FATEH ISKANDAR: NAJIB ALLY OR MUHYIDDIN MOLE?

Fateh Iskandar has found a way to increase his wealth through obtaining projects in exchange for ‘fair coverage’. Favourable news in most sought after by politicians and Ministers while unfavourable news must be avoided like the plague. And Fateh Iskandar has found a unique way in how to achieve this be ‘selling’ news for the right price.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Muhammad Mohd Taib a.k.a. Mat Taib was Selangor’s 11th Menteri Besar who served from August 1986 to April 1997, until he was forced to resign when he was caught trying to smuggle RM3.3 million into Australia. He was eventually acquitted of the criminal charge, however, on grounds that he did not speak English and hence did not know that smuggling large amounts of cash into Australia was a crime.

One of the numerous companies that made it big during Mat Taib’s tenure as Menteri Besar was Glomac Berhad, which was the beneficiary of large tracts of state land, and is said to be his vehicle but parked under the same of the FD Mansor family. Glomac has 40 subsidiaries involved in the real estate business and has, to date, completed in excess of RM2 billion worth of property development.

Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor (pic above) is the second generation of the FD Mansor family who joined the family business in 1991 and took over the reins in 1997, around the time that the company’s benefactor, Mat Taib, resigned from office in disgrace. It is still not known how much of Glomac’s wealth actually belongs to Mat Taib but is being held in proxy by the family.

Glomac is a classic example of how cronyism works and how business in Malaysia is being done by those who walk in the corridors of power through proxies and nominees. It is said that RM100-200 billion of Umno’s wealth is still being held through proxies and nominees and are being held under trust, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad being one of them together with his sidekick, Tun Daim Zainuddin.

The problem, though, is that not many really know how much is involved and where it is all hidden. An even bigger problem is when the trustees continue to hold this wealth under proxies and nominees and refuse to hand back to Umno what they are holding. Hence the need for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to seek Umno’s funding elsewhere to finance the party’s activities, the general elections included.

The way out, of course, and to avoid Umno’s cash and assets from being hijacked by trustees, proxies and nominees, would be for the party president to hold Umno’s money in his own name and place in his personal bank accounts. However, this raises another problem, as the RM2.6 billion (or US$1 billion) issue has proven.

So, is Glomac owned by the Fateh Iskandar family, partly being held under trust for Mat Taib, or is it under proxy for Umno? No one really knows but if Fateh Iskandar chooses to keep it all to himself there is really nothing Mat Taib or Umno can do about it. And this appears to be the current scenario. I suppose, as the Malays would say: harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi.

Last year, on 1st September 2015, Fateh Iskandar was appointed the new Chairman of Umno company Media Prima Bhd to replace Tan Sri Johan Jaafar, who resigned on 31st August 2015. Media Prima is amongst the top 100 Malaysian companies in terms of revenue. The Group has equity interests in TV3, 8TV, NTV7 and TV9 plus it owns more than 98% equity interest in The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad (NSTP), Malaysia’s largest publisher that owns three national newspapers; New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro.

September 2015 was around the time that the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) had predicted that Najib would be ousted from office. So why Najib agreed to Fateh Iskandar’s appointment when it was suspected that the latter’s loyalty lay with the ANC is a mystery. Or was Najib wrongly advised?

Nevertheless, Fateh Iskandar’s real loyalty was revealed recently when he invited Muhyiddin Yassin to his sister’s nikah. Fateh Iskandar did, however, invite Najib to the wedding reception. although more as a courtesy to the Prime Minister.

In the past, Media Prima never interfered in the operations of any of its subsidiaries. Of late, however,Fateh Iskanda has instructed that all news must first come to his table for approval before they can be published or aired, in particular those involving the Prime Minister and other news that are political in nature.

Fateh Iskandar has also told them what news can and cannot be published or aired plus he has given his ‘input’ on what they should cover. And the instructions that he has dished out give an impression that he is secretly a Muhyiddin Yassin mole and that he wants the media to play up news that is not exactly favourable to the Prime Minister.

Amongst other complaints is that he trades space and air time for projects. Any Minister who wishes to see his name in print or on the air would have to agree to some horse trading, such as approve certain projects that he is vying for. If not then the only news they will see would be those unfavourable to them.

Fateh Iskandar has found a way to increase his wealth through obtaining projects in exchange for ‘fair coverage’. Favourable news is most sought after by politicians and Ministers while unfavourable news must be avoided like the plague. And Fateh Iskandar has found a unique way in how to achieve this by selling news for the right price.

Media Prime is a very powerful weapon you can own and which you can use to blackmail those who walk in the corridors of power. If you do not play ball and give him what he wants, Fateh Iskandar can make sure that you either get blacked out or only negative news about you will see the light of day.

Fateh Iskandar also procures information by making sure that everyone knows he has daily breakfast meetings with the Prime Minister plus that the first person the Prime Minister meets before he goes to bed in himself. He also boasts that he is very close to HRH the Sultan of Selangor. He not only impresses those he talks to but he also puts the fear of God in these people. In other words, he is very powerful so they had better not mess with him.

He makes it known that those who want to reach the ears of the Prime Minister must first talk to him. In this way he can obtain all sorts of sensitive and crucial information, which he can use in his game of thrones. As they say, information is power and this is how Fateh Iskandar enhances his power. And the information he receives can be used to undermine the Prime Minister and help Muhyiddin and the ANC in their moves to oust Najib.

Sometimes you wonder how Najib manages to get himself into all sorts of sticky situations. But then when you consider how Najib can appoint or agree to the appointment of Fateh Iskandar to head Media Prima it sorts of explains everything. With ‘friends’ like Fateh Iskandar, Najib really does not need any enemies.

If Najib sometimes wonders how come his enemies are able to put obstacles in his way every step of the way, then maybe he should look at his own backyard. With people such as Fateh Iskandar and those of his ilk handling the very sensitive media group, you really need not wonder too much because the answer is very obvious.