Former backdoor Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has sworn in the name of God that he did not take a single penny from the scandalous RM4 billion 1BestariNet project during his tenure as Education Minister in 2011. Well, his former boss, disgraced ex-prime minister Najib Razak, too, had misused God’s name in denial of corruption, only to end up in the Kajang Prison.
In fact, Mr Najib was even more dramatic when he took the Islamic oath on August 21, 2022 at Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru in Kuala Lumpur. In his denial, the serial liar said – “I am standing here to clear my name and my family’s name. If I lie on this oath, Allah, may you punish me. If I am found innocent, if all of this is slander planned by my political enemies, I ask you to punish them”.
Hilariously, the God obediently granted Najib his wish, sending him to 12 years’ jail and a fine of RM210 million about 48 hours later after the crook failed in his final appeal against a graft conviction. He was found guilty on 1 count of abuse of power, 3 counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), and 3 counts of money laundering – all involving RM42 million stolen from SRC International Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of 1MDB).
So, Muhyiddin should think twice about scamming the people using a similar stunt. It could backfire and may see him as new resident of Najib’s current jail cell. He may not have taken a single penny – directly – from the 1BestariNet project. But he was involved – indirectly – through his “wanted son-in-law”, Muhamad Adlan Berhan, who is on the run from the authorities.
Muhamad Adlan was Muhyiddin’s proxy in 1BestariNet, a 15-year project worth RM4.47 billion introduced by then-Education Minister Muhyiddin in March 2011 to provide 4G broadband connectivity and virtual learning environment (VLE) to 10,000 government schools nationwide. Through the cloud-based learning platform, teachers and students were supposed to enjoy high speed internet access.
However, the “failed project”, awarded to YTL Communications, had been plagued with slow internet access and problematic Frog VLE, which could easily be replaced with Google Classroom. As a result, the schools, teachers, students and even parents had to suffer for years due to problems in assigning and marking homework, as well as difficulties in tracking students’ progress.
The inexperienced and incompetent YTL got the project through corruption and cronyism, despite claims of an open tender. The project’s first phase quickly ran into issues in 2013. Schools began reporting issues with internet speed and connectivity. Apparently, the poor infrastructure and coverage were not confined only in rural area, but also in urban area like Kuala Lumpur.
Even when the internet speed was not a problem in certain schools, the Frog VLE was. The Audit-General’s 2013 report has shown that the implementation of virtual learning using Frog VLE among schools in Malaysia was less than 5%. There were even reports where teachers were crying foul over the physical and mental pressure they were being subjected to under the 1BestariNet project.
Despite numerous auditor’s concerns that highlighted inefficiencies and failure to meet targeted objectives, it was business as usual – till the corrupt ruling government of Barisan Nasional lost power in the historic May 2018 General Election. In 2019, the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan government decided to discontinue using Frog VLE in schools and replaced it with Google Classroom learning system.
Not only Google Classroom offers the simplest and easiest workspace for education and instructors, it is also “FREE” for schools, non-profits, and anyone with a personal Google account. Of course, YTL was not impressed that its cash-cow had been slaughtered, leading to claims that the government breached its contractual obligations. Yet, YTL said it would continue providing the Frog VLE to all schools.
The best part was when then-Education Minister Maszlee Malik announced that Celcom Axiata Sdn Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, and Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd would take over as internet service providers (ISP) for schools starting July 1, 2019. That means YTL would potentially lose about RM2 billion in profit after the half-baked project was “terminated halfway”.
But the drama had just begun. Behind the scene, Muhyiddin was furious after his pet project was terminated as it means his “commissions” from the 1BestariNet project would be affected. Maszlee, already courted problems with “black shoes” fiasco and Khat Jawi controversy, was forced to resign as education minister on January 2020 after 5 meetings with PM Mahathir Mohamad.
When Maszlee exposed everything two years later, it was too late. Traitor Muhyiddin had become the prime minister after he betrayed Pakatan Harapan government, working with enemies – UMNO and Islamist party PAS – to form a backdoor regime called Perikatan Nasional. However, power-crazy Muhyiddin was in turn betrayed and forced to resign when UMNO withdrew support for him.
On September 4, 2024, however, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) raided YTL Communications Sdn Bhd’s office, launching an investigation on the 1BestariNet project introduced during Najib’s administration in 2011. While Muhyiddin has started pointing fingers at Najib, it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that both Muhyiddin and Najib could have been bribed by YTL.
The MACC investigation focusses on the submission of claims with false details, involving the payment of about RM2.7 billion – suggesting that YTL had been paid even for unfulfilled service level agreements, whilst Muhyiddin could have abused his power by signing off on the project to facilitate the payments for YTL. But this is not the only project which has enriched the crooks.
