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| Posted: 02 Dec 2011 11:03 PM PST Muhyiddin called up Stamford again, and told them, "Look, I have this piece of paper in front of me on my desk. All I have to do is sign it and Stamford Holdings will no longer own the 4,000 acres of land. Now, do you agree or not to develop the land and I take 70%?" Stamford again refused. The following week, they received a letter from the Johor State Government signed by Muhyiddin stating that the government has taken over the land. By Hakim Joe Stamford Holdings Sdn. Bhd. is a plantation company registered in Malaysia under the Companies Act and 90% of its equities are owned by the Seet family from Singapore, the Gan family and the Wang family from Malaysia. In 1994, Stamford applied to the Johor government for permission to develop a light industrial estate on part of its huge land holdings near the state capital of Johor Baru. However nothing happened during the subsequent four years. In 1998, two Malaysians approached Stamford alleging that they were the Johor Menteri Besar's (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin), business associates and that they were able to able to get Stamford's application approved promptly. The two individuals were Syed Mokhtar In late 1989, Stamford agreed to the proposal and the four parties formed a JV company, which resubmitted a fresh application to the Johor State government to convert the 1,766 acres of plantation land to industrial use. The new application was promptly approved. Meanwhile in 1992, Syed Mokhtar Albukhary and Datuk Yahya Taib again approached Stamford's directors, proposing to develop the remaining 6,544 acres of Stamford's Johor prime land holdings. However the conditions were different this time around. They were The following week, they received a letter from the Johor State Government signed by Muhyiddin stating that the government has taken over the land. In July 1994, the State Government of Johor officially acquired the land on behalf of the Johor Islamic Economic Development Corporation (Perbadanan Kemajuan Ekonomi Islam Negeri Johor) under the Land Acquisition Act. Stamford Holdings, through its director, Gan Tee Kian, filed the suit in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on February 4, 1995 claiming that Muhyiddin, Syed Mokhtar and Yahya contravened the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act in acquiring the piece of land through the Johor Islamic Economic Development Corporation and sued the trio for damages for alleged conspiracy in acquiring land in Johor through the Land Acquisition Act. In the suit, Stamford Holdings claimed the three had abused certain provisions of the Act to acquire its 6,600 acres of land through the Johor State Islamic Economic Development Corporation using one of its subsidiaries, Kelana Ventures Sdn. Bhd. Stamford Holdings also It had also claimed that Syed Mokhtar and Yahya had conspired with Muhyiddin to press for the land acquisition. In the suit, Stamford Holdings sought a declaration that the land acquisition exercise was not done in good faith and was therefore null and void. Two weeks later, the case was transferred to the Johor Baru High Court. On February the 24th, 1995, the Johor Baru Land Administrator made an award sum of RM239,099,583.00 over the said property to Stamford Holdings. This comes to about RM36,670 per acre. On April the 15th, 1995, the Johor Baru High Court struck out with costs Stamford Holding's suit, saying that the company had no reasonable cause of action against the five defendants. Stamford's solicitors then brought the case to the Court of Appeal. On December the 28th, 1995, Kelana Ventures Sdn. Bhd. deposited the award amount with the Johor Baru High Court. On March the 14th, 1996, another RM10,585,894.90 was deposited by Kelana Ventures with the Johor Baru High Court as accrued interest. Subsequently when Stamford Holdings challenged the Land Administrator's award, the said award sum was revised by the Johor High Court by RM63,565,982.20 making it a total of RM313,251,460.10 (about RM48,000 per acre). On November the 12th, 1996, the said differential sum of RM63,565,982.20 was likewise deposited with the Johor Baru High Court by Kelana Ventures Sdn. Bhd. It was during the time when this case appeared in the Court of Appeal that Asiaweek did a comprehensive investigative report on it, quoting ad verbatim Muhyiddin's phone call to one of Stamford's directors. The Johor MB then publicly denied all allegations made in an On December the 11th, 1997, the Court of Appeal overruled the Johor Baru High Court's decision and ordered all proceedings in the civil suit to proceed pending an