9th Malaysia Plan & Corridors in trouble

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today that the government has not made a decision to shelve the country’s space programme though no funds are available for the second mission at the moment.

He said the government had other options including continuing with the space training now and proceed with the second mission later if the programme was facing financial constraint.

Najib said he liked Malaysia’s second astronaut Mej Dr Faiz Khaleed to continue with the space training.

Najib was asked to comment on news reports on the prospect of the space programme being scrapped as there was no money (Source: NAJIB: Keep space programme option open )

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili had earlier told reporters that the country’s space programme looks to be as good as grounded. There is no money for the programme.

“Under the mid-term review, I can say that there is zero money. If we want to proceed with the second phase we have to look for money,” Dr. Maximus said (read: Zero cash for second phase of Angkasawan space programme)

Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) had offered to bring another Malaysian astronaut on a space mission in either 2010 or 2011 and Malaysia had decided on Dr Faiz as the candidate for the second mission.

It seems that Najib is trying hard to find the money needed for the program. Maybe one of the way is to buy more Sukhoi and include within the contract a term that makes the Russian pays for the trip such as the one previously. Another $4b of military hardware purchase will save the space programme.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that infrastructure projects under its multi-billion-dollar five-year 9-Malaysia Plan may have to be delayed due to escalating costs.

Abdullah, who is also finance minister, said high on the casualty list is the construction of a vital second bridge linking Penang to peninsular Malaysia.

The Prime Minister said there were a number of reasons for the Penang 2nd Bridge project delay.

“First, we need to acquire the land needed to develop the project, then there are matters relating to the design. We want to ensure that it is the best design.

“Also the cost needs to be looked at. There may be some changes in the cost because the price of materials have gone up,” he told reporters on Tuesday after delivering his speech at the Asia Europe Culture Ministers Meeting.

Abdullah also said that several other projects under the RM200 billion development plan from 2006 to 2010 would be reviewed. (Source: Gov't to delay projects amid rising costs )

It was reported that the second bridge was originally estimated at RM3.6bil but the costing had gone up to RM4.3bil (see: PM: Many reasons for Penang bridge delay )

I happened to receive some information from reliable sources. They told me that the portion of works to be carried out by UEM's foreign partner, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is already RM4.8 billion and this excludes UEM portion of works such as earthworks and other ancillary works which could amount to another RM2 billion. If we are to include land acquisition the total cost for the bridge would be around some RM7.5 billion, and not RM4.3 billion as reported by TheStar.

There was another problem between UEM and CHEC partnership of which UEM holds 49% and CHEC holds the remaining 51% in the joint-venture consortium. The joint venture legal entity was named as CHEC-UEM JV but UEM sends all letters under the name of UEM-CHEC JV of which the CHEC may just ignore the contractual letters and of which may have future potential legal implications should there be disputes that puts the party to battle it out in the court. The probable reason is that UEM wants to have their corporate name in front to denote control and power while the CHEC wants their name in front to denote that they are financing the project based on the G2G (government-to-government) initiated collaboration.

When this 2nd bridge project was mooted way back in 1996 the budgeted cost was around RM2 billion and should Mahathir had carried out this project at the same time as the KLIA project we could have saved RM5.5 billion. But then Mahathir rather have Twin Tower, Star and Putra LRT and another RM10 billion for Putrajaya, Wetland project, Cyber Entertainment Village, etc.

And most of all, Najib is working hard to find RM2-4 billion to buy Russian military hardwares so as to sent our Costmorenaut to the international space station.

Pak Lah: The Trillion Dollar PM

It will go into the World Guinness Book of Record!

Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had within 4 years launched more than one trillion ringgit of projects. In fact, more will be on the pipeline.

Nothing can stop him... He once claimed that he is frugal, but no more!!!

RM177b for Northern Corridor. There is also the Jerejak Theme Park, RM24bil Trans-peninsula Oil Pipeline, Penang 2nd Bridge and Monorail, Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR), Ipoh-Padang Besar Double Track, etc, etc.


RM382b for Southern Corridor.

This exclude the billion dollar Ekovest Danga Bay,

and a Chinese Ao Mi Shan spiritual tourism projects that may worth more than one billion investment, plus

Tanjung Bin Petroleum Hub on a Man-Made Island, Disney Theme Park, Pilecon Waterfront projects, RM20bil flood mitigation projects, Johor Bahru Monorail project, etc.


