Monday, November 08, 2010

RM400 million in RM4 billion USP Fund: Rais Yaim's Commission to woo the media today

Tan Sri Khalid Ramli
Finally, the Minister's Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) decides that it would be good to face the media and let them know how it had spent billions in the Universal Services Provision (USP) Fund that's meant to address the DD (Digital Divide) issue.
The (Information, Communications and Cultural) Minister Rais Yatim himself won't be at the briefing, which will take place at the MCMC's headquarters in Cyberjaya from 9am to 2pm. [See full program, mail recipient list, and MCMC's org structure h e r e].
The task of briefing the media has been given to the Chairman of the Commission, Khalid Ramli. Acting Senior Director of the USP Division Zulkarnain Mohd Yassin will be at hand to help the boss romance the media. There will even be a site visit to a Community Broadband Centre/ USP site in Taman Seri Serendah, Hulu Selangor from 2pm to 4pm.


So, what is USP Fund and what's the FUSS? In a nutshell, the Fund is money from the industry for purposes of rural telecoms infrastructure development. TM, Celcom, Maxis and other USPs contribute 6 per cent of their profits to the Fund. YB Wee Choo Keong has raised the issue of this "mysterious" fund (the mystery is in how the money was spent: the MCMC said there was just RM400 mil left in the RM4 billion fund, after Rais' own deputy had said the money in the Fund had not been touched; estimates of how big the fund is vary, with some saying it had reached RM6 billion).

One question that my fellow journos will definitely want to ask this morning is how does the MCMC justify using USP money for the distribution of netbooks under its RM1 billion Netbook scheme when it is clear that the Fund is never meant for buying hardware but is supposed to go to developing infra/connectivity in under-served areas, ie kampungs, long houses,

And how does the MCMC justify spending RM1,000 on each Netbook when Low Yatt is said to be offering the same notebook for half that amount?

And how does it justify providing these Netbooks to rural areas that still do not have connectivity? Shouldn't they  first ensure connectivity? And not put the cart before the horse?

There are many, many other questions to ask with regards to the USP Fund.

Is it true that there's no proper audit on the spending? Has the Audit Committee met at all this year?

Datuk Sharil ... Still the COO?
Where is the USP Fund boss, Datuk JJ (Jailani)? Why is the briefing taking place when he's not in town?

And can anyone tell me where is the MCMC's chief operating officer? Yes, the MCMC has a COO and his name is Sharil Tarmizi. I was told that the COO has been made Special Adviser to the Minister because he had too many misgivings about the Netbook scheme. Is that so now?

Note: The MCMC is still investigating Big Dog and I over postings we did on our blogs here and here following a police report lodged by its Minsiter, Rais Yatim, against me about a month ago.

26 comments:

  1. yea those are valid quest and my ears are drumming to hear but then me guess it gonna be biz as usual lah..

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  2. Anonymous7:00 am

    Kudos to you, Datuk. this is the kind of accountability that we demand from government and your persistence in this matter is nothing short of commendable. An effort Nades would be proud of no less. I await this 'briefing' with bated breath.

    KB
    Kelana Jaya

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  3. Homophobic10:13 am

    too many typos, Datuk..
    "minsiter" and "Rais Yaim"..

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  4. I think since the issue was also brought into Parliament by YB Wee, it should not be answered by calling a few journalists to the MCMC office as a sort of PR exercise. The issue should be answered by YB Minister Rais Yatim himself in Parliament.

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  5. Anonymous10:57 am

    Why did they pay RM1,000 for each netbook when you get the same in Low Yat Plaza for RM 500 ? Elementary my dear Watson. RM500 is for the usual UMNO commission lah.

    UMNO gets a contract for RM 1 billion, they subcontract it for RM 500 million. Better still, the contract will soon balloon to RM 2 billion due to "variation Orders". That's the standard UMNO modus operandi which I'm sure even Latuk Locky knows.

