Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2013 04:20 PM PST
The chances for PR to win and deny BN's two-thirds majority in Sabah are high if it allows state-based opposition parties to contest one-to-one against the ruling party in all the 60 state constituencies. Arnold Puyok, The Malaysian Insider Sabah politics has never failed to generate the interest of political pundits. Not only does Sabah have a lot of political mavericks known for their political stunts, Sabah politics is also as unpredictable as the weather. The withdrawal of two former BN strongmen, Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukin, to align with PR has heightened the race to win public office in Sabah. BN is banking on its track record while PR is riding on the promise to form a transparent, democratic and people-friendly government. The state-based opposition parties SAPP and STAR are also promising a better and more reliable government. But different from PR, they rely heavily on the "Borneo Agenda" to rally support. The PR-friendly groups such as APS (Angkatan Perubahan Sabah) led by Wilfred is tasked to go into the Kadazandusun areas to weaken STAR while Lajim's PPPS (Pakatan Perubahan Sabah) is responsible for consolidating the Muslim support in PR. All the state-based opposition parties resort to sloganeering to woo new supporters. The very mention of "inikalilah" (this is the time) reminds one of STAR with its no-holds-barred approach in championing Sabah's rights and autonomy. APS's campaign motto is "ubah" (change), almost similar to PPPS's "tukar". Can PR and state-based opposition parties provide a strong challenge to BN that has more than 50 years of experience in electoral politics? In the effort the deny BN any chance of winning, PR is determined to have a one-to-one fight with the ruling party. However, such a plan seems remote judging from the way PR deals with the issue of seat allocation. The chances for PR to win and deny BN's two-thirds majority in Sabah are high if it allows state-based opposition parties to contest one-to-one against the ruling party in all the 60 state constituencies. As PR's main aim is to win Putrajaya, it will have to win a certain number of parliamentary seats in Sabah even though the task of winning has become difficult than ever. The SAPP's strongholds are mainly in Chinese-majority areas. The state-based opposition party to watch is STAR, whose support is growing particularly in the Kadazandusun areas even though there has been rumour that the party has lost support following the allegation that it is funded by UMNO to split the support for PR. STAR's "Borneo Tea Parties" seem to bear fruits at least among young professionals, especially teachers. If STAR's facebook account is used to measure the party's popularity, the Sarawak-based party should be commended for its ability in attracting new members in such a short time. SAPP had said that it managed to strike a deal with STAR. But Jeffrey Kitingan's statement in the media that he is determined to "do it alone" squashed SAPP's attempt at finding an amicable solution to end the squabble over seat allocation. It is possible for all the state opposition-based parties to contest against each other and thus give BN the advantage to return to power.
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| How the boardroom clinched Deepak deal Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:25 PM PST
The most puzzling question in the RM30 million settlement with carpetman Deepak Jaikishan is why didn't Boustead Holdings Bhd buy 100% shares in Astacanggih? Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz, FMT Why can't the group of army veterans see the documents related to the purchase of Astacanggih Sdn Bhd and land from Awan Megah (M) Sdn Bhd? After all, the legal requirement is that the documents related to the purchases should be made available for public inspection for three months from the date Boustead Holdings Bhd (BHB) announced the deals. But that didn't happen, did it? Anway, what I found puzzling was this. BHB can buy out Astacanggih (an 80% stake) but cannot do the same with Awan Megah. If it takes over Awan Megah, wouldn't that lead to taking over the privatisation project (National Defence Education Centre or Puspahanas)? If that was the case, the company (Awan Megah) should be in distress as it had neither the intention nor capacity to build the RM100 million Puspahanas. It's embroiled in a lot of problems. Wouldn't it be simpler to just buy out the two proxies fronting for Raja Ropiaah Abdullah, the owner of Awan Megah? Let us do a little bit of detective work concerning BHB asking its son-company (grandson to Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera or LTAT) to buy Astacanggih and buy off Deepak Jaikishan. Some people called it outright bribery which seems to be in line with how Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak manages the country. Let me suggest to you what may have happened in the "war room" or bunker of the BHB board of directors, many of whom are former generals (who never went to war). It was an emergency meeting and must have given the retired generals a surreal sense that they were at war – having to make a quick decision. Luckily they were qualified generals and not dullards. The BHB directors consented to its son-company, its wholly-owned unit, Bakti Wira Development Sdn Bhd (Company No. 276338-M) to enter into an agreement on Dec 20, 2012, to acquire 16,000,000 ordinary shares of RM1 each in Astacanggih Sdn Bhd (Company No. 767577-W). This represented 80% of the issued and paid-up share capital of Astacanggih. This was meant to pay back that pesky Hindustan hero (Deepak Jaikishan), author of "The Black Rose". So Boustead now has a new adopted son, Astacanggih. Astacanggih and Bakti Wira then entered into an agreement with Awan Megah (Company No. 184720-W) to acquire a total of 200 acres of freehold land in Klang, Selangor. They entered into such agreement on Dec 27, 2012. The purchase price of RM30 milion was arrived at on a willing-seller and willing-buyer basis, the managers told the generals. Astacanggih shares were originally held by Deepak and Prestige Dimension Sdn Bhd and other minority shareholders who were the vendors in the acquisition of shares. The other original shareholder of Astacanggih is Putra Nazrain Adril Abdul Jalil who holds four million or 20% shares in Astacanggih. Who is Astacanggih? Astacanggih is a private limited company incorporated in Malaysia and operating from its address given as 25-5-16 (5.16, 5th Floor), Plaza Prima, 4½ Mile, Jalan Klang Lama, 58000 Kuala Lumpur. It is an investment holding company with an issued and paid-up share capital of RM20 million divided into 20,000,000 ordinary shares of RM1 each. But the managers have not explained one crucial thing. Why not buy 100% of Astacanggih? More importantly, why buy Astacanggih? Of what relevance is Astancaggih? What is the strategic relevance of Astancanggih? The generals did not ask and the managers doing the briefing did not tell. Here we had "consenting" adults. Then, the generals were told of the matter concerning the purchase of 200 acres of land from Awan Megah. The generals screamed, because they already had 700 acres in Bukit Raja area which was not developed. The 200 acre land in question were some vacant freehold lots with some abandoned oil palm trees. The land lots were:
The managers said "we are paying a total of RM130 million cash. We assure you generals, the purchase price on the land, like the price on Astacanggih, was arrived at on a willing-seller and willing-buyer basis". They added that their lawyers had assured them that the land was acquired free from all charges, liens and encumbrances. But it was subject to whatever restrictions in interest and conditions of title, whether expressed or implied in the separate titles to the lands for the purpose of developing them. The last portion of the explanation made some generals dizzy and some of them demanded some whisky to be brought in. Who is Putra Nazrain? But one sober ex-general asked: Who in the hell is Awan Megah? And so the point-man explained that Awan Megah is a private limited company incorporated in Malaysia and having its registered address at 25-1, Jalan PJU 1/42A, Block F2, Dataran Prima, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The directors of Awan Megah are Putra Nazrain Adril bin Abdul Jalil and Raja Rabiatun Aduah binti Raja Abdullah. So Putra Nazrain was a shareholder in Astacanggih and Awang Megah. The purchase of Awan Megah is of some importance to us, the managers said. Awan Megah has a contract with the Defence Ministry to build the RM100 million Puspahanas and we have asked our lawyers to demand some conditions "precedent" from Awan Megah, they explained to the generals. What in blue blazes are "conditions precedent", shouted one of the now intoxicated ex-generals. Matters that must be sorted out first before we make complete payment, the managers replied. Well, the real owner behind Awan Megah is a close friend to the prime minister and his missus. Moreover, we are sure that because we have bought the lands, our generals here can prevail upon the Defence Minister to help too. We have asked Awan Megah to complete the signing of a privatisation agreement between Awan Megah and the government of Malaysia and Syarikat Tanah dan Harta Sdn Bhd. That's for the construction of the Puspahanas. Just in case Astancanggih does indeed have a binding agreement with Awan Megah, we have asked Awan Megah to make sure that the approval from the relevant authorities for the transfer of the lands to Astacanggih be obtained.
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