Then we have the Eastern Corridor.

The initial allocation is RM22 billion.

Petronas is supposed to spearhead the spending spree.

We also have the Pahang-Selangor Water pipeline project.

We also have the Double-track railway to Kuantan on the card.

There is also the Kuantan-Trengganu-Kelantan expressway, Trengganu University, Kelantan University, Mara University, and many thousand more projects.


In the Central Region, we have the RM10bil blueprint for Klang Valley Transport system.

We also have the West Coast Highway that is worth RM3.1 billion.

There is also the Canal City that is worth RM1.2 billion.

There is also the RM100 million Vaccine Facility in Nilai.


Others include, the Istana Negara, New Court Complex, Hyde Park, e-KL project, new LRT projects, Eastern Dispersal Link, Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway, South Klang Valley Expressway, Melacca-Klang Highway, Nilai Super-Campus, River Rehabilitation projects, Langat2 reservoir, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya still have billion dollar projects, Hi-Tech projects, school projects, police and army camps, universities, hospitals and clinics, mosques, etc, etc.

There is also billion dollar of class F projects, Batik projects, Becha projects, Halal projects, and additional jails and detention centers (for bloggers).

Truly, it's record trillions.

I hope he is not dreaming to make it Zillions!!!!

9MP or 8MP Projects completed?

That's funny news!

Samy Vellu said that 613 projects worth more than RM2.1bil under the 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP) had been completed to-date.

The projects include Proton City new road, Jalan Kuah-Padang Matsirat to Langkawi airport road and Jalan Duta Interchange.

As at March 2007, 762 projects were awarded, amounting to RM24.9 billion. Of these, 533 projects were already in progress.

Samy also said that there are still 915 projects worth RM10.2bil which have yet to be awarded.

RM2.1bil completed; RM24.9bil awarded and RM10.2bil going to be awarded...

That's RM37.3bil! But....

Weren't it supposed to be RM200bil as reported?

Oh, it's 5-year plan

But then Pak Lah had already said RM100bil projects was to be rolled out?

and RM40bil was fast-tracked and approved?

What about the 2,000 projects under the 8MP which was carried forward to the 9MP?

What had happened to them?

Did Samy's figure of RM2.1bil comes from these and include the RM24.9bil and RM10.2bil?

Does all the RM37.3bil comes from these delayed-carried forward 8MP projects?


What about those projects under the 8MP and carried forward to the 9MP which had been approved and had no money to start work?

Weren't we being confused?

Iskandar, NEP & Khairy's New Dilemma

"Iskandar not a sell-out to foreigners"

By Khairy Jamaluddin
Opinion: Out of the Cage
1st April 2007

I am not sure whether it is coincidence or intentional but the article was published on an auspicious day: April's Fools Day.

Let's view objectively the opinion from our Oxbridge-groomed expert and chief economist and strategist to our Prime Minister.

Abstracts (with emphasis added)

According to Khairy, the prime minister articulated the vision well (what vision? Oh, the IDR: Iskandar Development Region). He added further: "As it turns out, the government pretty much got it spot on. The foreign investment community liked the incentives and got the message that the government was dead serious about Iskandar."

"In particular, apart from the tax holidays they would get, the big-ticket item was definitely the exemptions from the 'Bumiputera thing'."

"The Iskandar perks also allows for capital to be sourced globally and the unrestricted employment of foreigners in the approved zone."

"Clearly these exemptions are DESIGNED to remove one of the principal BUGBEARS that foreign investors have had in Malaysia. SURRENDERING 30% of "Your" equity (note: no more OURS) even before the business is under way make you think twice (did you think twice?) about investing, especially when the RECIPIENTS OF THE STAKE OFTEN BRINGS LITTLE OR NOTHING TO THE TABLE. (Whose table? On Top or Under?)"

"Although the FIC rules were designed to help meet Bumiputera equity target set in the NEP, IT IS DEBATABLE WHETHER IT HAS SUCCEEDED IN CREATING PRODUCTIVE CAPITAL OR MERELY ECONOMIC RENTS."

"Simply put, why risk the future of Iskandar for policies that haven't really succeeded in meeting their objectives?" (I am impressed. It seems that is good common sense which had proven so uncommon in the political-ethnic forum).