    Godfather

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  6. When Najib wants to get rid of one...he can depend on Rocky and Big Dog now.
    What better ways to get rid of Rias Yatim with multi billion corruptions exposures.
    Tons of corruptions done by rouges and thieves from UMNO B.
    Lets hope Rocky and Big Dog do not just concentrate on Rias Yatim whom Malaysians know is crooked and a lousy grasshopper.
    Lets hope these brave duo vow to expose all huge multi millions corruptions.
    If not....it is 2 doing a job for Najib..where Rias Yatim is the chosen sacrificial lamb to keep Najib strong for 13th GE.
    Whatever it is...vote change of government to stop CORRUPTIONS.
    It is now a devil catching a devil to save own skins...and the duo working for a living...should think about Malaysians seriously.. before talking.
    So far it is good news...but one it is one of the many crooks not exposed..including their boss..two famous bosses.Mahathir and Najib.

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  7. Anonymous12:14 pm

    The USP fund comes off the top i.e. revenue and not profit.

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  8. Sikit sikit special advisor....special assistant la

    apekebenda yg special pun tak tahu la gua...

    BTW bro Rocky what ever happened to your Ferrari? Did u managed to do a backup of the data prior to them taking it away from you?

    If not there's a lot of risk if they suddenly insert some incriminating information/data into your ferrari beb

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  9. 3.6 billion tak ada audit ke? Duit hilang dalam negara kita mudah sangat. Komisyen kapal selam, VO projek-projek mega, PKFZ, First lady, subsidi makanan sekolah, kotak hitam dalam bas... mula-mula juta-juta, lepas tu ratus juta sekarang billion-billion... Tak syak lagi, negara kita memang anti subsidi kepada rakyat.

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  10. Anonymous5:27 pm

    Ape daa Rocky. Low Yatt punye ori keh? Low Yatt punye org dlm ade share keh? Low Yatt punye, mentegi, bini, anak anak, makwe makwe, bole hidop mewah keh? Ape daa, Rocky, ape sala bgi komputer sblm ade kemudahan @ kemahiran gunanya? Itu salaah besau keh? Ini perkara kehcil, Rocky, harap jgn dibesaukan. Anggaplah ni rezeki org dalam, tolong jgn campak air busuk atas nasee mrk. Nasee blm jadi bubur, bersalamanlah dgn org dalaman dlm suasana bermaaf maafan. Dj Bujai.

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  11. Anonymous5:36 pm

    Penakut rupanya si pembakar jambatanni.

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  12. Anonymous6:33 pm

    Nothing new, same old story & all will be forgotten. Btw, I've just bought a samsung netbook, it cost me rm999 a unit. If you buy a few hundred thousand unit, don't tell me the price will still be the same. Some one is laughing all the way to the bank at dinoland.

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  13. Anonymous8:29 pm

    One of the netbooks suppliers for MCMCM is Hidaka Construction, as mentioned in YB Wee Choo Keong blog. How come construction company nowadays can supply netbook to givernment?

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  14. Anonymous9:00 pm

    by rocking rocky's bru a mega storm is brewing.

    everyman has a price as the addage goes and the price gets lower with time, greed gets higher with time.

    the devil has its own ways to succumb us to worldliness. we must go on with fardhu kifayah to remind and fight evil ways. otherwise who are going to save our own country? keep on the fight bro.

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  15. The MCMC does not belong to the minister.Moreover the MCMC is not as out-of-date as the minister who would be at a lost if he has to do the briefing.He does not know what is going on !Let's hear what the MCMC has to say first, especially the expenditures on the Notebooks.

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  16. Anonymous10:26 pm

    Heloo Bro! You buy notebook at Low Yatt? Of course it's half price there bec it's all fakes inside, maa!

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  17. Anonymous10:28 pm

    Of couse its laptop's cheap at Low Yatt! Everythings fake inside!

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  18. If I were to say that Im really fed-up with Rais and his Ministry will I be charged by the MCMC for causing embarrassment to others? Ah..I better not say it la...

