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Saturday, October 15, 2016

Sabah's watergate scandal unfolds, engineers nabbed, civil service back in vogue

 

Sabah's watergate scandal unfolds


THE amount involved in Sabah’s watergate scandal is unbelievable.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) seized RM114mil worth of assets –RM53.7mil in cold cash stashed in houses and office – from two senior Sabah Water Department officials on Oct 4.

The duo were investigated for alleged abuse of power and money laundering linked to contracts for RM3.3bil federal-funded projects channelled to the department since 2010. Two others – a Datuk businessman who is a brother of one of the officials and an accountant – were also arrested.

Six days later, MACC traced RM30mil stashed in foreign banks and another RM30mil in 127 land titles for housing, agriculture and commercial.

That’s not all.

MACC also seized nine vehicles worth RM2.7mil, an assortment of jewellery worth RM3.64mil and designer handbags worth RM500,000.

The following Tuesday (Oct 11), three Sabah Water Department employees “voluntarily” surrendered about RM1mil allegedly taken in the process of approving water projects under the RM3.3bil federal allocations.

When you go out of the state capital, you’ll find Sabahans depending on rivers, streams, ponds, wells or rain for their daily needs.

What do we tell M. R., a 34-year-old Rungus housewife from Kampung Bongkok in Pitas, about the Sabah Watergate?

Since she was born, she has relied on wells, rivers or ponds in the jungle to bathe, wash clothes and dishes, and on rainwater for drinking and cooking. Daily, she has to walk a few kilometres to carry 10 litres of water back to her house.

Her water woes worsen when there is no rain for weeks.

“The villagers will be suffering, especially getting water for drinking and cooking,” she said.

“What’s your comment on the Sabah watergate?” I asked.

“That’s what is heartbreaking. We have been asking for piped water for our village. But the excuse they give to us is the source of treated water in Pitas town is about 28km from our village,” she said.

“If the funds meant for water projects were used properly, we would have clean water supply for which we have waited for many decades.”

What do we tell M. J., a 37-year-old Bisayah civil servant from Kampung Sukai in Beaufort about the Sabah watergate?

There is a water pipe that runs through M. J.’s village. However, no water flows in the pipes and yet the villagers are billed for it.

“The pipes were installed in 2010. We had water for about one year and then it went dry, maybe because of leakage,” he said.

Now many villagers rely on the blue water tank they got during elections.

“When there is no rain, some of the villagers have to buy water from a town about 30km away for drinking and cooking,” he said.

“For other uses, the villagers get murky water from wells and a polluted river along a mangrove swamp.”

“What’s your comment on the Sabah watergate?” I asked.

“As a true Sabah-born I’m extremely disappointed. The people’s first call is not delivered because of greed. If only a portion of the money were distributed, the villagers would not be thirsty for the promises made by politicians.”

What do we tell N.V. H., a 49-year-old Chinese businessman from a suburb in Tawau town, about the Sabah watergate?

Once a week, there is a water cut lasting three to 12 hours in his residential area. During the previous El Nino season, there were 12-hour water cuts on alternative days for two months.

With the constant water cuts in Tawau, he had to install two 400-gallon stainless steel water tanks and pneumatic water pumps at his home. He also had to install two 100-gallon water tanks and automatic on-off water pumps at the ground floor of his shop and another 400-gallon water tank and pneumatic water pump at the first floor. The total cost is RM16,000.

N.V.H.’s household has never experienced water woes, as supplies from water tanks last for five days.

“What’s your comment on the Sabah watergate?” I asked.

“Of course I’m angry when I come across all these water scandals. But we can’t do anything about it,” he said.

What do we tell M. S., a 47-year-old Bajau Sama managing consultant from Kota Belud, about the Sabah watergate?

The shortage of clean water in his district is unexplainable, he said.

“What’s your comment on the Sabah watergate?” I asked. “There is an abundant water source from Mount Kinabalu, flowing through rivers across Kota Belud. The rivers are full of water yet it has failed to be converted into clean water,” he said.

The water supply covers about 30% of the villages in the district and the rest depend on untreated gravity water.

