The Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia today carried a bold frontpage headline and two-pages of articles flaying billionaire Francis Yeoh for denying that he received government handouts.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd workers union president Mohd Roszeli Majid and many other Malay businessmen were quoted by the newspaper warning Yeoh not to boast that he was a self-made man.
Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi meanwhile warned Yeoh not to "talk big".
He said there were big companies who were now "thorns in the flesh" of the government's attempt to uphold integrity and transparency in business.
"These companies are building an empire within a ministry and has created an internal mafia. Therefore, YTL does not need to talk so big," he was quoted saying.
Mohd Puad was irked by Yeoh (left) boasting in a forum on Tuesday that Bursa-listed conglomerate YTL Corp and a major independent power producer (IPP) in Malaysia had made it on its own ingenuity.
After boasting that 85 percent of YTL's business was now overseas, Yeoh allegedly urged the Malaysian government to end crony capitalism, as it was an outdated 20-year old idea.
"Now Malaysia demands a leader in (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak)… To really be a (Winston) Churchill, or be a Tun Razak like his father," Yeoh was reported as saying at the Pemandu organised Global Malaysia Series at the Securities Commission.
Yeoh also denied that he was ever a "Mahathir crony" referring to the regime of the former prime minister, under which YTL had prospered into a flagship Malaysian company with construction, property, power and telecommunications businesses.
'I defended Najib'
Yeoh, however, issued a media statement yesterday clarifying that he had in fact defended Najib's concerted efforts to introduce more open competition and encourage greater transparency in business.
"I made it very clear that the achievements made were not a consequence of crony capitalism. I also wanted to dispel the audience’s misperception that successful businesses in Malaysia are a result of crony capitalism," he said in the statement.
"When asked if I was a crony of Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) who purportedly awarded us a lucrative independent power producer concession, I categorically stated that I was not a crony of Dr Mahathir!" he added.
Besides having Yeoh on its front page, Utusanalso extended the attack on YTL Corp to its business section which carried the heading "YTL Power share prices starts to erode."
It carried investment analysts casting doubt on the company's prospects.
"The giving of direct contracts has given rise to all kinds of negative connotations, especially since IPPs are earning huge profit margins (for YTL)," the paper quoted president of the Bumiputera Malaysia Remisier association Md Hasrin Md Hassim.
YTL Power's shares actually only closed 2 sens lower at RM1.56 per share on Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday compared to the day before. On Thursday morning, the shares were trading steady at RM1.55.
YTL Corp shares were however trading higher, rising 4 percent, or 7 sens, to RM1.68 per share.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd workers union president Mohd Roszeli Majid and many other Malay businessmen were quoted by the newspaper warning Yeoh not to boast that he was a self-made man.
Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi meanwhile warned Yeoh not to "talk big".
He said there were big companies who were now "thorns in the flesh" of the government's attempt to uphold integrity and transparency in business.
"These companies are building an empire within a ministry and has created an internal mafia. Therefore, YTL does not need to talk so big," he was quoted saying.
Mohd Puad was irked by Yeoh (left) boasting in a forum on Tuesday that Bursa-listed conglomerate YTL Corp and a major independent power producer (IPP) in Malaysia had made it on its own ingenuity.After boasting that 85 percent of YTL's business was now overseas, Yeoh allegedly urged the Malaysian government to end crony capitalism, as it was an outdated 20-year old idea.
"Now Malaysia demands a leader in (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak)… To really be a (Winston) Churchill, or be a Tun Razak like his father," Yeoh was reported as saying at the Pemandu organised Global Malaysia Series at the Securities Commission.
Yeoh also denied that he was ever a "Mahathir crony" referring to the regime of the former prime minister, under which YTL had prospered into a flagship Malaysian company with construction, property, power and telecommunications businesses.
'I defended Najib'
Yeoh, however, issued a media statement yesterday clarifying that he had in fact defended Najib's concerted efforts to introduce more open competition and encourage greater transparency in business.
"I made it very clear that the achievements made were not a consequence of crony capitalism. I also wanted to dispel the audience’s misperception that successful businesses in Malaysia are a result of crony capitalism," he said in the statement.
"When asked if I was a crony of Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) who purportedly awarded us a lucrative independent power producer concession, I categorically stated that I was not a crony of Dr Mahathir!" he added.
Besides having Yeoh on its front page, Utusanalso extended the attack on YTL Corp to its business section which carried the heading "YTL Power share prices starts to erode."It carried investment analysts casting doubt on the company's prospects.
"The giving of direct contracts has given rise to all kinds of negative connotations, especially since IPPs are earning huge profit margins (for YTL)," the paper quoted president of the Bumiputera Malaysia Remisier association Md Hasrin Md Hassim.
YTL Power's shares actually only closed 2 sens lower at RM1.56 per share on Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday compared to the day before. On Thursday morning, the shares were trading steady at RM1.55.
YTL Corp shares were however trading higher, rising 4 percent, or 7 sens, to RM1.68 per share.
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