The “missing” ambulance…

The missing ambulance from the Klang Hospital : No sign of ambulance after 44 minutes. But Zara has taken only 8 minutes.Who would believe Dr Ang’s story? 

In the news report published in the Sun today entitled “Director: Probe revealed ambulance despatched to accident scene”, the Selangor Health Department’s investigations revealed that Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang had despatched an ambulance immediately after receiving a call about an accident near the Batu Tiga toll (Elite Highway) on Dec 13.  Here’s the report…“In a statement today, Dr Ang Kim Teng, the department’s health director, commended Zara Davies Abdul Rahman for her civic consciousness in assisting the injured victim but said there were some erroneous information in her account of her encounter with the hospital.Two weeks ago, businesswoman Zara said she witnessed an accident on the highway and spent more than an hour waiting for an ambulance from the hospital, which allegedly never turned up. The accident victim, Mohd Yusry, died on the way to the hospital in a car.Ang said investigations revealed the following:

• The hospital’s call centre received a call for ambulance at 1.52pm on Dec13;
• Subsequently, a call was made to Zara by the ambulance crew at 1.57pm to clarify the location of the accident. The ambulance was despatched immediately after that;
• At 2.06pm, the centre received another call from Zara enquiring whether an ambulance had been despatched. The centre specifically informed her that it was already on its way and will take some time to arrive due to heavy traffic and the distance from the hospital. This conversation was recorded in the centre’s record system.
• At 2.36pm, Zara again made a call to the centre requesting for directions to the hospital. She was given the assistance and arrived at the emergency department at 2.44 pm. The closed circuit TV recording showed the staff on duty had promptly pushed a trolley and followed behind Zara to fetch the victim from the car.

“From the above, it is clear that we have promptly responded to the call for ambulance, and it is not true that Zara waited for more than an hour for the ambulance. “It was also not true that she was told that the ambulance had not been sent as our audio recordings indicated otherwise,” Ang said.“We hope this clarification will lay to rest the allegations by Zara on the failure of the ambulance to arrive as she had already left the scene before the ambulance arrived.“

The Klang Hospital and other hospitals in the state would continue to strive for speedy response to all ambulance calls bearing in mind that distance and traffic conditions sometimes hamper our efforts to reach the scene speedily,” he added.”

Ok. Ang claimed that Zara called up at 2.36pm top ask for the direction from the accident scene to the Klang Hospital. And Ang said that Zara and Yusry arrived at the emergency department at 2.44pm.Now, that’s only eight (8) minutes! So, in 8 minutes, Zara managed to get to the hospital with an ordinary passenger car (without the usual sirens). And Ang has admitted that the hospital received the first call from Zara at 1.52pm. From 1.52pm right up to 2.36pm, that’s 44 minutes! So, in 44 minutes, Ang is saying that the ambulance dispatched by the hospital could not reach the accident scene. But didn’t Ang have just admitted that It took only 8 minutes  for Zara to arrive at the hospital?

So, what has happened to the ambulance during this long 44 minutes, Dr Ang Kim Ting?

We noted that Dr Ang did not tell us the exact arrival time of the so-called ambulance in his statement. So we do not know how long it has taken exactly for the ambulance to reach the accident scene. He also did not explain why it has taken so long for the ambulance to arrive at the accident scene. Dr Ang also did not tell us who were on duty on the day of accident (from the emergency control centre to the ambulance department). There’s no way we can check unless the Ministry of Health is willing to own up. 

What kind of ambulance service do we have in Malaysia? After 50 long years of rule under the Umno–led Barisan Nasional Government, everything has gone haywired!

Three months ago, the Health Ministry’s director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican had said any ambulance response time that was longer than 15 minutes was unacceptable.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang has held both Dr Ismail Merican (known for his great appetite for publicity) and the Minister of Health Dr Chua Soi Lek to be responsible for Yusry’s death. Ang’s attempt has failed miserably. It’s time for Chua and Merican to own up. Admit their mistakes and pay compensation to Yusry’s family on humanitarian ground. Now!

