‘Apologise over BL1M claims or get sued’

Umno Youth and MYEG give an ultimatum to PKR after the opposition party kicked up a fuss over the BL1M programme.

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Youth and a company specialising in e-services MYEG want a public apology from PKR in the next seven days over the latter’s allegations regarding the 1Malaysia Licence Aid (BL1M) programme.

“Retract your statement in seven days or we’ll take legal action. We are in the midst of consulting our lawyers,” said Umno Youth exco and BL1M chief Tengku Azman Tengku Zainol Abidin at a press conference here.

MYEG executive director Raja Munir Shah Raja Mustapha also echoed similar sentiments.

“It is a slanderous accusation by PKR. Our lawyers are also studying the implications. We will give them seven days to retract the statement,” said Raja Munir.

Controversy over the RM199 valued BL1M programme was raised on Wednesday when PKR’s Serikandi chief Siti Aishah Shaik Ismail claimed that Umno was using BL1M to enrich its cronies and deprived driving school institutes of their payment of RM100 for every student.

The BL1M programme which was launched by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on Jan 31 is a collaboration between Umno Youth and MYEG Services.

This programme is for youths who want to obtain Class B2 motorcycle licence with the test fee reduced from RM261 to RM199.

PKR supreme council member Chang Lih Kang said this would affect the quality of new drivers.

He also revealed that MYEG has a director who is an Umno member – Raja Munir Shah – and is meant to enrich Umno cronies. PKR also urged the government to end the BL1M programme.

The following day, Tengku Azman dared PKR to prove the allegations.

‘We don’t want public to be misled’

Elaborating further, Raja Munir said PKR’s statement was also damaging to MYEG. He said: “We don’t want the public to be misled. We want MYEG’s name to be cleared.”

Meanwhile, Tengku Azman cleared the air about driving institutes being allegedly deprived of the money.

“MYEG has not made an offer of RM100 to any driving institutes,” he said.

Raja Munir also cleared the air on the allegations of cronyism that PKR accused him of.

“MYEG has been in operation since 1999. I have been involved in it since 2004. I became Tanjung Umno deputy chief in 2009. What do you expect me to do? Is PKR going to give me my pay cheque? I have declared everything on the MYEG website. They only picked up the political angle and left out my social contributions,” he said.

He also defended the BL1M programme. “On an average day, a driving school gets five students. Under this programme, we are offering 500 students a month,” he said.

“There are 220,000 participants under BL1M though we planned for 100,000 participants. The current amount is adequate for one year,” he added.

He also told the press that 75 out of 191 driving institutes are participating in BL1M.

As for the amount that the driving institutes received, he said the institutes in small towns receive RM150 whereas those in bigger towns receive RM130.

Raja Munir also explained that MYEG was involved in BL1M as part of its corporate social responsibility project.

“Up to 90% of my staff are involved in this project, working seven days a week from morning until 10pm,” he said.