“Sad to say that some villages have a piping system but no water. The water department implements piping projects in every election. Yet the clean water shortage is here to stay,” he said.

I pray that the MACC’s investigation reaches to the top. And that those who are responsible will pay for their greed.

One man's meat by Philip Golingai The Star/ANN

19 engineers nabbed in probe as graft scandal widens with arrest and seizure in assets across Sabah


(File pix) The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has nabbed 19 engineers to facilitate investigations into the Sabah Water Department’s multi-million ringgit graft scandal. Pix by Mohd Adam Arinin ; MACC held a news conference in KK where they announced and displayed a whopping haul of RM114 million worth in cash, jewellery, land grants and branded goods. — Bernama pic

KOTA KINABALU Oct 21 2016:  The Sabah Water Department graft scandal has widened, with the arrest of 19 engineers across the state and the seizure of RM7.8mil in assets, including RM4.2mil cash.

The district or divisional engineers, aged 29 to 59, were detained at 27 locations in the state as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commis­sion (MACC) continues its probe.

Its investigations have already implicated top officials in the department in connection with the siphoning of money from RM3.3bil worth of federal allocations for state rural water projects since 2010.

The engineers were remanded for between three and seven days in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau after they were arrested on Wednesday.

Yesterday, MACC deputy commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki said they may have been collecting as much as 27% to 30% in kickbacks from the contracts awarded. But he did not disclose the amounts involved.

He said investigators also seized procurement files and were sifting through the documents.

Asked about speculation on social media that certain top politicians were linked to the scandal, Azam said the probe was focused on civil servants at this point.

“For now our investigations do not involve any political figures in the state or at federal level.

“I am asking people not to politicise the matter and not to take advantage of the investigations for their own interest,” he added.

He said MACC officers were going through the numerous documents in detail before submitting the investigation papers to the Deputy Public Prosecutor.

“We assure everyone that our investigations will be transparent and professional,” he said.

The latest collars were a second wave to the arrests of the two top water department officials and the seizing of more than RM190mil in assets, including RM57mil cash, since Oct 4.

Apart from the officials, who have been suspended by the state government, MACC also nabbed a senior officer’s businessman brother, his accountant and an engineering adviser to the state Finance Ministry. All were released early this week.

The officials were alleged to have abused their powers by awarding contracts to 38 companies owned by their families or cronies, to siphon off the federal funds.

MACC investigators were also looking into suspected money laundering as they try to recover some RM30mil that has been reportedly stashed in overseas accounts. The Star

One more SWD engineer held

An array of cash both ringgit and foreign currency, gold jewellery, land titles and luxury brand watches and handbags were seized from two high ranking Sabah state agency officials in a graft investigation. ― Picture by Julia Chan

KOTA KINABALU Oct 25 2916:  Another district engineer has been arrested in the ongoing massive graft probe into the Sabah Water Department.

The officer, who was arrested at 6.40pm on Sunday, was produced before Tawau magistrate Faizal Che Saad who allowed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) application for a five-day remand.

Five of the department employees who were among the 19 department staff detained on Oct 19 were released on bail yesterday.

The five were freed on RM50,000 bail each after being produced before magistrate Cindy Mc Juce Balitus at about 2.40pm.

Earlier this month, five suspects, including the department’s director and deputy director, were detained under Ops Water which also saw the seizures of some RM190mil in cash, properties and other valuables.

Also picked up during the second wave of the operation were 22 engineers and technicians, some of whom were said to have received as much as 30% in kickbacks for the water projects.

The investigators seized RM8.4mil in the second phase of their probe.

MACC deputy chief commissioner Datuk Azam Baki confirmed the latest arrest when contacted.

Meanwhile, sources said there was pressure for the investigators to speed up their probe into the case.

“It would take a much longer time to wrap up investigations due to the vast amount of documents involved,” they said, adding that the amount of documents seized was equivalent to “half the size of a tennis court”.

“Due to this, we have to fly in more officers from Putrajaya and several states to Kota Kinabalu to assist in gleaning, sorting out and scrutinising the documents.

“Every piece can provide a vital clue,” one of the sources said.

All the documents – in the millions – are now kept in a secret location here and a team of officers are taking turns to guard them round-the-clock.

