Can “arm’s length” logic be Hannah Yeoh’s saving grace to dispel cronyism link to her hubby’s project award?

 

A SOCIAL media influencer has come to the defence of embattled Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh by raising the notion of “arm’s length concept in law” to evaluate allegations of favourtism/nepotism/cronyism in the direct responsive transit (DRT) pilot project award to her husband Ramachandran Muniandy’s company.

Political analyst Liyana Marzuki argued that even if the two parties (Yeoh and Ramachandran) are related, the awarding of any deal – in this case the direct responsive transit (DRT) pilot project award to Asia Mobility Technologies Sdn Bhd – must follow the same terms as the market.

“For example, the price and scope of the contract must be the same as others even if given to people we know,” she penned on the X platform.

“One more thing is to ascertain if there is any undue influence involved. In other words, are there ‘hidden hands’ who insist on the awarding of the said contract? I believe this is the basis of MACC’s (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) investigation into the matter. And I believe this case will not hold water.”

Liyana who claimed to have worked under four Prime Ministers (PM) went on to state that legally speaking, “it is not wrong to award contracts to people we know or even cronies”.

“The condition is that the terms must be fair and the value is no lesser or more than what is quoted in the market. That’s the arm’s length concept which is a norm in the corporate world,” justified Liyana who has recently launched her own book “Jangan Pajak Otak” (literally “Don’t Pawn Your Brain”).

Liyana Marzuki (right) with former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob

“But because this happens in the political realm, then it will be used as material to undermine the minister and political party which claims to be most clean and pure, and who has been opposing the nepotism and cronyism culture from the very beginning.

“Hence, the need now to persevere in the face of all insults until MACC completes its investigation.”

‘Figures don’t match’

Elsewhere, an industry observer who is familiar with the award of government projects has queried as to why the Selangor state government is forking out RM2.1 mil each in passenger subsidies to Asia Mobility and BadanBas Coach Sdn Bhd – the other company which also conferred the DRT award – for the entire nine-month trial period.

“Normally for a proof of concept of a new app, the start-up has to pay or at least offer free services in order to commercialise their technology,” the former senior civil servant told FocusM on condition of anonymity. “But in this case, the Selangor state government is paying millions to them.”

He also claimed to have come across “some figures that don’t make sense”. Below are his thoughts (as verbatim as possible):

Asia Mobility’s CEO (Ramachandran) claims the project is a success after seven months of operation with two months to go. It has a total ridership of 17,000 so far (I take it that ridership refers to total rides).

Now with just RM2 fare, you get a swanky new van with pretty girls as hostess and is on demand at any time you want like your personal chauffeured car. Yet only around 2,500 rides a month is achieved. Or less than 100 rides a day.

Apart from the RM2 from the passengers, the state government has to subsidise RM3 to make it RM5. Selangor has given RM2.1 mil for the trial run. That works out to RM125 per ride.

It seems taxpayers are paying this start-up to test bed and commercialise their technology, and then help them to upscale to the whole of Malaysia and eventually to Asia.

Whatever said and done, their app rating is 2.9, and there are only 10,000 downloads. You can read the 73 reviews yourself. I was too kind in my assessment. – Focus Malaysia