Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Merajuk Bloggers Part 2: So now it's PR1MA?


The 1MDB issue is as good as dead. I mean, the idea of using 1MDB and the lost RM42 billion to bring down Najib Razak as Prime Minister has clearly failed. Just read the latest edition of The Edge, which is owned by Tong Kooi Ong, the man who has no love whatsoever for 1MDB. The business weekly's cover story on Edra, the plus-minus RM18 billion energy giant that China's CGN Power Group bought from 1MDB just three weeks ago, confirms what most of us suspected all along - that Edra was indeed a gold mine that 1MDB had never been given the chance to work on. Say what you like about how flawed the business model of the 1MDB might have been: the point is, the scandals manufactured from it are no longer good enough to bring down a PM.

So now some merajuk bloggers are aiming their guns on PR1MA, in the hope that people will believe that what Najib Razak is trying to do, really, is to steal money from the rakyat and not to build them homes.
Same shit these people have been trying to sell, to no avail, with 1MDB.
This time, though, they are getting some help from an incredibly obscure Italian property consultant who somehow thinks he can come into this country and declare a massive socio-economic project like PR1MA a "total failure" three years after its inception.
This Mario says "the government is not happy (with PR1MA), the developers are not happy, the market is not happy".
And guess who is happy that this Mario is shooting his mouth like he'd had too much grappa? People who stand to lose out from the PR1MA initiative, of course. Plus one or two merajuk bloggers and, - this one I can't explain - the publisher of a local property magazine!

Fuyooh!
  
All of these agents and consultants call one another "property guru" so no surprise there why some of our Malaysians are so ready to swallow every word they say. 

For the record, PR1MA has obtained government approval for 230,000 affordable homes and is poised to achieve the target of 240,000 homes for the three years since PR1MA's inception. A total of 190 projects nationwide are underway, simultaneously, to deliver these homes. 
Many of the "usual suspects" in the well-guarded cartel know as our housing industry will not get to earn a single sen out of this initiative by the Najib Administration simply because PR1MA sells its homes direct to home buyers, thus obliterating the role of speculators, middlemen, property agents, consultants, maybe even magazine publishers, and other bloodsuckers.
PR1MA was meant to do away with these elements in the first place, anyway. Otherwise, how could the government afford to build affordable homes and, as one of the experts below put it, "take care of social welfare"? The housing developers that we have - at least most of them - aren't going to do that, not in a thousand years!



The Malay Mail Online's story:

PR1MA initiative a ‘total failure’, consultant  claims

Not only is Gambero not happy with PR1MA,
he claims the Malaysian government is not happy with PR1MA

