The repeated terrorising and plundering of GLCs

The recent spate of political appointments to government-linked companies (GLCs) and agencies is only to be expected. The Pakatan Harapan government indulged in the same kind of bloodletting – it was about the first thing on their agenda – and caused needless discord and dislocation.

The difference is this time it is being taken to new heights by the different groups that have to be satisfied. As with Harapan, the leadership of Perikatan Nasional (PN) is strangely Bersatu, the crop of accidental, wet-behind-the-ears politicians, terribly tainted Umno dropouts and washed-out has-beens.

Together with that handful of treacherous people, who were avid, fervent and sworn supporters of Anwar Ibrahim once, enticed out of PKR by that oldest of currencies – power and patronage – they have 30 or 31 MPs.

Then you have Umno itself, a bunch of people of whom many were charlatans and crooks who thought they would never be defeated ever in an election. They were defeated but now they are in through the back door and wielding the largest block of MPs – 39 in the coalition of sorts. The number rises to 42 if you include MCA (2) and MIC (1), whose total relevancy has been reduced to three miserable seats for the over 30% of the population they purport to represent.

What can you say about PAS, all of 18 seats? They supported Dr Mahathir Mohamad vigorously and virulently, and then dropped him when it was convenient and they had the numbers. In politics, religiosity, even God and morals, fall by the wayside in favour of treachery, backstabbing and the immediate expediency towards power and ascendancy.

Fight for survival

Next come the kingmakers, these astute players who stand by the sidelines and watch and wait until the last minute (and the best deals) before they declare their allegiance, but only just, allowing for the fact that they may just switch if the right better offer is made by someone else. We are talking about Sarawak’s GPS, of course.

If Harapan can get these people to swing the other way, then, with or without Mahathir – better without – this current backdoor government will be thrown out the front door on their backsides. This group of 18 wield more power than their numbers because of this.

And when the majority is razor-thin, mosquitoes have power too. There is Sabah’s GBS of just three MPs and a couple of independents besides, all of whom could cross at the drop of a songkok for the right trade of course.

Total that up and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin (above, left) can count on (42+30 or 31+18+18+3+2) 113 or 114 MPs in a 222-seat Parliament – that’s as thin as a majority that you can get. But remember, these are porous borders – many have been here, there and here again. And some of them even here, there, here, there and here again. So much for ‘jangan kesana-sini, duduk diam-diam di rumah’.

If you were Muhyiddin, you have a choice – be good and honest and care for the country and appoint only the best and the most capable to GLCs, government agencies, regulators and wherever else you can appoint people. You might lose that vote of no-confidence. Or be what you were before – bad and political and appoint the people who will support you, even if they were the wrong ones, so that you stay in power.

The bottom line is that it is Muhyiddin’s fight for survival – survive a vote of no-confidence, which right now is balanced on a knife’s edge and needs just a little nudge to move either way. Every little bit counts and hence those appointments to tie them to you in bonds of patronage, power and money – all 113-4 of them, more is possible.

Long history

Political appointments are nothing new in Malaysia – they have been going on since the time of independence. But at no time in the past was it needed so much for the survival of a prime minister – and that is why it makes it so dangerous now.

Right from independence in 1957, Tunku Abdul Rahman made political appointments but none for the sake of his own survival but many for the sake of the advancement and survival of the country at a time when talent was scarce because there were so few who were educated and able.

He dished out patronage but it did not personally benefit him or his family. Lim Goh Tong built a gambling empire called Genting on a mountain in Pahang. Tunku was instrumental in granting him a casino licence which made the place such a success.

His successor Abdul Razak Hussein (below), Najib Razak’s father, nudged Tunku out of office with the help of others who included Mahathir, who was expelled from Umno for writing against Tunku in 1969 before and after May 13.

In 1974, not only was Mahathir given a seat to contest, he was given the plum position of education minister by Abdul Razak, unheard of for a first-time minister until the infamous appointment of Maszlee Malik in 2018 by, of all people, Mahathir. Abdul Razak’s father-in-law was on the boards of numerous companies in those days, including Genting.

Hussein Onn, Razak’s successor after his death in 1976, offered former Umno Youth head Harun Idris an ambassador’s position to Jakarta to get him out of the political arena before the latter was charged for criminal offences related to a boxing event featuring Muhammad Ali and Joe Bugner in Kuala Lumpur.

Mahathir 1.0

And then there was Mahathir from 1981 to 2003 who brought new meaning to the terms patronage and power. His cronies were everywhere prevalent. He gave away plum government offerings to his cronies, orchestrated together with Daim Zainuddin – independent power producers, mobile telephony, gaming companies, tolled roads, naval vessels.

Sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd was formed during his time, the Employees Provident Fund had a subsidiary Makuwasa formed in a failed attempt to corner the London tin market, and he pushed people into moribund heavy industries such as steel and cement, costing the country dearly when they had to be rescued.

Many of his cronies went under during the 1997/98 financial crisis, and many of Daim’s boys disappeared into oblivion, but Daim by many accounts was one of the richest men in Malaysia.

Mahathir (above) dismantled the judiciary and institutions, used the entire state apparatus against Anwar, and made rubbish of transparency, good governance and accountability, before stepping down in 2003.

When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became PM in 2003, one of the main things he did was to institute changes in GLCs, especially the big ones under Khazanah Nasional, Permodalan Nasional Bhd and Petronas. During his time, major changes were made to improve the corporate governance procedures in GLCs although the politics of patronage and appointments continued.

While Najib, PM from 2009 to 2018, kept the structure of GLCs unchanged, what he did was to set up GLCs outside of the ambit of corporate governance set earlier for large federal GLCs, the most infamous of which was 1MDB which lost an estimated RM50 billion to theft and other measures.

This was the height of corruption – borrowing money and then stealing the borrowed money.

Daim and the inquisition

While Harapan came to power on the promise of change, which included extensive reforms of the GLCs, its recalcitrant PM, Mahathir of old, had other ideas in mind. Incredibly, and as it turned out, unhappily for Malaysia, after 17 years of stepping down from 22 years as PM, he was PM again. The first thing he did was to appoint the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), more powerful than the Cabinet.

The CEP, headed by Mahathir crony and dear friend Daim (below), unleashed a war of terror on GLCs – inquisitions took place, questions were asked, threats were made, access to Mahathir was denied, whole boards of respectable people resigned. The central bank governor resigned.

Daim’s brother-in-law, former Khazanah Research Institute director Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid who was appointed as economic adviser to Mahathir, was among those who interrogated many leaders of GLCs and investment companies. Stories are still told of how some corporate leaders, in tears, appealed to Daim to retain their jobs.

The motives that were imputed for these changes included readying these companies to sell their assets to bumiputeras. Many started to come out of the woodwork to bid for the assets, but were foiled in the first round when Plus’ major shareholders, EPF and Khazanah, stood up and counted themselves against the deal.

Before more things could happen, Mahathir, through his bungling/conniving/incompetence/others’ treachery – pick what fits your current fancy – lost his premiership and looks unlikely to regain it.

Now, Muhyiddin is doing the same thing – putting his own people in place – not just for reward but to ensure sustained support for his prime ministership. Since incompetence and corruption will be the bywords along with the phrase “make hay while the sun shines”, expect the most intense period of looting in Malaysia’s history.

If there is a silver lining here, things may get so bad that this bunch will lose GE15 and re-offer a chance for an alternative government after Harapan and Mahathir bungled really badly and betrayed Malaysia. The next effort has to be led by good men who will lay the groundwork now.

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P GUNASEGARAM is editor of Focus Malaysia. - Mkini