Swallowing Taxpayer's Money : Shut Down Pemandu

According to one of the comments sent in to my earlier Blogpost on Pemandu (The PM's Screwup Team - Senarai Pegawai Pemandu, Bersih Supporters Etc) one of the Pemandu 'consultants' who gives advice that is running the country into the ground has been charged for drunk driving. 

The chick is supposed to be a heavy drinker and party animal. I have checked out the link that was provided.  Here is the comment and the link :  

"According to Malaysia Bar website 

(http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/disciplinary_orders/disciplinary_orders_july_2012.html), 

parti queen of Pemandu, Ms Fxrxh Ixtax was fined RM500 in July 2012 under Section 103D, 102 LPA 1976. Too much drinking?"

Well if she wants to drink that is her choice. This is a free country. It is not a crime (under the Civil Law) to drink in this country - unless you are a Muslim then you cant drink alchohol in public.  But it is a crime (under any Law) to be drunk in public or to drive a motor vehicle under the influence (DUI) of alchohol.  

The question is - is it clever to have a habitually drunk person as an advisor to help chart the future of a nation of 28 million people?  What do you think folks? If someone has been charged with drunk driving would you still appoint them as a Director of a Bank? Or of your school PIBG? So would you appoint them as an advisor to the PM's Department? 

I  am sure many of you have read the write up by Malaysiakini. M'kini says that Pemandu paid the 'con-sultans' McKinsey RM36.0 Million just to set up Pemandu. 

In Indonesia they once arrested the Senior Management of a foreign consultant when the consultant (an IT company) charged the Government too much and then failed to deliver on a project. I think that is a great idea. Just arrest some of these thieves and throw them in jail. What do you think folks?

I think since the time of Slumberjack in 2003 (that is when this whole 'con-sultan' con-game began) the Malaysian taxpayer has paid easily half a Billion Ringgit to all the 'con-sultans' doing work for the half past six Gomen. Maybe more than half a Billion Ringgit.

Former MP YB Wee Choo Keong once raised a question in Parliament asking Khazanah Nasional Bhd to reveal to the public how much 'consul-tancy' fees they have been paying the consultans all these years.

The Minister in charge of Khazanah refused to divulge the figure stating that it was confidential between Khazanah and the con-sultan!!  We are not asking for details lah. Just give us total figures. We do not need individual file references. But the Moron refused to divulge the information.  

Well here is the report from Malaysiakini :

McKinsey paid RM36 mil to set up Pemandu

Regina Lee 

• Pemandu's mind-boggling price tag of RM66 million 
• even before it got down to work
• documents obtained by Malaysiakini reveal spending 
• McKinsey took the lion's share RM36 million
• Hay Group RM11 million 
• Ethos & Co RM1.5 million 
• Alpha Platform RM1.5 million
• mysterious "external consultant" "Tarmidzi" received RM3 million 
• Khazanah proposed to foot RM21m for McKinsey from April to September, 2009.
• operations estimated to take RM65.1m for the whole of 2010
• ETP unit has gobbled up RM60 million of government funds.
• RM16 million paid to consultants for the seven NKRA laboratories
• Cost for ETP for 2011 & 2012 averages RM53 million a year
• wages of eight directors average RM39,000 a month
• associate directors RM23,300 monthly.
• senior Pemandu representative said that she was unable to comment.

Lets add up these figures ok :  RM66 Mil start up + RM65.1 Mil for ops in 2010 + RM60 Mil for ETP + RM16 Mil for NKRA labs + RM106 Mil for ETP (2011 & 2012) + RM24 Mil (wages for eight Directors & eight associate directors - keeping it simple - for four years) =  RM337 Million in FOUR years.

This is a very, very conservative ball park figure. I think the real figures are MUCH MUCH MORE.  This is PEMANDU's thievery alone. 

What about Khazanah Nasional's payments to the con-sultans? 

Two days ago I attended the preview of the Education Blueprint by the DPM. There were consultants involved (the same name was mentioned) in the preparation of the Education Blueprint as well.  How many millions did that cost?

The last 10 years - since Slumberjack took over - has been one big party time for these 'con-sultans' in Malaysia. 

At one function not too long ago I met a consultan from Hays - a young girl. She very proudly gave me her business card - which I still have. Later a teh tarik kaki of mine spoke of a friend's daughter who had made it big in Hays. It turned out to be the same girl  I  met. Her father told my friend that his daughter now had a chauffeur. Her big decisions for the day would be sending the chauffeur to fetch the kids at school, ferry the mum around and stuff like that.  All at the taxpayers expense.

The 'con-sultans' have been having a real party. That one girl has literally been boozing it up. All at the Malaysian taxpayers' expense. 

And the country has been going down the tubes since the 'con-sultans' came into the picture in 2003. Thats when Tun Dr Mahathir retired.  Now under Najib the Ringgit is hitting RM2.60 against the Singapore Dollar, our ratings are down, Gomen borrowings are sky high, if there is another Financial Crisis, Khazanah Nasional  can go bust - because their gearing is so high. 

There is no new wealth creation in the country.  Land flipping, GLC restructuring, corporate manouevring, left pocket to right pocket "restructuring" is keeping the game going. 

Did you know that during the recent Hari Raya there were few or NO taxis at the KLIA. The taxi drivers - who were mostly Muslims - were away celebrating Hari Raya. But no one told the airlines, the international travellers and foreign tourists that they should NOT fly into KLIA during Hari Raya. All the taxi drivers were away celebrating Hari Raya. Many travellers had very difficult times getting transportation into KL. What are our contingency plans for events like these? Bayar 'con-sultan' pun tak guna.

Crime is reaching frightening levels. The streets are getting really dirty in KL. The sidewalks are like a Third World country. Hawkers everywhere. Rubbish everywhere. The education system is breaking down.  Yet the con-sultans have been paid hundreds of millions of Ringgit.  To do what?  

Here is an obviously angry picture from superblog The Unspinners about Pemandu, Idris Jala, Omar Ong, Dato Sewel and friends  :

This picture sums up the general feeling of thinking people towards Pemandu. 

I received a call on Saturday (when I was writing this) from a friend who was an economic planner in the great State of  Malacca. We were discussing what the next Federal Budget should do. Winding up Pemandu should be Number 1 on the list.