Even MCA Youth members in Puchong were unhappy with the toll hike

MCA Youth Puchong to stage demonstration on 29 Dec 2006 at LDP toll 

People in the Klang Valley are very angry with the Government. They felt that the Umno-led Barisan Nasional Government has betrayed them. They voted practically every man and woman from Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan into both Federal and State Governments, thinking that these wakil rakyat will protect their interest. They have now begun to realize that these wakil rakyat were actually wakil tol! They will give whatever the toll companies asked and choose not to listen to the voices of the rakyat.

When the Government decided to approve the toll hike up to 60% at a time when the people were already burdened with inflation and high cost of living, the people felt cheated by these leaders. Even the members of the MCA at the grass-root level are now beginning to feel the pinch.

That has probably explained why the MCA Youth Puchong under Datuk Teng Bok has decided to hold a demonstration on Friday, 29 Dec 2006 at the LDP toll in Puchong.

 

Let’s see whether Leow Thong Lai, Ling Hee Leong, Wee Kah Seong and other top MCA Youth leaders would dare to show up on Friday’s demonstration. Their absence would only goes to show that the Friday demonstration is at best a local voice of resentment and it has nothing to do with MCA per se. A friend of mine in Puchong has described the Friday outing as a “sandiwara”.

 

It will be interesting to note whether the Puchong MP Liew Yin Pin from Gerakan would show up. The State Assemblyman for Kinrara Dr CW Ko (MCA) may have no choice but to show his face. Reporters have to be quick if they wanted his comment or take his photograph. (One thing for sure, you would not be able to find any Umno leaders on Friday’s outing because all these toll concessionaires were owned by Umno or Umno-related companies.)

 

Or may be all of them have gone overseas for holiday (a good excuse not to show up). Just like the eight ministers from Johor who were no where to be seen during the massive floods in the south last week.

Let’ see how many MCA Youth members will show up on Friday. BTW, MCA is a party with more than one million members, the third largest Chinese political party in the world according to MCA President Ong Ka Ting.

 

Some of us will be there to recce the place because the Coalition Against Toll will be holding a demonstration at the same toll plaza on Sunday 7 Jan 2007(4pm). The coalition is submitting a protest memorandum to the Prime Minister office today. We will be also holding a ceramah on the issue of toll hikes at the Chinese Assembly Hall tonight. Speakers include MTUC President Syed Shahir, Suaram Executive Director Yap Swee Seng, DAP SG Lim Guan Eng, PSM Chairman Dr Nasir Hashim, President of Keadilan Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Deputy President of Pas Nasharuddin Mat Isa.

Opposition must unite to fight the common enemy

 Opposition and NGOs say no to fuel hikes. Malaysians want a united oppostion to fight the common enemy i.e. the Umno-led Barisan Nasional.

My humble opinion on the issue of Islamic State. 

This is my initial response to the article “Can Pas please respond?” written and posted by Raja Petra Kamaruddin in malaysia-today.net.

I sincerely hope that Pas would not belittle the effort of RPK on the issue of Islamic State, which is seen as one of the biggest hurdles in the way of opposition unity. In fact, I believe many Malaysians were hesitated about voting Pas simply because of the IS issue and other controversies arisen out of the concept. We hope Pas would not underestimate the negative impact of the IS concept among the non-Muslim voters in general.  We hope Pas leaders would take it as an opportunity to discuss the issue openly with Malaysian voters and find a solution or understanding in the process. 

I for one believe that the supporters and members supported Pas because they believe Pas is a party of integrity with the interest of the people in their hearts. They supported Pas not because the party aims to form an Islamic State in this country. Many have supported Pas because they do not trust Umno and other Barisan Nasional component parties. 