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Government-owned PR1MA Corporation Malaysia (PR1MA) has failed in its mission to provide affordable housing in the right locations, property consultant Dr Daniele Gambero alleged today.
Daniele, CEO of consultancy group REI Group of Companies, said the Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PR1MA) initiative started as a good idea but the company running the programme has not been meeting the government’s set targets.
“PR1MA is a total failure. It is not delivering homes at the right value in the right place.
“The government is not happy about it, developers are not happy about it, the market is not happy about it.
“It’s not to be laughed about or joked about unfortunately,” he said during a question-and-answer session at PropertyGuru’s Property Market Outlook 2016 forum today.
He questioned Putrajaya’s promise of churning out thousands of PR1MA units, highlighting that even all the developers in Malaysia combined would only be able deliver less than 160,000 units per year.
Property magazine publisher KK Chua, who was also a panellist at the forum, said the government has only approved 72 PR1MA projects that can deliver 50,000 units, a mere 10 per cent of Putrajaya’s target of 500,000 units by 2020.
Tiew also not happy with PR1MA
“Of course, out of the 50,000, none has been delivered, we don’t know when it will be delivered. We can forget about the pricing, the location of the projects is a bit far-flung,” the managing director of Property Insight’s publisher Armani Media said.
Andaman Property Management managing director Datuk Dr Vincent Tiew said, however, that there are PR1MA units being built in prime locations but noted that the firm has failed to create public awareness on its project locations.
He also said that PR1MA has changed the nature of its joint venture with private developers as it has begun to see the increasing difficulty in obtaining funds to buy land and build affordable housing units.
Siva Shanker, CEO of property agency PPC International, said the presence of too many government agencies overseeing different aspects of affordable housing was hampering Putrajaya’s success, noting that no one has been able to even agree on the price range of “affordable” housing.
“We need to define that first and then we need to put all these agencies under one agency that will drive this and I believe the way to do this is not to blackmail or twist the arm of developers,” the panellist said.
Private developers should not be forced to do social responsibility work or be asked to partner the government in doing so, as it would not generate good results, he added.
“If the government seriously believes that is a problem, then the problem needs to be tackled by the government, leave the developer to do his job and let the government take care of social welfare,” he said.
Under the Budget 2016, the government said it intends to allocate RM1.6 billion for PR1MA to build 175,000 houses with a total of 10,000 units expected to be completed by next year.
Among the list of measures for housing for Malaysians of various incomes, Putrajaya said SPNB will have RM200 million to build 10,000 units of Rumah Mesra Rakyat with a RM20,000 subsidy each, while KPKT will be given RM863 million to build 22,300 units of apartments and 9,800 units of terrace houses under the People’s Housing Programme (PPR). 

28 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:24 am


    "...the scandals manufactured from it are no longer good enough to bring down a PM."

    In what sense are they "manufactured"?

    Let's agree that people do not, as a rule, need to tell deliberate lies unless they have something to hide.

    This for example:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi--3fXHgv4

    Or, to take another random example, the whole AK 2 billion fiasco.

    That was a perfect example of the sheer, messy lying that 1MDB is capable of.

    FIRST: 1MDB flirts with an EOD after missing 2 repayments:

    http://www.1mdb.my/happening/1mdb-defaults-if-rm2-billion-loan-not-paid-by-february-18/

    SECOND: AK whips his wallet out at the very last minute to save the day:

    http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2015/01/30/Ananda-Krishnan-to-help-1MDB-repay-US$550mil-loan/?style=biz

    THIRD: Despite the reported rescue, Arul Kanda seemed to have something struck in his throat:

    http://www.kwiknews.my/news/after-ananda-krishnan-loan-1mdb-now-needs-government-cash

    Arul did not explain how it raised the money in his February 13 statement, but in an interview with Mingguan Malaysia‎ two days later, he said reports that AK lent the money were pure speculation.

    "Ananda has never said anything about this matter. This is speculation by third parties,” Mingguan Malaysia quoted him as saying.

    FOURTH: Despite the last-minute rescue, MOF then deny completely that AK was the source.

    http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/03/14/not-anandas-money-to-settle-1mdb-loan-says-treasury/

    “The Treasury has told Parliament that 1Malaysia Development Bhd had used its own funds, and not a loan from tycoon T Ananda Krishnan, to settle a RM2 billion debt with Malaysian banks. In a written reply, the Finance Ministry said 1MDB had settled the loan last month using its own funds from its Cayman Islands account and not with the help of Ananda Krishnan as had been reported.”

    This was a WRITTEN REPLY in Parliament, mind you. This is a lie told in Parliament.

    FIFTH: The final humiliating backdown:

    http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/now-minister-claims-ananda-krishnans-tanjong-helped-1mdb-settle-rm2bil-loan

    Pendek kata, the AK story was true, lah.

    At the end of this clumsy attempt to deceive the public, we are none the wiser about why AK, who has a massive conflict of interest in the issue, was the source of funds.

    But that's how it's been. Time and again.

    Sweeping generalisations about the 1MDB issue being "manufactured" don't cut it, really.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1MDB issue is not dead. Just wait for PRU 14 and we will see who will be dead.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:49 am


    Why are we surprised that PRIMA bombed?