appeal by the defendants. On June the 10th, 1998 the Federal Court granted leave to the defendants to appeal to the Federal Court against the decision of the Court of Appeal and further ordered that there be a stay of proceedings in the Johor Baru High Court civil suit. Instead of pursuing the case in the Federal Court, all parties agreed to an out of court settlement and a Consent Order was recorded at the Johor Baru High Court. Judge Zainun Ali recorded the order after lawyers for the company and the defendants agreed to settle the matter in the judge's Chamber and all parties concerned agreed upon a final figure of RM405 million as due compensation for the compulsory acquisition of the said property by the State Government in accordance to the Land Acquisition Act (about RM62,000 per acre). The judge then ordered Kelana Ventures to pay the differential amount of RM92,115,606.80 directly to Stamford Holdings but allowed them a period of 18 months to complete the payment. The sum was not ordered to be paid as damages but compensation in lieu. He Meanwhile, the judge also ordered Stamford Holdings to hand over the land title to Kelana Ventures within two months from the day the Consent Order was recorded, and pay retrenchment benefits to workers affected by the transfer of the land to Kelana Ventures. The judge further ordered that all the civil suits, civil appeals and miscellaneous civil applications by the plaintiff be settled and be disposed of. No further action was taken against Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, Datuk Yahya Taib or Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who later became the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. |
| Posted: 02 Dec 2011 10:57 PM PST From the very beginning and even before Merdeka in 1957, the concept of sharing has never existed in Umno plans. By Hakim Joe "Umno is most definitely not racist. We could have built a government on our own (before independence), but we decided to share." - Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, DPM Malaysia. Untrue. When negotiations for self-governing were undertaken between the British and the Malayans before the 1955 general elections, inter-ethnic cooperation was a definite prerequisite established by the colonial authorities as they truly believed that the races needed to work together to create the necessary conditions for a smooth political transition, and that this cooperation could be the only counteraction to the Malayan Communist Party's claim of being the only movement representing the people's struggle. This meant that Umno alone could not have formed the government and gained independence on their own as Britain would not grant independence to Malaya if Umno acted individually. Additionally MCA was invited to the negotiation table by the British alongside Umno after the British realized that in the battle against the communists, the support of the Chinese was crucial and that alienating the Chinese community from the mainstream of politics could undermine the political stability of the entire country. Two forms of inter-ethnic cooperation were attempted in the pre-independence period. The first was a single multi-ethnic party, the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP) formed by Dato Onn Jaafar (founder of Umno) and Tun Tan Cheng Lock (founder of MCA), and Other prominent MCA leaders that supported IMP were Tan Siew Sin, Khoo Teik Ee, Leong Yew Koh and Yong Shook Lin. MIC under K.L. Devaser also supported IMP while H.S. Lee and Ong Yoke Lin (ex-Victoria Institution boy) proposed an Umno-MCA alliance instead and talks were initiated with Yahya Razak (ex-Victoria Institution boy). Surprisingly, in the 1952 federal capital (Kuala Lumpur) local elections where IMP fielded candidates in all 12 wards, the Umno-MCA Alliance won 9 of the 12 contested seats. Although the electorate numbered only about 11,000 and turnout was 75%, the result was a major boost to the new alliance and it marked the beginning of IMP's demise. After the resounding victory, H.S. Lee favored expanding the Umno-MCA alliance and Tunku Abdul Rahman concurred. Even with the IMP on the decline, Tan Cheng Lock was still a powerful political figure as he still commanded unwavering support from the more influential MCA leaders. H.S. Lee managed to eventually bring Tan Cheng Lock to his viewpoint. On March the 5th, 1952, H.S. Lee alerted Tan Cheng Lock to the Select Committee's Report on the Immigration Ordinance of 1950. Onn Jaafar was a signatory to the Majority Report with recommendations unfavorable to the Chinese and this was opposed by Chinese members of the Legislative Council. H.S. Lee therefore raised doubts in the