After Muhyiddin’s failure to become 10th Prime Minister post-15th General Election due to arrogance and over-confidence, the crook’s RM600 billion Covid scandal during his 17-month illegitimate backdoor government (March 2020 – August 2021) was exposed. The stolen money was used by Bersatu and PAS to win 74 parliamentary seats in the Nov 2022 national polls.
Upon investigation, Bersatu accounts were frozen and seized by the MACC. Muhyiddin was charged with six counts of money laundering and corruption. His disgraced son-in-law, Adlan Berhan (whose cousin Adam Radlan was also arrested over his role as “middleman” in brokering government projects related to Covid-19 stimulus packages worth RM92.5 billion in exchange for bribes) had fled the country.
Adlan married to Muhyiddin’s daughter, Nabilah, who is a shareholder of Agathistwo Jia Sdn Bhd, a company involved in the scandalous RM1.2 billion NIIS (National Integrated Immigration System) concession. The NIIS was hatched by Muhyiddin (then-Home Minister under the Pakatan Harapan government) after cancelling its predecessor Sistem Kawalan Imigresen Nasional (SKIN).
Besides hatching the “RM4.47 billion 1BestariNet” and the “RM1.2 billion NIIS” projects when Muhyiddin was the Education Minister and Home Minister respectively, he was also the same crooked Agriculture Minister who hatched and approved the dubious RM250 million loan to UMNO Minister Shahrizat Jalil on Oct 27, 2006 for a project called NFC (National Feedlot Corporation) – popularly known as Cowgate Scandal.
Of course, this is not the first time Muhyiddin was involved in corruption. He had done worse when he was the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Johor from 1986 to 1995. Stamford Holdings Sdn Bhd, a plantation company owned by the Seet family (Singapore) and Gan family and the Wang family (Malaysia), applied to the state government in 1984 for permission to develop a parcel of land belonging to the company.
When Muhyiddin noticed the application, he sent Syed Mokhtar and Yahaya Talib, who introduced themselves as business associates and friends of the Johor Chief Minister, to meet Stamford directors. Muhyiddin’s cronies proposed to develop 714.7-hectare of the land in a joint venture (JV) agreement where Syed Mokhtar-led firm took a 30% stake, with the remaining held by Stamford.
The initial venture was a success, never mind Samford was forced to accept the parasites as business partners. In 1992, Muhyiddin, Syed Mokhtar and Yahaya approached Stamford with a plan to develop the remaining 2,638.5-hectare. Unlike the first agreement, they greedily demanded 70% equity stake but was willing to pay only RM30,000 per acre for Stamford (in the first venture, they paid RM3,397.50 per acre).
Stamford rejected the preposterous proposal (when the Muhyiddin’s group sold their stake in 1994, their initial investment of RM1.8 million had soared to RM83.2 million – 4,522% profit). When Stamford insisted on retaining the original JV conditions, and told them to pay fairly RM70,000 per acre for the 30% equity stake, Muhyiddin threatened Stamford.
Muhyiddin warned – “Look, I have this piece of paper in front of me on my desk. All I have to do is sign it and Stamford Holdings will no longer own the 4,000 acres of land. Now, do you agree or not to develop the land and I take 70%?” Several threats followed, but Stamford remained adamant, refusing to be robbed. In July 1994, the Johor government forcefully and unlawfully acquired the land.
Stamford Holdings sued Muhyiddin, Syed Mokhtar and Yahaya in Feb 1995. After a lengthy court battle, the scandal reached the Federal Court in 1998 where all parties agreed to settle the dispute out of court. Stamford was paid compensation of RM405 million. The scandal was so massive that Asiaweek did a comprehensive investigative report and exposed Muhyiddin’s phone call threatening Stamford directors.
Yes, if you believe Mahiaddin alias Muhyiddin didn’t get his cut in 1BestariNet, you should also believe in tooth fairies and Joe Biden is still a virgin. Stealing money was not Muhyiddin’s only forte. He was quite experienced in stealing a person’s wife too. In 2017, UMNO supporter Azwanddin Hamzah submitted a statutory declaration as proof about Muhyiddin’s disgraced extramarital affair with Nika Gee Siew Yee, wife of former deputy public prosecutor Stanley Clement Augustin.
The 77-year-old man should have gone into retirement after the 2022 election. Instead, the power-hungry Mr Moo keeps threatening the Anwar government. Now, the MACC will start digging all his previous dirty deals to keep him busy with charges and trials, the same way Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor’s dirty secrets were exposed to all and sundry.
- financetwitter
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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