    We always start with good intentions, kan. "The development of a planned, integrated and sustainable Malaysian beef industry through the development of the fully integrated livestock farming and beef production", for example.

    The National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) was supposed to be a High Impact Project under Ninth Malaysia Plan with the objective of attaining 40% self sufficiency for beef production by 2010.

    This is what happened:

    http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/20-cows-4-workers-and-abandoned-buildings-left-at-national-feedlot-centre

    And the ill-explained purchase of condos that caused the A-G, High Court, and Court of Appeal to expend MORE taxpayer money in pursuing the case, all undone by one secretive letter to the replacement A-G.

    What are the Malaysian rakyat left with?

    20 cows, 4 workers, a hole in the legal system, and missing millions of our money.

    Again:

    Why are we surprised that PRIMA bombed?



    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:53 am


    So many "PRIMAs".

    Remember this?

    http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/govt-overpaid-tm-by-rm11.6m-for-999-emergency-line-says-a-g

    From that:

    "Yet another area where the A-G recommended disciplinary action and surcharges to be imposed is in the promotion and publicity of the MERS 999, due to excess payment of RM3.19 million by the ministry to TM for nothing since the ministry terminated the promotional programme in 2008."

    Celaka betui. And don't tell me that when this 3 million changed hands, nobody knew that the campaign had ended in 2008?

    It gets worse:

    http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/10/01/AG-report-mers-999.aspx

    A mere RM303,813 claimed by one person for a four-day trip to Geneva to "study" the 999 system. Great.

    The next time the gomen wants to raise prices and shaft us, they need to look in the mirror first.

    Sadly, a good and useful innovation for society gets killed off, just so that some idiot cronies can make a killing off an inferior replacement.

    Everyone wants to make a quick buck (even bloggers, I guess.)

    That's the quickest way to shortcuts and corruption.

    It's how Malaysia now operates.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous12:02 pm



    Latuk,

    Can you please ask KJ why he's suddenly complaining about a 5% increase in toll by PLUS, but he let these EIGHTEEN FAR HIGHER TOLL HIKES go by without a whimper:

    http://paultan.org/2015/10/12/12-highways-get-toll-rate-hike-highest-at-rm1-10/

    Some of these went up by 100%.

    How often in one year do people use the North-South Highway, compared to paying 50%, 60%, 70% extra daily?

    This letter by En. Saleh Mohammed nails it:

    "The introduction of the 6% GST in April is putting pressure on domestic prices while import costs are rising after the ringgit slumped this year and it is Asia’s worst performer.

    The realities are:

    > The Barisan GE13 manifesto was not fulfilled;

    > The hike contradicts the Government’s promise to reduce the burden of the rakyat. It transfers the burden which has been shared between motorists and the Government solely to the motorists;

    > The increase is between 20sen and RM3, which is more than what was reportedly proposed in August of between 20sen and RM1;

    > Gamuda expected the LDP toll to increase in 2016 but got it now;

    > The spirit of the privatisation policy to allow market forces to govern economic activities and improve efficiency and productivity is conveniently forgotten;

    > The concessionaires are raking more in toll collection now than they were a few years ago with increasing traffic;

    > Majority of these highways are in the greater Klang Valley area. The economic aspiration for this region is to grow its GNI contribution from around 30% to approximately 40% and increasing the population from six to 10 million. It will likely drive up the prices of goods; and

    > Alternative non-tolled routes are either not available or have unrealistic routes."

    http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2015/10/16/que-sera-sera-to-toll-hike-hike/

    So, KJ:

    Your brownie points sandiwara is really too little, too late.


    ReplyDelete
  6. salm dato.

    sorry ! I beg to disagree. issues of 1mdb ; rm2.6b ; rm42m n altantuya wil still b relevant until they are adequately addressed in a transparent manner.

    some prefer not to touch these issues in-depth 4 reasons only known to them. I hv come to know that some bloggers received very large launching grants from friendly parties.
    I hope u are not one of them.

    wassallam.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1:05 pm


    UMNO cuba memperbodohkan orang Melayu. UMNO tidak Salah tapi Melayu yang salah sebab depa masih mempercayai UMNO.

