Betrayal of an UMNO division leader

The controversial FB posting supposedly belonging to Dato Seri Ismail Sabri expressed the frustration at seeing Muslim Malays lacking consumer consciousness to still visit Old Town White Coffee (OTWC) chains despite its questionable halal status.

One of the shareholder is strongly believed to be Perak DAP Chairman, Dato Ngeh Koo Ham. 

Ismail Sabri wished Malay consumers could unite and apply pressure on such establishment to conform but they couldn't care less and still frequent the place.

Before UMNO leaders can expect such unity and support from the Malays, UMNO itself should be seen as united and free from betrayal themselves. In a closed door meeting, it is heard that one UMNO leader demanded on Ismail Sabri to apologise.

That sort of betrayal is common but the betrayal in this posting is more revolting. 

In the recent budget restructuring, Dato Najib announced that the next batch 2 and 3 of the scheduled PLKN session will be deferred. That will be a setback for the beneficiary of the PLKN, i.e. Gunung Capital Berhad. [Read The Star here.]

The major shareholder and managing director is the UMNO Division Chief for Bukit Gantang, Dato' Syed Abu Hussin bin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal.

He reminded of our friend, the UMNO candidate for Bukit Gantang parliament, Ismail Mohd Pian for the last general election.

He lost and the seat was won handsomely by Ngeh's second cousin and former Perak MB, Datuk Seri Muhammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

Our political intel confirmed that Ismail's campaign was sabotaged by the UMNO Division Chief and it was Syed Hussin.  

Syed Hussin's Gunung Capital is a transport operator was awarded another three-year contract worth RM165mil by the Defence Ministry to provide bus services for the PLKN programme [read this December 29 2014 announcement here].

The deferment by government will affect his company and it's shares. 

A source described Syed Hussin as per the description by a bloghere, a "low profile businessman". He said, "Dia sama melepek macam kita juga" [see his background in pg 12 of 2013 Annual Reporthere].

That was until he got the PLKN contract in 2009/10. 

The company website here could not be upload. The stock is still traded [see Chartnexus.com here] but one source told us, Gunung Capital will be going private. That could be the suspected reason the website is shut.

The Bloomberg report provide the following brief on the company:

Gunung Capital Berhad, an investment holding company, charters its fleet of land-based passenger transportation assets and specialty vehicles principally in Malaysia. It operates in three segments: Transportation Services, Hydropower Activities, and Investment Holding and Others. The company’s portfolio comprises various vehicles, including coaches, city buses, and vans and pick-up trucks, as well as mobile clinics, such as general clinics, optometry clinics, dental clinics, and mini mobile clinics. It is also involved in property investment activities; and the development, maintenance, and operation of mini-hydro power plants. The company, formerly known as Taiping Super Berhad, is headquartered in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. 

The original major shareholder of the company was one Low Bak Teik who controls Latexx Partners Berhad. He is said to be the richest man in Taiping Perak.

Gunung Capital was badly in the red and they announced in April 2010 a corporate exercise to undertake a capital reduction, acquisition of Syed Hussin's company, rights issue and M&A.

Syed Hussin's company, GPB corporation was awarded the transportation contract for PLKN till December 2014. [read the Circular to Shareholders here.]  

By the end of September 2011 and after a series of shares acquisition by Syed Hussin and shares sales by Low Bak Teik, Syed Hussin emerged as the major shareholder [read this announcement here].

Gunung Capital was never in the radar of analyst and it is difficult to get information on the Internet except for this July 2011 posting here. The blog wrote:

... noticed that Dato’ Syed has been consistently increasing his stake in Gunung, now with a 22% stake. Compared with Low Bok Tek’s (via Erayear Equity Sdn Bhd) and Nominees amounting to a 21% equity stake, the stage is set for a possible fight for control. 

As such, I am expecting that Low Bok Tek may be willing to sell out is his stake in Gunung to concentrate on his Latexx Partners Bhd, which is currently undertaking an exercise to make Latexx Partners Bhd the largest nitrile glove manufacturer in the world (this would make him the ‘King’ of nitrile glove manufacturing, a title that a ‘Taiping lad’ would dearly strive for). 

So who will be taking up his stake in Gunung? ...

There is no jealousy for the good fortune of this guy who used tomelepek macam kita. But, this comment only raised curiosity. Where did he get the money to undertake such a massive corporate exercise? 

A reliable market player source told us that the reason there was no battle for control was because he was merely a proxy for Low Bak Tek.

To say Syed Hussin betrayed the UMNO cause for sabotaging UMNO candidate or selling contract to Chinese for easy money, it would not bat an eyelid among UMNO people. It is so rampant that they are tired of talking about it.

Maybe this will get their attention.

Low Bak Teik is a financier of DAP and he funded and helped Lim Kit Siang's campaign for the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat in the last general election.

Syed Hussin allegedly sabotaged UMNO's candidate and his partner, or boss to be more precise, funded DAP's campaign.

The government contract given to him as a Bumiputera entrepreneur but was sold to a DAP financier.  The DAP financier will be able to recover the past years losses of Gunung and secure more business opportunities, local and abroad.

If Low Bak Tek continues to fund DAP, why would one not puke to hear him utter "memperjuangkan agama, bangsa dan negara" at the Division Annual General Meeting?

-Another Brick in the Wall