YOURSAY | Direct nego deals: Stop passing the buck

YOURSAY | ‘I didn't know the Finance Ministry was in charge of Housing and Local Government Ministry.’

Zuraida’s aide: Guan Eng’s ministry handled direct award contracts

BusinessFirst: Please just give us the facts. Stop all these disingenuous answers.

First, we are told by Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin that there were no direct contacts in her ministry under her watch.

Later when confronted with facts and figures, Zuraida said she could not remember. It’s not RM170 or even RM170,000 but RM170,000,000 to build, operate, and maintain a new solid waste transfer station in Jinjang Utara, Kuala Lumpur, to replace an existing station.

Yes, please note the zeros in RM170 million, money that most of us will not see in a lifetime or for 10 generations. So, we are given an excuse one often heard in former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's trial - “I don’t know”.

Then, Zuraida promised an internal investigation because she did not approve it. Now we have your (Zuraida’s political secretary Nor Hizwan Ahmad’s) response. Is this the result of the internal investigation, all five hours of it? How underwhelming.

The public is sick of all this nonsense of taking potshots with no substance. Why is the aide speaking for the minister when she was more than happy to respond personally before?

1. The answer you have given is distracting and raises more questions. Why would former finance minister Lim Guan Eng negotiate a contract that is under Zuraida's ministry? Has he been appointed supreme minister that overrides the minister of a ministry?

2. Why did Zuraida not complain that her powers were being usurped? If she did not know, is it believable since it came from her budget and she visited the factory as in her Facebook post?

This is like Najib’s trial. He also claimed he did not know of the millions in his personal bank account and someone was using or operating it without his knowledge. It sounds familiar, does it not?

In her response, Zuraida threw accusations against the DAP or Lim, which is standard fare for Perikatan Nasional (PN). At least, Najib spared us that gem. We should, I suppose, be grateful for little mercies wherever we find them.

IndigoKite6964: @BusinessFirst, direct negotiations for contracts by a finance minister were a practice of Umno. I can't imagine that Lim would make the mistake by doing the same.

I would think that each ministry would handle their own projects guided by the budget that was set by them as requested to the cabinet by the ministry involved and approved by the cabinet, not the Finance Ministry unilaterally.

Once the budget is approved, the ministry handles the tender and evaluation of the submissions and subsequent award. Tender is mandated should a project exceed a certain value.

To say that Lim negotiated this job directly can only mean to accuse him of corruption. This was how Najib and wife Rosmah Mansor did it and they are facing the consequences of it now.

Therefore, Zuraida's aide didn't just make a statement, he made an accusation amounting to corruption, without proof or argument.

Parliament should demand proof of this direct negotiation by the Finance Ministry for a sizeable job on behalf of another ministry when Lim was the finance minister.

Otherwise, sue them both and have them produce the proof in open court or forfeit everything they've got.

Malaysiansatay: Wait a minute... so the former finance minister was running the Housing and Local Government Ministry? Then what was Zuraida doing at the event (where she made an official visit to the Taman Beringin facility)? She was seen and she even posted on her Facebook that she visited the place.

But best of all, it was reported in the news that Bumi Segar Indah awarded the project to a sub-contractor. Don’t tell me Zuraida never reads the news?

DalvinK: Indeed. I didn't know the Finance Ministry was in charge of Housing and Local Government Ministry.

You meant there's a housing and local government project approved by someone else and it was started without Zuraida's knowledge?

Thanks for telling us that you've been sleeping on the job. If you were not aware of the direct award of projects worth RM170 million, I'm sure you could have failed in many other areas. So please resign, you are clearly unfit for the job.

Moonwalker: Pass the “ball” around, blame it on someone else - all these silly politicians feign innocence when caught with facts and figures that show otherwise.

How can we trust these so-called politicians when all they can respond with is that they don't know and they are not responsible for the outcome that is happening in front of their nose?

Zuraida, why are you a minister when you don’t know anything? Trust this backdoor government to run the country? No way.

ColorAnimalNumber: Zuraida, if what you say is true, it's still your responsibility.

The purchase of the said machines happened under your ministry and you are still the minister of the same ministry now.

Restless_Native: Here we go again. Yet another finger-pointing "scandal" just so that the current crop of "pretend leaders" can have a little "fame".

Don't we know that in Bolehland we can never seem to uncover the truth?

None, and I mean not one of these politicians has any element of leadership in him/her. They have prostituted what little ideal they may have had for the spoils of political office and will do anything to stay in power.

We don't have any visionaries amongst them; heck, they won't even know what that is even if it hit them on the side of their empty heads.

Without fail, each one espouses different variants of the 3Rs (race, religion and royalty) "strategy" to enslave the rakyat's minds. They simply cannot think outside of that tempurung (coconut shell).

So, let’s not waste time "seeking the truth" folks from the present political parties of clowns and tricksters. - Mkini