“As this is a high-profile case, certain quarters are trying to take advantage of the situation. But the MACC will not allow any outside elements to jeopardise our probe.

“The investigation team is doing its best to come up with an airtight case before submitting the investigation papers to the Attorney-General’s Chambers to press charges against those responsible,” added the source.

The probe is one the biggest ever in the country to be carried out by the MACC involving abuse of power, corruption and money laundering from the RM3.3bil in federal allocations for water since 2010.


Civil service back in vogue - for the wrong reasons


THE civil service may fall short in meeting the job prospects of a large number of people, but it has made up with abundant opportunities for self-enrichment – if one is prepared to take the risk of facing the law.

In a nutshell, the “Watergate” incident involving top officials from the Sabah Water Department is increasingly serving as an eye opener for the majority who had shunned the civil service previously due to limited prospects and lower remuneration compared to the private sector.

As the number of people involved in the “Watergate” discovery keep stacking up, with some junior officers returning money to become state witnesses – the chatter in coffee shops is on the level of abuse within the civil service when it comes to handing out contracts through a restricted tender process.

To be fair, the majority of Malaysia’s 1.2 million-strong civil service are merely ordinary employees providing a service to the public. They carry out their duties diligently despite the constraints and remuneration.

However, there is something wrong with the system when we hear that even basic matters such as the transfer of a student from a mediocre school to a school that is “highly sought after”, or students seeking grants and scholarships from the Government may require some kind of monetary gratification to someone within or outside the system.

Generally, cases involving a small exchange of money go unreported because the party that is prepared to hand out the gratification just wants to go about their business with a minimum of hassle. At most, the topic is fodder for talk among friends or relatives. But when millions are seized from the homes and offices of civil servants – money supposedly meant to upgrade the water services in Sabah – it no longer is merely coffee-shop chatter.

It has been a topic of serious discussion almost everywhere in the last 10 days.

When Budget 2017 is announced next week, the nation will see another round of Government allocation to various ministries for their expenditure and development. In the budget last year, the Federal Government estimated the operating and development expenditure for this year to be RM265.22bil. Generally, the development expenditure is less than RM50bil and the rest goes towards the cost of operating the Federal Government.

While in previous years, the focus was on the Government’s growing operating expenditure, which means less money for development, the question that will be racing on the minds of many is how much of the amount allocated is going to be siphoned off in the form of corruption and kick-backs for inflating the cost of projects and “fixing” restricted tenders.

The Government has limited options in its spending, considering that there is a target to keep the fiscal deficit down. This year, the fiscal deficit is expected to be negative 3.2%, which is a remarkable improvement compared to negative 4.3% in 2012 and a figure of more than negative 5% in 2009.

Next year, we are supposed to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3%, meaning Government spending has to be cut further.

It is part of the plan to have a balanced budget by 2020, which is only four years away. A balanced budget means that what the Federal Government receives in revenue is enough to cover its operating and development expenditure.

Many countries tend to keep a surplus budget, something that comes in handy during bad times. A fiscal surplus effectively means the Government earns more money than it spends. It has reserves that can be touched when it needs to spend more than what it earns. And a fiscal surplus or balanced budget commands the respect of rating agencies.

Earlier this week, Australia’s 30-year debt papers garnered a triple-A rating despite the country going through an economic slowdown due to the fall in the resources sector. The country used to run a surplus budget until 2007.

As for Malaysia, achieving a balanced budget by 2020 is part of a plan to shore up the country’s balance sheet. However, the Government must ensure that the machinery works towards optimising every ringgit spent.

In the case of the Sabah Water Department incident, alleged abuse was allowed to happen due to the practice of having “restricted tenders” when awarding contracts. It is a common practice in all departments and ministries. The only difference is the amount that can be awarded.

For instance, at the ministry level, the level of approval for the minister to award contracts through restricted tenders can go up to RM100mil or more. As long as there are eight to 10 companies that are registered with the ministry competing in the restricted tender exercise, the minister can award the job to the lowest bidder.

The companies tend to act in concert, something that is known to the officers handling the tender process. When the contract is awarded to one company at an inflated price, the other companies get paid for their participation.