    Kalau kita amati dalam konteks Islam, ramai Melayu dah jadi syirik kerana mempercayai bahawa tanpa UMNO...

    Melayu akan merempat,
    Melayu akan hilang kuasa,
    Melayu akan jadi papa kedana.

    Bukankah UMNO sudah diangkat setaraf dengan Allah swt? Apakah UMNO dah dijadikan Rukun Iman yang ke-6 menggantikan rukun yang sedia ada.

    Untuk kembalikan kehebatan Melayu, UMNO mesti ditumbangkan dan digantikan dengan Melayu lain. Sudah sampai masanya Melayu kena berubah daripada kebergantungan pada UMNO kepada Allah swt. Melayu bukan Islam. Islam tanpa Melayu tetap berdiri SEGAR dan HEBAT.

    Melayu tanpa Islam ... buruk padahnya.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:54 pm

      Melayu lain itu siapa eeerrr melayu islam yer...sapa agaknya;-) ;-) ;-) mat sabun? Hahaha

      Delete
  8. Anonymous1:17 pm

    Why do you always use the line "1MDB issue is dead because the edge talks positive about sale of edra"?
    If you can think beyond that, edge will always say of course it's good for a Chinese company to own malaysian assets.
    Why is that? Probe further.
    But 1mdb issue is not the sale of its power assets. The issue is the mismanagement and the embezzlement of billions in petrosaudi and kwap money in src. The fact that they had to be in debt to the tune of rm42b to buy assets which then they had to sell those assets to pay off the rm42b is just one way to say 1mdb is stupid. They are so stupid, the pm came out to say its business model is a failure! Who is the top adviser to advise this failed company? The pm himself! Good luck defending them. Cash is king.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous2:20 pm

    Datuk Rocky,

    I went to the PRIMA fair in PWTC a couple of weeks back and was impressed with the amount of projects being promoted throughout Malaysia.

    However, based on my conversations with the developers (cheekily re-branded as "PRIMA Partners") majority of the projects approved by PRIMA are only in the Development Order (DO) submission/approval stage.

    A friend of mine who's a developer told me that if a developer wants to market their houses, they would have to obtain up to 3 stages of approval followed by an application with KPKT to open a HDA account.

    My friend said that what PRIMA did is the other way around - try to "sell" the projects even before they get approval from local authorities, which is unfair to other developers who have to go through due process.

    To me, PRIMA is good because their entry will further strengthen competition and price war so it becomes a buyers market.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous2:29 pm

    Good job datuk...kipidap...the picture has become clearer why 1Mdb has been under massive bombardment from this bloodsucker!!! for all those oppotoon @ dungutoon please look at the bigger picture which has become clearer day by day...bravo Najib!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous2:30 pm

    Sir, I think they have felt the heat. Recent report said the property sector is decline for the 6 months consequative & it's projected like 'tapai sejuk' for the first quarter 2016. I'm not have any grudge to them (property player & developer), but if you're selling a landed house with 18'*55' for almost rm800k, who's gonna buy it? Talk have been deep for 'rumah mampu tengok' other than 'rumah mampu milik'. I myself have regularly check the developer development account & blimey if I say those capitalist & oppurtunist enjoying almost more than 50% profit gain of the property sales. Thing gonna be worse if 'the syndicate' get involved. Houses are completed, but almost 40% being purchased by inter related person of the company, such the director & cronies before being open to the public at almost 30-40% from original price. I have said this and I think those property guru should learn much on enjoying profit without bullying ordinary folks like me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. tebing tinggi3:09 pm



    Just asking, how many PR1MA unit's has been delivered and occupied ???.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous3:58 pm


    One thing that can't be denied, for those who have been following the project closely - Prima is seriously short of targets.

    http://www.focusmalaysia.my/Assets/PR1MA%20under%20fire%20over%20%E2%80%98unrealistic%E2%80%99%20targets

    "Some two years after launching the ambitious 1Malaysia Housing Programme (PR1MA), Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia has only 7,336 housing units under construction of the first 80,000 it is to deliver.

