8/14/2019 TheSun 2009-08-10 Page12 Reports 4 Action 0
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speak up!12 theSun | MONDAY AUGUST 10 2009
Managing Editor: Chong Cheng HaiConsultant Editor: Zainon
AhmadExecutive Editor: Lee Boon SiewDeputy Editor: Patrick Choo
(Production),Editor: R. Nadeswaran (Special Reporting and
Investiga-tions)
General Manager, Advertising and Marketing: Charles Peters
Senior Manager, Production: Thomas Kang Senior Manager,
Distribution Channels: Joehari Abdul Jabbar
Tel (Editorial): 03-7784 6688 Fax: 03-7785 2624/5Email:
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03-7784 4424Email: [email protected]
TELLING IT AS IT IS
Reports: 4Action: 0NEVER in the history of this country has
there beenso much vigour in thedemand from the publicto get to the
bottom of ascandal-ridden project. Thecountry has never seen
theenthusiasm and opennessof a minister who is bent onseeing
justice to a problemwhich he inherited. Neverhas a minister
commit-ted himself to seeing thecornerstones of goodgovernance
transparencyand accountability beingpractised. Never have so many
peoplebeen involved in so many committeespresenting their views on
one singlegovernment project which had gonewoefully awry.
Today, the task force of legal, ac-
counting and project development experts, who were appointed to
pro- vide Port Klang Authority (PKA) withrecommendations on how to
recoupsome of the RM7.5 billion already sunkinto the Port Klang
Free Zone (PKFZ),will present their views. Headingthe team is
Vinayak Pradhan, fromprominent law rm Skrine, who is aformer
commissioner with the UnitedNations Compensation Commissionand
member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and assisted by
twodirectors of PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC).
This will be the fourth report for thePKA board. Previously, it
had assignedPwC which produced a comprehen-sive report with
appendices, whichhighlighted the damning evidence of
mismanagement.
Later, the Public Accounts Com-mittee held its hearings and gave
its
damning views PKFZ project wasmanaged by a very incompetent
group of people. Almost immediatelythe Transport Ministry-appointed
adhoc committee on administration andcorporate governance produced
anindictment the PKA board, the man-aging body of PKFZ, did not
dischargeits duciary duties diligently.
The Pradhan Committee report will provide the PKA board with
thelegal implications and remedies on theactions which resulted in
what startedas a RM2 billion project ballooning to
RM12 billion. But reportsmust be acted upon. If theyare allowed
to gather dust like the report on the RoyalCommission of
Inquiryinto the Bright Sparklersdisaster in Sungai Buloh,they will
be viewed as yet another exercise to appeaseand whet the appetites
of those who demand for theproverbial pound of esh.
The PKA board must adopt and implement therecommendations in
thesereports. Just receiving
them, making them public and warm-ing their chairs is not
acceptable. If they dont institute the proposed ac-tions, it as
good as not having them.
In this column on June 10, I askedthese questions of the former
direc-
tors:What were the board members
of the Port Klang Authority doing? Werent they entrusted with
the task of being policymakers and the staff being the
implementers? Did they fail in their duties? Why was there an
oversight? Why were they kept in the dark? Why didnt they ask for
regular briengs on the project? ... Didnt it occur to them that
something was amiss? Werent they aware that they have to agree and
endorse any agreement that was entered into?
Today, after they get the fourthreport in their hands, I would
modifythe same questions to the present board members: What are you
going to do with these reports? Are you going to implement the
recommendations?
Are you going to lodge police reports where criminal offences
have been committed? Are you going to seek legal remedies to
recover the ill-gotten gains?
Are you going to seek an order toimpound the passports of the
suspects before they y the coop? Are you going to get Mareva
injunctions to prevent them from disposing their assets? Are
you going to get Anton Piller orders to trace the whereabouts of
the prots
from ill-gotten gains? Would you take action against PKA
officers who did not follow procedures?
To put the matter in the right per-spective, let me reiterate
that I am not accusing any individual or corpora-tion of
wrongdoings. Thats not my
job. What I am saying is that once thereports have identied the
key people,the board is left with little choice but to not only
seek civil remedies, but also bring to book the wrongdoers.If the
directors of the board fail to doso, they will be no different from
theirpredecessors who sat back and feignedignorance on what was
taking place infront of their eyes.
If the present board does not act,then it too will be failing in
its duciaryduty as required by the Companies Act and other laws.
Inaction can only leadto one action public interest
litigationagainst each and every one of them.