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  19. Anonymous6:07 am

    1. the netbook type is lenovo 10-3S. good for net browsing ONLY.
    2. I have seen distributed in Mersing, kahang, rompin. No WIFI infra at all and only depending streamyx by Telekom. It took more than 3 months to have a streamyx guy to come over and in the meantime, charges (some areas) already applied.
    3. when the products are damaged or they have questions regarding the product, they don;t have any channels to go to.
    4. most of the person/house owns it , ends up playing PC games.
    6. the MCMC ceo in tv3 (sorry if it wasn't him) said it could also help IKS to promote local products.
    for that you need to develop skills, CPU and Memory of the netbooks are not well equipped.
    7. basically the USP funds is wasted with that netbook. no infra on the internet connectivity, no skills for the user to efffectively used it and no channels to either service or know more about the product.
    8. by the way, i think they don't have license for excel or ppt.

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  20. Anonymous10:10 am

    actually i like the idea of giving away netbook to remote area students.
    i have my cousin, which without this program will never have any chance to touch a computer.
    but, i have to agree with rocky that this isn't the appropriate fund for that purpose.
    but, i notice something wrong with my cousin's netbook program.
    we've been told by muhyiddin yassin that the netbook is free and come with broadband service.
    but, my cousin had to pay RM60 for that netbook, and it doesnt come with any broadband service.
    on the netbook desktop, i can see a shortcut for "DIGI Broadband Service", but with no modem of DIGI service provided it become useless.

    - orang pagoh...

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  21. Anonymous10:19 am

    regarding the cost of the netbook.
    i've seen the netbook myself, and i'm pretty confident that the netbook cost lot less than RM1000 each.
    first of all, compared with dell netbook (http://www1.ap.dell.com/my/en/home/notebooks/inspiron-1018/pd.aspx?refid=inspiron-1018&s=dhs&cs=mydhs1), i can get it for RM999, just buying single unit of them.
    1 million units is not small amount, and it is impossible for goverment not to get any 'bulk purchases' discount.
    2nd. the netbook has 'MIMOS' sticker on it, suggesting it is MIMOS that build that product.
    having involved in product development myself, i believe that netbook will only cost MIMOS at most RM400 each to produce (material cost).
    as part of the goverment agencies, it is logical that MIMOS should also do theirs part of that program.
    afterall, with only RM100.00 margin for each netbook, MIMOS can still get with RM100 millions.

    - orang pagoh(lenga, to be more specific :-p)...

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  22. Anonymous2:53 pm

    Everyone include Dato Sharil share certain portion of the big cake. Maybe different cake. He has good relationship with AscendSys sdn. bhd and Nuemera sdn bhd. Different company but same owner. Both company have a project with MCMC. And of course million dollar project. Even one of project that had been awarded could not be delivered before intersecutech take over.

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  23. Taikotai12:11 am

    Allo Latuk Blu!

    Wa olang puteh talak tau cakap maa..tapi wa punya chulai (sidale) kelija sana MCMC cakap itu "USP Fund" punya makna silupa itu "Untuk Sapu Punya Fund"..ala butut ka itu macam Latuk? Haaiiyaa..itu MCMC punya COO..lia punya muka manyak silupa macam wa punya sidale sana Tongsan duduk.

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  24. Anonymous11:35 am

    dato sharil pun sama gak.. sebelum2 ni yg dia makan dah byk dah. Bg projek kat kroni2 dia terutama dato noor amin. keje separuh jalan je sedut duit je pandai.

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  25. Sharil, u boleh join i kat ascendsys tapi maybe gaji kadang2 tertunggak.

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  26. Anonymous5:15 am

    Why MCMC provide Netbook only to TM , why not to others telco such as Digi , Maxis or Celcom.What I understand is that we have to apply this Netbook only from TM and it will cost us for RM 58 for 2years using TM Streamyx. Why isit MCMC provide this to other telcos with broadband facilities.I am interested in applying this notebook for my son for studying purposes at his college, since I had a Streamyt at my house it is a waste to apply for another Streamyx just to get a notebook.Using this notebook it means that I have to apply for broadband facilities for my son usage at his college.I think the best way is to provide Notebook to other telcos rather that only to TM.TQ

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