RM1.4 bil agro project not meant to be open tender, says Anwar

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim says awarding the padi project to the National Farmers Organisation will benefit its members, who are mostly poor.

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR president Anwar Ibrahim says the government’s RM1.4 billion padi tender which generated controversy recently was not supposed to be an open tender project, adding to the possibility of sabotage in the agriculture ministry.

Anwar said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub had explained his rationale behind writing a letter to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the tender to be given to the National Farmers Organisation (Nafas).

He said Nafas, which has more than 920,000 members, had been set up by him to give farmers and smallholders across the country, most of whom were poor, a form of representation on a national level.

“So, there is also a rationale that we make sure that they manage the project efficiently in a transparent manner and accrue the benefits and profits to the poor farmers.

“That is the rationale given, which means it should not have been a tender in the first place. So, it’s a technical issue here,” he said after launching a book titled “Islam and Confucianism: A Civilisational Dialogue” at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation here today.

This comes after a leader from Amanah claimed that the secretary-general of Salahuddin’s ministry had sabotaged him by carrying out the RM1.4 billion padi tender without the minister’s knowledge.

It was also reported previously that Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad had said there was possible sabotage among senior government officials when issuing or cancelling tenders without Salahuddin’s knowledge.

Anwar said awarding Nafas the project would be beneficial for smallholders and farmers who were poor as it would mean they would reap the benefits directly.

He also said Putrajaya needed to be “diligent” in ensuring that the prices of seedlings and fertilisers were kept competitive and that profits directly flowed to the farmers.

“How else can we ensure the profit goes back to the farmers? But we want to make sure (the profit goes to the farmers),” he added.

Earlier last week, Salahuddin admitted that he wrote a letter to Mahathir to recommend giving the RM1.4 billion tender to Nafas.

He maintained that there was nothing wrong in writing the recommendation letter because the tender had not been finalised and it would benefit the Nafas members. He denied it was meant to enrich himself.

The tenders are being finalised by the finance ministry.

MCA president Wee Ka Siong had earlier highlighted the letter to the PM in the Dewan Rakyat.

Wee later said the crux of the issue was that Pakatan Harapan was not abiding by its own principles.

“All this while, PH leaders have talked about open tenders and that they are against direct negotiations and support letters. Now that they are in the government, they are doing the opposite. What is this?” he asked. - FMT