    According to the Economic Report 2014/2015 released last month by the Ministry of Finance, PR1MA plans to start building 31,469 units only by year-end. That means the agency tasked with implementing the affordable housing programme has already failed as it is supposed to deliver 80,000 homes each year.

    By the end of this year, PR1MA is to deliver 160,000 homes and come next year, it should construct 240,000 units using the total of RM2.8 bil allocated by the government.

    With the second year of the programme set to end in just over a month, PR1MA has yet to deliver even a single unit. PR1MA has set itself to fail even before it started, say several property observers."

    I'll tell you what worries me.

    When that CowCondo mess started, the public were also told "we are on target for meeting our target of sustainable beef production!" but it turned out that a handful of cows had been produced, and those were for crony restaurant chains in any case.

    Deju vu here.

    Less than 1,000 Prima homes actually finished, whereas from 2012 onwards it should have been hundreds of thousands by now.

    Where has all that money gone?

    They ask for new budget every year.

    Where has all that money gone?

    While the Cow project was conceptually OK before it became the Cash Cow Condo project, even the thinking behind Prima is flawed:

    http://econsmalaysia.blogspot.my/2011/10/pr1ma-this-isnt-optimal-policy.html

    Are we going to end up with yet another failed mega-project that some Umno crony has made a quick buck off?

    How many of those have we seen?

    Where has all that money gone?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:27 pm


    You know who should be "merajuk"-ing?

    The folks who actually need the low-cost housing.

    Try buying or renting any kind of property in KL now.

    Why should real people with real needs wait just because the Govt can't get its s*** together?

    In that massive, stage-managed Bugis ego-wank called "PAU", why did they talk about trivial things like MAS uniforms, and not confront any real issue that affects the people?



    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous4:28 pm


    http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/penang-offers-to-take-on-pr1ma-applicants-for-state-affordable-home-plan

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous5:53 pm

    Bro ... suffice to highlight , international developer journal mentioned malaysian developer have the highest net profit margin of 20 % .
    On comparison singapore , thailand , philipine the margin range 13% to 17 %.
    For us , uk n aus the range is 12% to 15 % .

    It is not a surprise those DAPig lover wanted to sabotage the govt by bashing the rakyat .

    It is time now that the govt should start enforcing control on profiteering by these unscroupulous taiko developers .

    It goes to show the face of DAPig LGE despice n hatred for 1MDB affordable housing project in Penang.

    LGE is enjoying malay bashing in Penang ... for sure .

    PN

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous6:20 pm


    Fluffy fluff from PRIMA:

    http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/response-to-pr1ma-a-total-failure-says-property-expert-perbadanan-pr1ma-mal

    This is their "response."

    Let's break it down into the 2 points that they made:

    a) "PR1MA understands the demand for market homes for middle-income Malaysians and understands affordability in areas where PR1MA is present. We undertake demand analysis, using location preference data given by our registrants, which number 1.2 million people to date. Our product matches the demand at the location of our projects."

    TRANSLATION: Ummmm, nothing, this is fluff.

    b) "To date, a total of 232,807 units from 190 projects have been approved for construction by the Members of Corporation (MOC). That is approximately 97 per cent of our 3-year mandate of 240,000 units. Of this 67,435 units are already in various stages of construction and 883 units have been delivered."

    TRANSLATION: We've built about 900 houses since 2012.

    This is way, way, way below the promised annual rate.

    So there you go.

    Unless "bloggers" like PR1MA homes too, I guess it's the 1.2 million rakyat who applied who've been shafted.