The concept of Islamic State is not the answer for the multiethnic, mulitireligious
Malaysia. The concept is not practical even in countries with a larger population of Muslims. Indonesia has more than 87% Muslims and yet the political leaders and the people of Indonesia in general know that it would not be practical to turn the nation into an Islamic State. It has nothing to do with whether the concept of Islamic State is good or bad. It’s simply not practical. That’s all.  The way forward for Malaysia would be “righting the wrongs of the Umno-led Barisan Nasional Government”.  Malaysia is a member of OIC and Malaysians in general have no problems with identifying Malaysia as an Islamic country. All can accept that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia and all other religions are free to be practiced. I would argue that it would not be suicidal for Pas to stop talking about Islamic State or even drop the concept all together. It’s a fact that the proposal to set up an Islamic State was not in the party constitution. It’s not mandatory for Pas leaders to promote the concept. 

In fact, Pas leaders have not been talking about IS for the past one to two years. And that’s a good sign. Islamic State is a concept. There is no single role model of Islamic states that we could emulate.  Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia…none of these could be considered as a role model.  And it’s certainly not practical to start an experiment here in Malaysia. We must recognize and respect the fact that the non-Muslim population in this country is no less than 40%.  Politics is about perception. Pas leaders I know are honest, friendly and passionate people. They always make my friends and me feel at home in their functions and receptions. Racism has no place in their brand of politics. But so long as Pas continue to talk about forming an Islamic State in this country, they would be seen as religious fanatics and even more extreme than Umno in the eyes of the non-Muslims. Little do they know that most of the problems we are now facing (the raids, the body-snatching, the mob-rule and the question of syariah courts versus civil courts) were mostly the works of overzealous followers and leaders of Umno. 

If Pas could recognize Malaysia as an Islamic country (but not an Islamic State), I believe more Malaysian voters would be more willing to cast their votes for the party. After all, Umno is the mother of all evils. Only Umno leaders would wave the dagger (keris) in their hands while giving insensitive and provocative speeches in their annual assemblies.  

This nation has had enough troubles and problems when we separate our citizens into Bumi and non-Bumi. We were afraid that turning Malaysia into an Islamic State would force the people to emphasize the difference between the Muslims and the non-Muslims, rather than accept and respect that we are free to practice the religion the individuals have chosen. 

On the other hand, the people have no problems if our political leaders wish to introduce Islamic values such as clean and trustworthy governance and helping the poor and needy in the society. These values are universal and could readily accept by the followers of different faiths. 

I have reasons to believe that many Malaysians would like to see real unity among the opposition parties. They cannot see why the opposition parties must fight among themselves instead of fighting their common enemy-i.e. the Umno-led Barisan Nasional.

And the concept of Islamic State is certainly one barrier we can afford to remove. For the sake of the rakyat, the opposition parties must work on some common grounds together instead of emphasizing on the differences. 

It’s a sin to allow the Umno-led Barisan Nasional to win big again in the next general elections. Malaysia has no future if BN continues to rule. Period. 

Slogan for the next GE, anyone? And what ’s your view on the next GE?

“If you think that you are better off now than five years ago, vote
for BN, but if you think that you are facing more hardship now than 5
years ago, vote for us.”

This is the message sent to DAP webste recently by one Malaysian voter. He or she urges the DAP to use it as a slogan for the next GE, believing that “this will give the public a choice on who they should vote for.”

I think the slogan makes a lot of sense to those who are now struggling very hard to survive. Do you share the same belief like the enthusiastic contributor above?

I urge all bloggers to pen down your slogan/slogans for the next GE, and see if we could adopt some of them for the next election campaign.

If you think you are not good in writing slogans, then please pen down your thoughts for the next GE.

Many people are waiting for the coming general elections rather eagerly. They have decided to vote against the Umno-led government. It could be out of great disappointment with the AAB administration, or simply fed up with the antics and behaviours of the  ”Umnoputras”. But there are still many out there do not know or care about politics and elections. These people need to be more informed or educated.

So, it’s good to start the debate on which party  you should vote in the next GE now. AAB has said that the GE would not happen in 2007 but please do not trust his words for reason you and I already know.

