Najib’s new mantra: 'Help the rakyat, not yourself'

 

On July 4, 2013, then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and his then British counterpart David Cameron jointly launched the ground-breaking Battersea Power Station (BPS) project at a ceremony.

The Malaysian consortium that was undertaking the mammoth development, which had a gross development value of £8 billion (RM40.4 billion), was led by property developer SP Setia Bhd, plantation giant Sime Darby Bhd, and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

The following day, Astro Awani quoted Najib as saying that a major portion of the investment money for the development was obtained from financial institutions.

“As such, there is no reason for the people to be concerned over any outflow of the country's money to finance the integrated development project by the consortium,” he told Malaysian journalists in London. But that was far from the truth. EPF’s share came from the contributions of Malaysians.

Five years later, Najib’s prophetic words were not worth the paper they were printed on. The Telegraph reported: “Like a development black hole on the South Bank, the Battersea Park development has just swallowed up a gargantuan RM8.6 billion (£1.6 billion) of Malaysia’s public money.

The newspaper gave the facts and figures: The original SP Setia-Sime Darby consortium had bought the development in 2012 for what was already considered an eye-watering £400 million (RM2.1 billion), after it had sat for decades as a crumbling white elephant project on the South Bank in London.

"Compare that to the original price. It was bought from the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1987 for just £1.5 million (RM8 million), meaning that the present purchase by Malaysia’s public pension funds is a thousand times greater."

But in December 2018, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) and EPF, again, had to bail out the project - jointly acquiring the commercial assets of Battersea for RM8.4 billion (£1.58 billion).

These days, Najib’s mantra seemed to have changed to become “think of the people, not investments”. As the BN Backbenchers chairman, he is adamant that contributors be allowed to withdraw up to RM10,000 from their EPF Account 1.

Almost immediately, he contradicted himself by saying that EPF can recover its money by raising contribution rates and investing in more profitable projects.

How does EPF increase rates in these trying times? Surely Najib knows that employee contribution rates have been reduced from 11 to 7 percent to ease their burden. He should have thought of profitable projects when big money was injected into the Battersea project. Besides, under his watch, EPF also bought land belonging to the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) at an inflated price.

In October 2010, under Najib, MRB was instructed to sell the land to Asset Tanah Nasional Berhad for RM1.5 billion, which in turn sold it to EPF for RM2.8 billion in August 2012. Why couldn’t EPF or its development arm Kwasa Land acquire it directly?

Now he wants EPF money in profitable ventures. Wasn’t he aware that EPF paid an extra RM800 million for the land?

So, has it finally dawned on him that the welfare of the people matters? Has he put people’s interests over Birkin bags and pink diamonds? Where were these concerns when he allowed billions of ringgit from various government sources to fill yet another bigger hole called 1MDB? Today, the whole nation is paying for his irrationalities and Najib has been described as the world’s biggest kleptocrat.

Sarawak Bank Employees’ Union head Andrew Lo hit the nail on the head when he called on the EPF not to sacrifice its members' retirement savings for immediate gratification adding that he understands the statement by the EPF that it needs to liquidate assets to fund the withdrawals that the government imposed on it during Budget 2021.

“However, the EPF must not be a cash cow to compensate for the government’s inadequacy and inability to provide assistance to millions of poor workers, especially those working in the private sector,” Malaysiakini quoted Lo as saying.

Has Najib suddenly become remorseful? Has he suddenly seen the need to fill the pockets of the people and not of his and the people around him? Is this retribution for past deeds and misdeeds?

Although he may have a small following calling him “Bossku” instead of “Banduanku”, his rhetoric over this issue may be a ploy to win more supporters and win sympathy from many who already made up their mind that his place should be behind bars.

The EPF and the government have been advised, counselled, and even warned on the pitfalls of allowing contributors to touch their money. Last week, EPF CEO Tunku Alizakri Raja Muhammad revealed that based on EPF statistics, a total of 43 percent or 5.38 million members under the age of 55 have savings of less than RM10,000 in their Account 1.

What will these people have in savings when they retire? At that time, Najib won’t be around to make more suggestions for his concern for the rakyat. And again, the numbers in the B40 group will increase. Doesn’t the government and its leaders care? - Mkini

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R NADESWARAN says Najib should encourage people to preserve their EPF money instead of asking them to treat it as a bank account where one can withdraw at will. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.