Najib wants "proper process" in the award of 700 Mhz spectrum

SO, YTL DOES NOT HAVE IT? The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has denied assigning the lusty 700 Mhz spectrum to YTL but a lot of people are not convinced. Read my earlier posting, The Government is not silly. Such is the credibility crisis Rais Yatim's Commission is going through.

And yesterday, at a meeting with telco bosses who were said to be unhappy with the award of the 700 Mhz spectrum, another smack across someone's face: the PM said there must be "proper process" in the award.

What? There was no proper process in such awards before this?

And Najib Razak also said there must be Cabinet approval.  

What?! Was there a case where the Cabinet's approval was not sought for?

I second Sakmongkol's proposal: Do a lockdown at MCMC and send the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in! We must get to the bottom of this.

"The Government is not silly"

These quotes, for the record,  are attributable to one of YTL's top execs in an interview with The Malaysian Insider on Saturday over a report that telcos were unhappy with the award of the 700 Mhz spectrum to YTL.

Then yesterday - a Sunday - the MCMC issued a statement to deny that it had issued the 700 Mhz spectrum to YTL. Blogger Sakmongkol had on Saturday urged the government to cancel the award to YTL and get its anti-corruption commission, the MACC, to study the decision-making at the MCMC. [Read also Sakmongkol's Further Notes on the 700 Mhz Spectrum Issue]

MCMC's denial is carried by TMI and also in Bernama last night



So who is silly now?

No to YES?

I see a lot of my techy blogger friends twitting and blogging good things about YTL's YES, so I thought everything was fine. Now The Malaysian Insider has picked up a story from the Straits Times of Singapore about some unhappy quarters within the industry. 

Incidentally, this involves Rais Yatim's ministry so while I'm not surprised, I better not say too much. Go read TMI's story, h e r e.

Have you been asked to give a bribe?

More pics at tecboy.net

We keep saying we are so corrupt and we are so corruptible. Abu Kassim, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission boss, asked the bloggers at the dialogue here in Legend, which is on-going, if anyone had been asked to pay a bribe this year. Only ONE blogger out of 30 attending the forum said he had been forced to pay.

Abu Kassim said the test is simple. In a corrupt/corruptible nation, half the people in the room would admit to having been asked to pay bribe or have paid bribe.

"We are not as corrupt as we are perceived to be," he said.