****************************
ON July 21, I wrote about how oneBenjamin Netanyahu entered
thecountry declaring that he did not sufferfrom any symptoms of the
H1N1 flu.
The response from the Health Ministrywas fast and furious and
accused Citi-zen Nades of taking ownership of the A(H1N1) issue by
highlighting it in hiswidely-read column. In a subsequent column,
my riposte was published.On Saturday as I boarded the aircraft at
Coolongatta airport in the GoldCoast, I was contemplating whether
Ishould be Fidel Castro, Che Guevaraor Chairman Mao. Knowing how
thelaw is sometimes used selectively, I de-cided to be myself
without wanting toinvite trouble. But when we arrived at the
Low-Cost Carrier Terminal, it wasorganised chaos. Two
hard-pressedhealth ofcers were busy collecting theforms without
even looking at them.As long as there were ink markings,it was
acceptable but there were somewhose forms were not collected.
A former national cricketer and ahigh-ranking officer of our
defence
forces can vouch that the form hehad filled is still folded and
acts as abookmark for the book he was readingon the ight. I rest my
case and sayinganything more will be an overkill.
R. Nadeswaran hopes PKA chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng and his
fellow directors will no longer give excuses for not initiating
action to recover monies belonging to the people. The writer is
editor (special and investigative report- ing) at theSun. He can be
reached at: [email protected]
Ban proposal worryingTHE reports, MCA slams PAS forinfringing on
rights of non-Mus-lims (Aug 7) and PAS condentSelangor govt will
resolve beerissue, are alarming. The con-troversy apparently, has
arisenfollowing the seizure of beer at aretail outlet, but which
the MajlisBandaraya Shah Alam has sinceadmitted was due to an
over-enthusiastic action on the partof its licensing director.
The more disturbing issue,however, concerns the state-ment that
Selangor PAS waspushing for a ban on the saleof beer at 24-hour
conveniencestores in Muslim-majority areas.
Did it ever consider the wide-spread repercussions this sortof
ruling can lead to? We are allMalaysians. Why cant we treateach
other with respect? Whymust we force our neighboursand friends to
only do and actthe way we do things? Why cantwe all live
harmoniously?
God has endowed eachone of us with a brain (to thinkwisely) and
a heart (to havecompassion). So let us thinkrationally and wisely,
and besympathetic to others feelingsand actions. If we think
some-ones acts or practices (whichare within the confines of
ourlaws) to be wrong, then one
should just avoid participating;dont dehumanise another
justbecause one thinks one is morerighteous, dont go and
proposeprejudicial laws to stop othersfrom doing it. Be honorable
andseless. Others have a mind oftheir own and we all think
dif-ferently.
I would like to quote ananalogy they say soccer is abeautiful
game. Look at howMalaysians of all races, gendersand religions,
take to the game.We have no qualms or quarrelson which club or
league anyoneof us supports. And we are everso willing to share our
views onfootball and sports with oth-ers, but when it comes to
ourreligion, our race, our culture,etc, we close up and
becomeirrational. God made us differentbut we are still all His
creatures.If God wanted us all to be of onerace, He would have made
usso. And then, we wont even beMalaysians.
So, for heavens sake, beforeour country goes deeper into themire
of ethnicity, lets wake upand be proud and show to theworld that we
can all live to betrue Malaysians.
Proud Malaysian
Petaling Jaya
Citizen Nadesby R. Nadeswaran
Makes sense to self-regulateWHEN you remove any itemwithout
permission, it is termedas theft. Beer is not a prohibiteditem and
the enforcement of-cers of Majlis Bandaraya ShahAlam had no right
to take away
the beer from the conveniencestore. It was a case of
LittleNapoleons taking the law intotheir own hands.
Even the president of MBSAadmitted that he was unawareof the
raid and Ronnie Liu wascorrect to ask that the beer bereturned. The
call to strip him ofhis post of state local govern-ment committee
chairman bySelangor PAS chief Dr HassanAli was unfounded. If anyone
isto be chided it should be Has-
san, for causing unnecessarytension.
Thank you, Tan Sri Khalid Ib-rahim for your wise decision thata
self-regulatory system prevails.Outlets would not object to the
imposition of a rule that thereshould be no sale of beer
toMuslims and minors. I am a non-drinker but I respect the rights
ofthose who want to drink as it isnot against the law.
We do not need to have manylaws as long as we regulateourselves.
All we need is to usecommon sense in deciding whatis right or
wrong, good or bad.
C.H. YapKuala Lumpur