mind of Tan Cheng Lock about Onn Jaafar's commitment to multi-racial fairness. Eventually, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tan Cheng Lock met on March the 18th after being invited by Ong Yoke Lin. After several more rounds of talks involving other MCA leaders, a nationwide Umno-MCA alliance was institutionalized. IMP hit rock bottom when the news After the Alliance Party won resoundingly in the 1955 general elections (51 of the 52 seats), they took the lead in negotiating for independence with Britain. PMIP (now PAS) won the other remaining seat while Parti Negara lost in all contested seats. Why did the founder of Umno, Dato Onn Jaafar leave the party he created? On August the 26th, 1951, Onn Jaafar resigned from Umno after becoming increasingly disgusted with what he considered to be Umno's communalist policies, and after his repeated calls for From the very beginning and even before Merdeka in 1957, the concept of sharing has never existed in Umno plans. From the very beginning and even before Merdeka in 1957, the concept of being non-communal (non-racist) has never existed in Umno plans. From the very beginning and even before Merdeka in 1957, Umno's concept of forming the government alone was never sustainable, as the British has made it a stipulation that inter-ethnic cooperation was a condition for self-government. |
| Ku Li is opposition’s ‘meal’ ticket Posted: 02 Dec 2011 04:09 PM PST If a 'hung' Parliament does befall Malaysia, Pakatan Rakyat's Anwar Ibrahim will be kept waiting at the royal gates. Meanwhile, Anwar Ibrahim is jumping up and down at the palace gates screaming: "I have the number! I have the number! I have a signed declaration from the MPs they want us (Pakatan Rakyat) to form a government!" Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz, Free Malaysia Today Last week I wrote that the 13th general election will deliver a clear winner simply because that's what Malaysians "would prefer". But let's now assume the next GE delivers a hung Parliament.How can this happen? More importantly, why have the opposition extended an invitation to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li)? And in what capacity do they see him? I believe the answer lies in the hard realities of Malaysian politics. Let's look at a likely scenario if there's a hung Parliament. A "hung" Parliament can take place when not one single party has the majority in Parliament. Any one party can have the largest number of seats which, if it is less than 112, can never go on to form the government. Let's say Umno garners the most seats – at least 70 from its current 79. It then becomes the party with the largest number of seats. Sarawak not enough What happens when the results of the elections come out? The first person or persons to see the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will be the chief secretary and possibly the Attorney-General (AG) because of the constitutional implications. He will look around and inform the King that the party which has the largest number of seats is Umno. The King then summons Umno to inquire whether it can form the government. Umno will look around and it will see its traditional partners decimated. It will then cast its eye on Sarawak and sees possibly Taib Mahmud's Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) which probably retains 12 seats. But what if 16 seats are won by the opposition there? PBB has only three more seats friendly to offer. Then Taib will say, "boss I can only offer 15 seats". The other 16 have gone to DAP and PKR and to those who don't want BN anymore. I can't "gawai" and "ngajat" anymore. It makes me dizzy. Umno plus the Sarawak party now has 85 seats. If we are kind enough, let's say MCA managed to wriggle through with three seats – Umno-Barisan Nasional now has 88. MIC delivers one seat. Now it has 89. Out of the 25 seats in Sabah, the state Barisan Nasional coalition (after excluding Umno) takes another eight. Now Umno and BN have 97 seats. Still not enough ma… Mana mahu cari lagi? The Umno president then goes on air and proclaims that we can't form a federal government if we can't show we are multiracial. Since my macai party MCA has not enough seats, in order to show we are inclusive, 1Malaysia, multiracial and all that, I now call upon my old friend uncle Kit (Lim Kit Siang) to join us. DAP is invited to join the new coalition party. Uncle Kit will say: "Mo-wa thank you." The story we wish we can expand is thus cut short. Uncle Kit and Uncle Karpal (Singh) will say: "Over my dead body. Nahi!" So Umno and BN have run out of options and so they will declare that BN can't form a government.
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