The officers in the ministry are also being rewarded and it goes down from the top to several layers down. The restricted tender process can easily be a farce!

The argument that favours a restricted tender is that it can be awarded quickly compared to an open tender, where the evaluation process is often time-consuming. However, a competitive open tender process allows for an efficient price-discovery mechanism.

For instance, the 1,000MW Prai power plant in Seberang Perai was awarded on a competitive tender. The winning bid came in on a tariff of 34.7 sen per unit, which is now the benchmark for any future gas-fired power plants.

Restricted tenders have been quite prevalent in the past few years. However, they have a massive amount of drawbacks, based on the rising number of civil servants being charged or under investigation for corruption.

However, the restricted tender process has brought back the allure of the civil service – for the wrong reasons though.

There was a time in the 1960s and 1970s when civil servants were the preferred choice of grooms in arranged marriages. It was apparent especially among Indian parents.

From the mid-80s onwards, the shift was towards those working in the private sector, especially prospective grooms in large multinational companies holding mid-management positions.

Now, the civil service sector is back in vogue – especially positions that involve the awarding of contracts. All thanks to the enormous publicity that “Watergate” has drawn.

- The alternative view by M. Shangmugam, The Star/ANN

Related articles:

Adviser nabbed in Ops Water investigation

KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah Finance Ministry adviser has been arrested in the on-going probe into abuse of power and corruption at the Sabah Water Department (SWD).

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Friday, October 14, 2016

Penang Free School: Learning religiously - without religion !

 
Penang Free School: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang_Free_School

Penang Free School, the first English school in the country, turns 200 in a week. It was, and remains, a school for the brave and the true. And for the Free.


WE’RE on the cusp of history. A week from today, the oldest English school in the country, Penang Free School, will turn 200. It’s a proud moment for the school. And for yours truly. I spent my formative years in that school.

It’s the kind of school that cliches are made off – you can take a student out of Free School but you can never take the Free out of the students. We will always be Old Frees.

The old boys are already celebrating. There have been golf tournaments, dinners and get-togethers lined up. There was a 73-day, 20,000km road convoy from Penang to Dittisham, Devon, in Britain, where the founder of PFS, Reverend Robert S. Hutchings, was born.

The six-vehicle convoy left on July 17 and arrived at its destination on Oct 3.

The huge school field is now covered with canopies waiting for the thousands of Old Frees who will gather there on Oct 21 to celebrate the grand old dame’s birthday.

The field is one of the things most Old Frees would remember. It was both a blessing and a bane. With two football fields, three hockey pitches and a cricket pitch, it was great for outdoor activities.

The track around the field was good training ground for long-distance runners. But for the errant ones in school, it was a pain. The teachers made you run around the field as punishment. If you were not athletically inclined, that was punishing indeed.

But it was the teachers who made the school wonderful. We had some of the best and most dedicated teachers – not just in the subjects they taught but also in sports.

There was Wilson Doss, the cricket-mad teacher. He played for Selangor, Penang and even in international matches and he would try to get every lad in the school to give the sport a try-out.

I have to admit to being an absolute flop at it. With only the experience of playing “rounders” with the neighbourhood gang, I would hurl the cricket bat away as I ran. And Mr Wilson would growl.

There was N. Vallupillay, the hockey coach with the kindest of souls. He, too, would try to get everyone to play hockey and among the top players he nurtured was former national captain Ow Soon Kooi.

With Vallupillay at the helm, PFS was the state’s school hockey champion for 20 years from 1964 to 1984. The rivalry with St Xavier’s Institution and the Bukit Mertajam High School was intense, sometimes even rowdy.

Vallupillay then moved to George Town Secondary School and voila, that school became another hockey powerhouse in the state.

Then, there was Johnny Ooi, yet another teacher who was very much into hockey and who took over when Mr Vallupillay left.

Ooi Bee Seng was the basketball man. Under his watch, more basketball courts were built and more of the students turned to the game.

Nai Bej Sararaks was the athletics guy. Every now and then, he would bundle a gang of us into his beat-up jalopy and drive us off to training. The one I vividly remember was when we ran up Penang Hill from what Penangites know as Moongate.

