MBI, CMI are 'tools exploited by politicians', says don

A university don says he sees no point for companies like Chief Minister Incorporated (CMI) or Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI), as they were created by politicians to give them “near absolute control” over the distribution of resources in their states.

This, said Political Economy professor Terence Gomez, is particularly true in states like Melaka, Sabah, and Penang, which do not have sultans.

“Such companies appear to have served as tools exploited by politicians, not an enterprise created to serve the public good. And, there was little oversight of how these CMIs were run,” Gomez told Malaysiakini.

“It is this kind of opacity that has led to allegations of rampant promotion of questionable infrastructure and property projects,” he added.

Gomez is a co-author of a report on government-linked companies (GLCs) that was published by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), which shows how CMIs were used to create a large number of GLCs where politicians were given appointments as directors.

“This allowed them to draw a salary that we believe was used to pay people employed to run their constituency offices,” said Gomez.

He said his research also revealed that none of these CMIs or MBIs from the country’s 13 states had ever publicly disclosed their accounts.

At the Penang High Court on Monday, former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng said Penang’s CMI did not have any audited accounts or board of directors, but decisions over land matters were done in consultation with the state excos.

He was queried on the matter in a defamation suit brought against Penang Gerakan former acting youth chief Jason Loo.

Loo had then questioned the sale of a plot of land on Peel Avenue to Island Hospital Sdn Bhd which was carried out without open tender by the CMI in 2016.

In Penang, Gomez said their research suggested that the CMI was under the “sole control” of the chief minister. Lim, however, insisted in court that decisions were made after consultation with the state executive council.

Gomez said this court proceeding involving CMI is the first known case involving this type of GLC, and it provides important insights into this “opaque but powerful” situation.

Gomez reiterated his call for an open review of all GLCs at federal and state level; a call that he described as “something no politician has supported.”. - Mkini