"Selling out" to China

Bandar Malaysia will make not only Johor rich

KL, Tues 5 Jan:

One ex-Minister making such a din about 1MDB "selling out" to China amuses me to no end. The ex-Minister refused to even listen to any explanation that the parties involved in the Bandar Malaysia deal. "No need to clarify, 1MDB has sold us out!" the ex Minister exclaimed. "The nation has lost billions!"

Has the nation, now?

This is the problem with most of the oppoents of the 1MDB, from YB Tony Pua to Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali. They ask questions but don't want answers. They will believe only if the answer confirms their claims and supports their allegations and results in one man - PM Najib Razak - quitting his post. The deal on Bandar Malaysia is between 1MDB and a China--Malaysia consortium but they insist that Arul Kanda has sold us out to the Chinese. 

Aiyah. Doesn't sound so rational to me. 

In any case, here's 1MDB's latest explanation about the latest ruckus over the deal on Bandar Malaysia:

Clarification on Bandar Malaysia

1MDB notes that certain quarters have attacked the RM7.41 billion land sale valuation contained in a recent announcement on the successful Share Sale and Purchase Agreement executed with the IWH-CREC Consortium for 1MDB to sell 60% of the equity in the Bandar Malaysia project. These appear to be last ditch attempts by members of the opposition to undermine the company's rationalisation process.

The valuation contained in the announcement made by CREC to HKEx refers not to the land sale valuation, but instead to their estimated share of the net equity value of the Bandar Malaysia project, based on certain assumptions, which are subject to further negotiations during the Completion period between January and June 2016. The starting point of any net equity value calculation, is the land sale valuation of RM12.35 billion, of which the Consortium’s 60% share equates to RM7.41 billion. This is the basis upon which the 10% deposit of RM741 million has been calculated and agreed upon by all parties.

During the Completion period, adjustments may be made to the RM7.41 billion land sale valuation, depending on whether or not certain Bandar Malaysia related liabilities can be passed to the Consortium e.g. the remainder contract costs for relocation of the existing facilities and the Bandar Malaysia sukuk debt. The agreement executed between the parties on 31 December 2015 provides for a robust and objective mechanism to determine, amongst others, these matters, which all parties have committed to.

1MDB is focused now on taking the necessary steps and to procure the relevant consents in order to implement the legally binding agreements executed in 2015 for the sale of Edra, the debt for asset swap with IPIC and the sale of 60% equity in the Bandar Malaysia project. We intend to issue further updates on this in due course.

p.s. What the ex-Minister should do is ask the Johor Menteri Besar why he's so excited about the Bandar Malaysia deal. If Khalid Mohd doesn't want to layan him, go seek an audience with the Sultan of Johor. You think Tuanku Yem will allow a Johor party to get involved if the deal amounts to selling out the nation? Bandar Malaysia to make Johor rich, The STAR 4 Jan 

Malaysian(S) To Watch in 2016

KL, Mon 4 Jan 2016 

Not everyone agreed with my choice of Prime Minister Najib Razak as Malaysian of the Year 2015. I had expected that, of course, but I think it would be harder to disagree with my choice for the Malaysian to Watch in 2016: Mr Arul Kanda. 

The 1MDB chief, who helped Najib successfully execute an ambitious rationalisation scheme to resolve the Government's strategic investment arm's debts in just 6 months [1MDB completes rational plan as promised], has a great deal more to do. It's not mission accomplished yet. Arul has got to turn 1MDB around in 2016 and he's go to do that under circumstances which are likely to be as hostile, if not even more so, than in 2015. 

That brings me to my candidate for The Other Malaysian to Watch in 2016: YB Tony Pua. The DAP young gun, who sits on the bipartisan Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that is investigating 1MDB, is really going out of his way to be extra hostile towards Arul Kanda, prompting a fellow PAC member to tell Pua to "stop playing games".  

Some bloggers suspect that Pua is "begging to be suspended" or even sacked from the PAC to win sympathy for his fight on 1MDB. As they say, desperate times calls for desperate measures. 

Let's see ...

Read Also:
PACman vs PACman: Pua responds to Teck Meng's allegations 


p.s
For the benefit of those who didn't get a copy of KiniBiz's Bumper Issue (15 Dec-11 Jan), Arul Kanda was top of their list of People To Watch in 2016.

Malaysian of the Year 2015

Friday, Jan 1 2016

A year ago today, they confidently predicted that he would be thrown out of office before the first quarter. The Opposition ganged up with his enemies within the party, and later from his own Cabinet, to take him down. The Wall Street Journal joined hands with London-based rogue portal Sarawak Report to demonize him and discredit his Administration. They called him thief and murderer, pink lips and other names, ridiculed his wife, step son and daughter, attacked his aides and supporters, and got the FBI, Scotland Yard, World Bank, Interpol, Transparency International and what have you to arrest him and throw him in jail or in exile.

Against such a backdrop for 2015, not to mention the calamaties (carried forward by the MH and AA crashes, the Mt Kinabalu/Sabah quake, the big floods, JJ's untimely demise) and economic uncertainties (ringgit, oil prices, terrorism), Najib Razak kept his cool, maintained the country's economic health and people's wellbeing, raised our internaitonal and regional profiles, and stayed on as PM of Malaysia when even some of his aides had thought he would buckle.

The dark clouds have not totally left him but the man has delivered his most daring promise on the very last day of 2015: an end to 1MDB's debt woes via his rationalisation plan in just six months. When he told me this during a meeting in May, I must confess that I had thought it was so far-fetched. Guess the man knew what he was doing all along.

   

I don't know about you or Bujai [Zahid: Man of the Year], but in my book nobody comes close to Najib Razak for my own Malaysian of the Year 2015 award. 

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would have won it hands down if he had managed to get Najib to quit. But he didn't. Arul Kanda, the 1MDB boss, was my other choice for Malaysian of the Year. Arul had totally transformed not just the 1MDB's fortunes but the way the Fund handled its critics and detractors from the first day he took over.

p.s

Since this blog starated in 2006, we'd felt compelled to pick the Malaysian of the Year only once before [Malaysian of the Year 2012]. 

Sweeet Sixteen

"Get up Get up Get up
Wake up Wake up Wake up
It's a brand new day". - Bryan Adams


A brand new year. 
May 2016 bring happiness and prosperity to all my dear Readers.

p.s. Not sure about Bryan Adams latest haircut, though.
It used to be this, yesteryears:-