like the MRT.'

Malay group flays Najib over MRT tender awards

Odin: Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia president Syed Ali Alattas, Teraju (Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera) was reported to have claimed a fortnight ago that companies owned by ‘princes of the soil' got 47% of the contracts.

It may be that none in your Chamber was found qualified to manufacture such things as water meters.

And when you say something like the future generations might get angry with the government if PM Najib Razak continued his 'funny business', when it is the present generation that would be, and you are the president of the Chamber, then I'm sorry to say, I don't think all of you are really very bright fellows.

Swipenter: Definitely Syed Ali has been sleeping all these years. To get plum projects from the government, there are a few prerequisites.

First you must be an Umnoputra, secondly you must be in the right camp in Umno or at least politically well-connected, and thirdly, you must be a Malay or at least constitutionally defined one.

Otherwise, you are just another Malay trying to make a living, just like millions of other Malaysians. Umno looks after Umno Malays and not just any ordinary Malay. If you still don't get it after 55 years of independence, you never will.

Pemerhati: When Malaya gained independence in 1957, it was agreed that the native Malays, who at that time were backward, should be given special privileges for 15 years to enable them to catch up with the other Malayans.

But a lot of non-native Malays of Indian descent (e.g. Dr Mahathir Mohamad and children), Arabic descent (e.g. Syed Hamid Albar), Chinese descent (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and children) and various other descents, used the loose constitutional definition for a Malay to classify themselves as Malays so as to enjoy the privileges of the really backward native Malays.

This clearly showed their opportunistic, greedy, ruthless and selfish nature because they were not bothered by the fact that they were taking what was meant for the really poor and backward Malays.

The harsh reality is that if these corrupt constitutional Malays had not mismanaged the country and siphoned off billions of the people's money, Malaysia could have been at par with countries like, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea.

Anti-Umno: Why must we always bring up the issue of race each time there is a government contract being awarded?

For the sake of this country, it has to be based on competitiveness and open tender. May the best tender wins. It's as simple as that.

Having said that, this does not mean that I support George Kent - the company that was given the contract to build the Ampang LRT line extension - as it is obvious that they are not the best option.

Abasir: Syed Ali and the Malay Chamber, try to remember this: You are no George Kent; you have not been in the business of water meters and therefore not qualified for plumb deals like the MRT.

And as for those 'special event jackets', that is a core essential of Umno political culture, introduced by none other than 'whatshisname'.

It's also a way to generate business for crony uniform makers connected to Perkasa, Umno Putera, Puteri, Wanita and for all we know, hardcore members of the Malay Chamber.

SMC77: Indeed, the BN government did award 47% of the contracts to the bumiputera, but Najib forgot to tell everyone that you need to read this in conjunction with the fine print.

The fine print stated that only his cronies are classified as bumi, regardless of their ethnic groups. Unfortunately, DPMM (Malay Chamber of Commerce) is not capable to understand such simple logic.

Kolopilah: DPMM members, please answer truthfully. Are you guys qualified to handle this MRT project? If you yourself are not qualified, what then is the difference between you and the other "unqualified contractors"? You might as well frolic as Najib's golf buddy!

"Absolutely nothing" means even Najib doesn't trust you.

Wira: What Syed Ali Alattas is saying that his so-called 'privileged' group is not getting the contract but outsiders.

May we know who's who are getting the MRT sub-contracts? Are those contracts awarded through direct negotiations just like how the turnkey contractor George Kent was awarded?

DontPlayGod: Ever since the third PM introduced all these ‘negotiated tenders' thingy, Malaysia will never be the same again. You either are a member of the royalty or have close links with the warlords of Umno if you want to get any project.

I won't call it tender, because there is no tender involved. And you need not have any experience or money. Soft loans (our money) will be provided. This is the height of corruption.

Enough of this, and I hope when Pakatan Rakyat comes to power, it will bring back the tender system of the 50s to 70s. And don't ever use our money again to finance cronies, like what Umno is doing.

Trublumalaysian: "However, Syed Ali did not refer to any specific MRT tender and called on Najib to not repeat such behaviour in future. ‘So, with all this, we ask the PM not to always indulge in all this funny business,' he said."

Tsk, tsk... naughty boy you, Ah Jib Gor (brother Najib).

Anonymous_3e21: I fully support you on this, Tuan Syed. Najib is known to have conducted many "funny business" that have caused bumiputera to lose out. It is about time that all of you took him to task now as the future of our children are at stake.

JSTOM: This 'funny business' is normal SOP (standard operating procedure) for Umno. As such, the real contractors have to get from these 'unqualified' middlemen and jack up the price. - Malaysiakini