The man waited at the bottom of the hill as the bunch of us ran up to the top of the hill and later scrambled all the way down. He was there with some juice before taking us all back to the school.

There was no need then for sports schools or schools of excellence. The teachers delivered. It’s been some years but I believe the teachers in the school are still a dedicated bunch.

But the real wonder of the school is the belief on which it is built – that it should be free from religion and open to all.

It’s a very strange thing. At a time when almost all education was under the care of priests (or brothers), there was one Rev Hutchings who did not want to impose his religious beliefs on the local populace.

When Hutchings first petitioned for a “free school”, his aim was to provide a school to educate, feed, and clothe orphans and poor children. It wasn’t about religion – only about education.

Yes, there was a bit of “free” in the financial sense. Only those who could afford it were asked to pay $3, $2, and $1 per year. Poor children were exempted.

The country has come a long, long way from then. Education standards have slumped. We have been dithering over the direction we want to take. Sports in schools is no longer a big thing. Few teachers believe in the power of sports.

Instead, religion has come into schools in a big way. There is a lot of emphasis on religious education and rituals, causing our children to drift apart from one another.

There really is a need for more new “free” schools – schools where education and sports are where the emphasis is.

 
Why Not? By Dorairaj Nadason is The Star’s Executive Editor.

The writer, who can be reached at raj@thestar.com.my, still salutes the gates of the school when he drives by. She is, after all, alma mater – the mother who nurtured him.

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Thursday, October 13, 2016

US has to accept China’s rise: expert said in 7th Xiangshan Security Forum


http://www.xiangshanforum.cn/


https://youtu.be/jb3B6OHJBYg


https://youtu.be/_xpGrocWVWc

Major powers threaten other countries by seeking ‘absolute security’

Professor Zheng Yongnian (right) speaks to reporters at the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: Chen Ping/GT

The US is sending the wrong diplomatic signals to South Asia, a Singapore-based scholar said at a security forum in ­Beijing on Wednesday. And he called for a balance in major power relations in the region.

Zheng Yongnian, professor and director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, said "the US is adjusting itself toward the rise of China … But I don't think the US is sending the right signals to South Asian countries."

He noted, "although it will not go to war with China because of the Philippines [over South China Sea disputes] or any other nation, the signals the US sends out, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership or its 'Pivot to Asia,' are viewed negatively in South Asia."

Zheng made the remarks on the sidelines on the third day of the Seventh Xiangshan Forum. He dismissed the concept of absolute power in the globalization era.

"Major powers should understand that they pose a threat to other countries by seeking absolute security for themselves," Zheng said.

He emphasized that the expansion of NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to conflict in eastern Ukraine, since the organization raised Russian security concerns.

Zheng also noted that as the world's major power, the US has to accept the natural rise of China. "China's economic rise means it will also have geopolitical influence regardless of the intentions of its leaders."

He lashed out at the notion of "alliances," which is an "offshoot" of the Cold War.

"Alliances mean there is an enemy. And no alliance is equal because there will be a leader and followers," he said, adding "the US, Japan and the Philippines remain in an alliance. I believe once Japan and the Philippines get a chance, they will seek an equal ­position."

However, smaller countries have to respect a major power's interests, otherwise it will cause regional conflict, like when South Korea agreed to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ­system, he said.

The US anti-missile defense system has caused a rift between South Korea and China. Although some South Koreans have been raising health and environmental concerns, President Park Geun-hye defended it as a national defense necessity.

Separately, referring to the position of the US toward China, J. Stapleton Roy, former US ambassador to China, told the Global Times, "We would consider China hostile if it enjoys greater military might."

"Americans like to think in terms of using our robust military presence in the Asia-Pacific to balance the rise of China, but not to contain it, so that China's neighbors are not alarmed over its growing military and economic power."

China doesn't want to be a dominant power in the region, which is not a military showcase for the US as well, said Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies.

"China is not intent on replacing the US," he said.

- Global Times - Asia-Pacific, Cross-Borders

US Policy towards China:



https://youtu.be/brUWyCi_x-4

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