BLOGGER IDENTIFIES FRANCIS YEOH AS TUN M CRONY WHO PLOTTED TO SABATOGE THE NATION’S ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

(Malaysian Digest) – After a series of postings hinting at hidden hands behind former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s plot to topple Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) has decided to name the mysterious Chinese tycoon in his earlier postings as YTL Managing Director, Tan Sri Francis Yeoh.

In his recent posting on 21 December, RPK laid the blame for the catastrophic nationwide blackout in 1992 squarely at the feet of the YTL Director and Tun M.

“Francis Yeoh and Dr Mahathir had already plotted to create this cash cow called IPPs long before the 1992 nationwide blackout. But they needed a trigger to justify the IPPs. So they sabotaged the TNB power station in Paka, which would result in a nationwide blackout.

“Singapore had already noticed that there was something wrong in Paka and they contacted the TNB headquarters to inform them about it. TNB then brought this matter to the attention of the ‘higher-ups’ but they were told to ignore it.

“Then what was expected to happen did happen. Paka ran into problems and Malaysia suffered a nationwide blackout. And then the government announced that since TNB was not capable of managing things they were going to privatise the generation of electricity through IPPs.

“Singapore was convinced that the nationwide blackout was not an accident or bad management on the part of TNB but was intentional — hence Paka was sabotaged. That was also what the TNB engineers and station managers told me, which was why they were very sore about the creation of IPPs,” RPK revealed.

The blogger also chose to debunk many of the claims made by the eldest son of Malaysian billionaire Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Yeoh Tiong Lay in his widely reported and controversial interview in June 2014 when he famously declared that ‘crony capitalism in Malaysia has to go’.

“Francis Yeoh also says he is not Dr Mahathir’s crony and that he made his money not through cronyism but through innovation. The truth is, YTL was on the verge of bankruptcy in the mid-1980s and it was Dr Mahathir who bailed them out. In fact, Dr Mahathir not only saved YTL from bankruptcy but he also helped turn them into a billion-dollar company,” RPK pointed out.

However, it appears the company is still able to take advantage of its profitable relationship with the federal government without Tun M in power.

The company was in the limelight earlier this year when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed in a report that there was a conflict of interest in awarding the project to construct the express rail link (ERL) extension from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to a contractor who is also a major shareholder of the company that operates the train service.

“It renders it difficult for the government to get value for money (for the project).

“Apart from that it can create a conflict of interest between the shareholders and conflict of interest in the contract negotiations,” the report said.