    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous7:07 pm


    http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/mps-terengganu-made-umno-pr1ma-custodians-for-malay-land-reserves

    I love the way the gomen is just giving the middle finger to the Federal Constitution and existing laws.

    Articles 153 and 89 of the Federal Constitution, read with specific laws, do not give any political party or associated body the right to suddenly declare themselves "trustees" over Malay Reserve land. It removes all checks & balances and is a wide open door for abuse.

    Najib says he is "trustee" of the 2.6 billion.

    Yet the beneficiaries of the "trust fund" have no clue where it is or how it was spent.

    The same will happen here.



    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous7:19 pm

    So whats your point? In the article of the online MM, they gave figures. What can you give? You are living of the past bro. Unfortunately, you didnt do any engineering marvel or shit. You just jumped on a bandwagon. So can you debunk their figure, yes or no?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous9:09 pm

    changing side?????

    http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/blogger-attack-pemandu-may-be-strategic-swipe-najib

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous9:33 pm

    Prima brags completed 884 units homes and obtain approval for 240k unit homes. They have only completed 884 homes in the last three years. That approximately 1k homes completed per 3 years or 720 years to be completed for 240k homes. Is that indication of success. ? Maybe by umno standard in umno own world.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous9:55 pm

    changing lane??? perhaps?

    http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/blogger-attack-pemandu-may-be-strategic-swipe-najib

    ReplyDelete
  23. damansaraman10:58 am

    Our property market is too expensive. The prices are ridiculous. The escalating prices are very much speculative based rather than real value based.

    I fully support PR1MA efforts. But the Government thru PR1MA should seriously look into their pricing strategy thus ensuring more people can afford to own their own house.

    Only a successful PR1MA can help to stabilise the market price

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous1:07 pm


    To speed up the workings of PRIMA (less than 900 homes completed in 3 years, when the target was 240,000), I suggest they be placed under the governance of YAPEIM:

    http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/bahasa/article/now-persoal-keperluan-yapeim-wujudkan-pusat-sukan-golf-simulator

    That should help to get the funds...moving.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous1:32 pm

    Very good dato najib on pr1ma..now lets go after the car ap holders lak..enough is enough..

    Org muo

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous2:19 pm


    @ 9:55 pm

    "In recent weeks, several pro-Umno bloggers - including Mr Ahirudin Attan (who uses the pseudonym Rocky's Bru) and Mr Syed Akbar Ali (OutSyed The Box) - have hit out at Pemandu, a national reform agency set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

    The bloggers ran a series of complaints - which they claimed had appeared anonymously in their inboxes - branding Pemandu staff as grossly overpaid consultants who are running the country on Datuk Seri Najib's behalf or as supporters of the opposition.

    Also, a senior staff member at Pemandu was singled out and accused of being a party girl who had been fined for drink-driving.

    Last week, the agency came to her defence, saying all staff were screened for their capabilities and work ethics before being hired.

    The bloggers are influential as they have close ties with Umno politicians. They are also known to favour former premier Mahathir Mohamad.

    Their scathing criticism of Pemandu has made some wonder if it was an attempt to make Mr Najib appear a weak leader, in much the same way that his predecessor Tun Ahmad Abdullah Badawi had been made to look."

    Ahhhhh, the good old days.

    That was when bloggers were seen as champions of the rakyat.

    Paid professionalism has been a curse, I'd say.

    Who cares about the rakyat any more?


    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous5:46 pm

    PN 5:53pm

    You clearly do not know anything about business. A development takes 4-5 years from planning all the way to selling the last available unit. So, the 20% profit margin is spread out to 4 - 5 % profit per annum.

    Anything lower than that, banks will tell you thank your very much and show you to the nearest exit.

    Heck, on a good day even a FD account could give you that much amount of money. Rather than pening2 selling properties, just chuck it in the bank and you get the same returns!

    ReplyDelete