Linking Hassan's 'crime' and Anwar's 2 years

 

 What does PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim have to do with PM Anwar Ibrahim’s two years in power, if anything?

Everything - he is assuming the mantle of a reformist standing up for the promises that PKR made while Anwar is losing it.

Hassan’s troubles with the PKR leadership encapsulate the party’s transformation from its core purpose of ending corruption and patronage. The party is instead muzzling a brave MP who has the courage to raise issues of public concern such as the questionable award of the second 5G network.

Instead of addressing the core issues, PKR secretary-general Fuziah Salleh said the disciplinary action was initiated following complaints the party received against Hassan from “several members of its central leadership council”.

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Who are these unnamed leaders who do not have the gumption to speak up but instead complain about someone else who does and who raises very valid points about the award of the 5G contract which involves spectrum worth several billion ringgit?

Two charges

To understand this better, we have to look into what was Hassan’s “crime” that he had to be hauled up before PKR’s disciplinary committee to explain his remarks. He confirmed there were two charges, one of which was touching on the Malay rulers.

The first charge was over his criticism of Anwar for awarding the contract to U Mobile. “Therefore, I was accused of tarnishing the party’s image, which is a disciplinary offence under the PKR constitution,” he added.

If a person speaks the truth and asks honest questions, should he be accused of tarnishing the party’s image? If the truth tarnishes the party’s image, is it in any way Hassan’s fault? Certainly not. Anyone pursuing truth should not face disciplinary action.

The second charge is more complex and sensitive as it relates to royalty.

“This is because, in my writing, I linked the institution of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as being the second biggest shareholder in U Mobile and pointed out that under Article 34(3) of the Federal Constitution, the Agong is forbidden from being actively involved in commercial business activities,” he told Malaysiakini.

The current king is the telecommunications company’s second-largest shareholder with a 22.3 percent stake. The firm has been picked as the second operator for Malaysia’s 5G network.

Singapore govt is largest shareholder

But U Mobile’s largest shareholder is ultimately the Singapore government through Temasek Holdings. Straits Mobile Investments Pte Ltd - a subsidiary of Temasek-owned ST Telemedia owns 48.3 percent. However, U-Mobile said Straits Mobile Investments would reduce its shares to 20 percent.

This is a big concern and it cannot become any less because the king owns the second largest investment. It goes without saying that if royalty is involved in any business the assessment for government contracts must be decided purely on commercial grounds.

Hassan is right about Section 34(3) of the Constitution which states that “The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall not actively engage in any commercial enterprise”.

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The operative word is “actively” which implies that passive investments are all right. So why should he be penalised for pointing that out?

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar

This also implies that if royalty is involved in a deal, even passively, it can be criticised if it is done with due respect, fairly, and in a balanced manner. Otherwise, tying up with members of royalty would be a passport to getting deals.

With respect to the award of 5G, there are many issues to be considered, none of which are related to the king being the second-largest shareholder, as I wrote in an article titled “5G: Spectrum value, the Singapore link, and other issues”.

Spectrum may be worth RM7.5 billion

Here are some issues highlighted in the article:

• Spectrum value may be as high as RM7.5 billion, and a Singapore company gets nearly half of that or RM3.75 billion for free. Of course, all other shareholders benefit as well.

• U-Mobile is the least qualified among the three telcos, the others being CelcomDigi and Maxis, using parameters such as total assets, shareholders’ funds, revenue, profit, number of employees, network presence, and other financial and operational criteria

• The single network model, already signed and sealed earlier, would have been preferable.

So, Hassan was raising very legitimate concerns about the decision made which involved a businessperson, Vincent Tan, who started U Mobile, and was said to be close to Anwar.

The prime minister needs to explain why such a decision was taken, not haul up the MP who raised the issue to the disciplinary board.

Instead he, through the party disciplinary board and some unnamed people in the central leadership appears to have used so-called “sensitive issues” - in this case, royalty - to muzzle genuine concerns over the award of the 5G contract.

That seems to have been the only “crime” committed by Hassan.

Taken together with a whole host of other measures already written extensively about to control social media and now even to license social media news portals, this is a clear indication that the Madani government has and will have things to hide.

That portends ill for both Anwar and his coalition government. It’s time they changed tack to return to the white or face the wrath of the public at the polls. - Mkini

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P GUNASEGARAM says free and fair expression is the hallmark of a progressive state.

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