"Surprisingly, the incentives have not generated too much debate on the Malay ground, yet. (Ya, yet!) But it will come. And before it does, it is important that Khazanah, as the custodian of Iskandar, explains what the exemptions are and what is being done to promote the "Bumiputera thing" in Iskandar..." (Oops! The Tai-Chi at work. Azman Mokhtar will be blamed for any resistance or objections to the policy change and for anything that the policy-makers failed to anticipate).

"Khazanah has been NOTORIOUS FOR THEIR INABILITY to connect and communicate with the Malay ground and this issue sets up a potential minefield..." (Azman, this is a direct blow in your face, and an intention to tell you that you had failed the Malays, not UMNO and it is foreseen that this policy change will generate a battle within the system; it's a potential minefield and don't say I didn't warn you; that's what the statement implied).

Khairy predicted that the new battle-cry will be centered on issues such as:

(1) Johor is losing its independence;
(2) The Malays are going to be slaves and servant once more;
(3) Singaporeans and the undesirable skyscrapers will dominate Johor and employing Malays as servants.
(4) Do we Malays want that (to happen? No, but it could)?


"But before we become emotional, lets put the incentives in its proper context to see if the enslavement holds water." (I love this statement. How true; absolutely true).

"First of all, the incentive would be offered within certain zones of Iskandar and not applicable to the entire Iskandar. These zones are less than 2% of the entire region. There is surely no reason to think Southern Johor will be flogged off.

Secondly, only certain targeted sectors can benefit from the incentive, namely, creative industries, educational services, financial advisory and consulting (who is in this biz? Kali?) healthcare, logistics and tourism.

Third, to qualify, the companies must conduct the business within the zone or outside Malaysia (what about the value chain? Every business involves a chain of integrative services and strategically, it will not be viable to group every peripheral business units within the zone.) Any company that set up in these zones will not be allowed to capture the Malaysian market and the zones is set up for regional businesses and will not allow those foreign companies tp have a leg into the Malaysian market. By providing these incentives we are actually taking the fight to places like Singapore (My goodness, will Singapore government allow their companies to set up here so that they (the Singaporeans will take the fight to Singapore and crush their own economy? This statement made by Khairy is insidious and when the Singaporeans read this, will they want to come and invest here?)

Fourth, those companies that invested in IDR will be asked to contribute to a fund for 'social development' to be used to roll out programmes to help low income families in Iskandar to mitigate the widespread inequality via silos of divergent economic growth.

Fifth, Melayu mudah lupa, these sort of incentives were offered before in one form or another since 1980s and its nothing new; why object?

"So the assertion that Iskandar is the thin end of the wedge for foreign economic neo-colonialists is intellectually unsound. This doesn't mean, of course, that the "Bumiputera thing" is completely irrelevant." (I am puzzled; it's self-contradictory and stultifying)

"As long as this type of value-creating BUMIPUTERA AGENDA is in place, there is nothing to fear from the Iskandar incentives". (Oh, my god, this is an agenda; it's surely fearful because what we see now may not be thereafter when investments are dumped in and may not be able to liquidate over a short time).

"The noise from the margins - one crying bondage, the other calling for an end to affirmative action - BOTH MISS THE MARK INTELLECTUALLY AND MORALLY." ( I agree 100%)

(Note: the emphasis is mine).

ISJDR Investors New Dilemma

Before any investors were to consider investing in the Iskandar Development Region in Southern Johor (IDR), they are slapped with contribution funds.

Any investors or companies who intend to participate in the IDR must first pay contributions to a social fund that would be set up by the government.

The fund would be called Social Action Fund and would be managed by the co-ruptors and the rationale is that the fund would be utilised for community development programmes. What community development programmes, it has yet to be identified and any programmed the co-ruptors would eventually design and implement is esoteric and mystified.

Take for example where contractors had to contribute 0.25% of their project value to Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). The board was originally set up to develop the contruction industry, in particular, the main problem was the standard practices and quality of the skills and products. The CIDB was supposed to set up best practices and standards for the industry players and to progressively developed the industry players (that is, the contractors) to become world-class contractors, comparable with the multi-national corporations in terms of technology, skills, product quality, innovation and magnitude. That way, over a reasonable period of time, Malaysian contractors would be as good and competitive as the Japanese and Koreans, or to a higher level, the Americans and British or European contractors.

It is now more than 30 years since CIDB had existed and the only result they had paraded is the fact that a few Malaysian contractors had secured some projects in India and Sri Lanka, both Indian states of which Samy Vellu had played an influential role. But is that what CIDB is suppose to achieve?

Observed who are the workers in the industry? The Indonesians! 90% of the workers are Indonesians in our Malaysian construction industry? What happen to the vocational schools, Institute Kemahiran and all those skill training centres? Didn't they generate out skill workers and skillful supervisors? Take a survey and find out the skills of the supervisors and what had they gain or benefited from CIDB's role?

Over the decades, billions had been collected by CIDB and as the accounts of CIDB is not published for public knowledge, one could only guess what happened to the monies and where it was spent.

More unfortunately is the fact that the top management of CIDB are great leaders from the construction industry - ex-JKR Director-Generals and ex-Construction CEO. Did they ever considered the results, performance and achievements? What was and is their KPI? It's a far greater shame than the concessionaire agreements.

Wouldn't the Social Action Fund (SAF) be any different?

Why don't NST and The Star made some surveys at the various construction project sites and conduct some interviews with contractors or their managers and find out what the public had benefited?

Further, there are also more other funds such as development funds/sinking funds (ISF) collected by the authorities from property developers...what had they done with the monies?

In Selangor, property developers had to contribute to various other funds set up by the state government in the name of Social Action Funds or Infrastructure Funds, or whatever name they called it. Can the government let us know how they deal with the money? Would The Star and NST investigate and tell us?

It must be sinking funds...it sunk deep, deep down there!

Top Advisory Panel for ISJDR

I am surprise by the appointments of the various advisors, not so much about their competency and capabilities, more so from the combinations and racial diversities.

Forgive me for being paranoid as I do suffer from color-phobia. It's damn unusual as Iskandar South Johor Development Region (ISJDR) are owned by Khazanah and UEM, and headed by Johor MB Ghani and Pak Lah as joint-chairman.

2 Malays, 2 Chinese and 1 Indian, what a great combination.

Why not be 2-2-2, and add Ananda Khrisnan? It would be better, wouldn't it?

Is this a sign of acceptance of reality? that in the world of commerce, and for ISJDR to succeed, the leaders know that there is nothing to do with race, religion or creed. It is about competency, capability, international connections and network, and TRUST. For ISJDR to succeed, it must be able to attract international investors and multi-national corporations. ISJDR will also need huge development funds that would have to be sourced from foreign lenders via issuance of bonds and debt-papers.

For Malaysia to succeed and to continue to attract foreign investments, local investments and FDIs, including investments from Singaporeans, governmental policies, rules and regulations that discriminate and marginalized Others scares off all the potential investors. Nobody, no foreigners, will want to bring their monies to a land where insecurities and detrimental policies, dictated by rent-seeking politics and policies, ruled.

Each year, at the UMNO general assembly, you will hear of shouts and cries, and the raising of Keris, to decry about the success of others, except themselves. They claimed uneven level playing fields as the reason. They claimed pendatang came to rob them of their land and properties. They claimed they were bullied and cheated. They claimed that in order to progress, they need monogenesis policies such as the NEP, and that the NEP must be expanded to 70% control, which means that they want 70% ownership of the equity market. But to procure 70%, they would have to pay more than RM500bil; that they are not willing to pay; they want it and won't pay for it; it must be given to them because they had become Scylla and Charybdis, clothed in legal positivism, with monism-political power to change the law and the rules of equity.

That's not enough. They want almost everything and anything which has values, material values of which they don't have to pay for it or work for it; just because they have power and numbers.Schools and universities have to lower down the passing marks or to grant them higher scores irrespective of the competencies so that they gets degrees easily, without the need to study. The result, we have hundreds of thousands of unemployed and unemployable. But there's no worry as the government can create plenty of employment spaces within the civil services and government-linked corporations to fill them.

However, this piece of act, or, (do we call it goodwill gesture) hopefully is the beginning of self-consciousness and awareness would offer justification that our political society has now accepted integrity as a political virtue. Integrity insists that each citizen must accept demands on him, and may make demands on others, that share and extend the moral dimension of any explicit political decisions. It fuses citizens' moral and any argument for legitimacy must be able to account for the fact that political obligations are not consensual.

Political obligation is an associative obligation, which means that the special responsibilities social practice attaches to membership in some biological and social group, becomes part of the moral landscape and becomes the most consequential obligations of all.

It is hope that we would be transformed into a true community who endorsed the ideal of integrity and ensure that its collective decisions are matters of obligation and not bare power, in the name of fraternity.