RPK of Malaysia-Today has just started a debate on the issue of “Islamic State”and he wanted Pas to take up the challenge to have a dualogue with all Malaysians. Because he thinks Pas is the only th party that can really give Umno a run for their money. Because he knows that many would not vote for Pas even though they were fed up with Umno if the issue of IS was not tackled and resolved. Because he believes voters must be clear about whom they should support before they go to the ballot box. Because he believes that the almighty and arrogant Umno must be challenged and be cut down in size in the process.

And do you think RPK was on the right track? Do you think Pas should really take the challenge and open up to all Malaysian voters on the IS issue before the next GE? I urge bloggers to visit his site and share your valuable opinions and comments there.

Or you have other issues you think the opposition parties must resolve (which were more important than the IS issue), please do not hesitate to voice it here.

For me, Umno is the mother of all evils. Get rid of Umno and many problems would be resolved by itself. Just vote for any symbol as long as it it was not a “dacing”.

Please remember to register as a voter at any of the post office if you have not done so.

Govt rescue works not up to the mark.

Floods are not tsunamis. The water levels of rivers rise slowly and those given the task by the government authority should be marking these levels on sites instead of sleeping at homes.

When water hit the alrming level, that’s when rescue works should be launched immediately. Nothing of these sorts were carried out by the government authority. The Melaka authority even released water from the dam without cautioning the people!

According to Oriental Daily, many elected reps from Johor have gone overseas for holidays. Councilors and local government officials from Johor Bahru, Kluang and other districts have chosen the Shanghai trip (they left on 21 Dec 2006)  instead of staying back to help the flood victims.

The Muar people have not been able to get clean water supply for the last 5 days. There was no sign of water tankers from the “government people”. They were forced to obtain water originally reserved for fire-fighting.

When floods finally hit the towns and the villages, how could the rescue teams still work from 9 to 5 instead of working round the clock? Why don’t the government mobilise the enforcement officers and FRUs to help out in times of emergency?

Didn’t Ong Ka Ting spent RM7.91 million to buy 100 units of SeaDoo jet skis for flood rescue? Does anyone see a single SeaDoo jet ski in action last week? (Malaysian First- ronnieliutiankhiew.blogspot.com).  Most of the 100 SeaDoo jet skis were said to be lying idle according to the Auditor General.

And why can’t the Prime Minister  throws in, say RM300 million, to help the flood victims in Johor, Melaka, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu if he can afford to throw away such amount to hold the Monsoon Cup in Terengganu every year?

Last month, AAB was caught spending taxpayers’ RM600 million to please the 191 Umno division chiefs throuhout the country.  How much he ’s willing to spend on the 200,000 flood victims this time?

Anil Netto of Aliran has totalled up the amount of money spent through “wang ehsan” (goodwill money) by the Prime Minister Department in the last 4 years as high as RM4 billion. He said much of the money were spent rather unwisely and instances of misallocation of funds were rampant and widespread. For instance, Puteri Umno Sg Petani was caught using government funds to run their tuition centres.

We are still waiting for AAB to respond on this so-called “goodwill money” RM4 billion . 

 Kg Morten, Melaka. The penghulu here ran way with all the food and water supply before the flood hit the village.

 Segamat under water. Such massive flood could be avoided if the Umno-led state government really care for environment protection and not so corrupt(closed one eye on illegal clearing of forests).

 Many were stuck on the rooftops like these for more than 24 hours before they were rescued to higher ground.

 Kesian bayi-bayi yang comel ini.   

 MB Johor Abdul Ghani. Is that all you could do when the massive flood hit your state?

 Undilah BN Untuk Kestabilan(stability) Negara? What stability? Lagi mahu undi Barisan Nasional yang tak boleh pakai dan tak boleh harap?

2 villages in Muar cut off from the rest of the world. Where’s the govt people?

Guang Ming Daily reports today that two villages in Muar were cut off from the rest of the world without food and water. There’s no sign of any goverment rescue teams fro more than 24 hours. Their only assistance and help came from the Buddist society Fo Guang Shan. They chartered two helicopters from the private sector to send water and food to the two villages. According to another report by Oriental Daily, their work were dsirupted by some local thugs and hooligans who accused them for being selective in distribution of water and food. Some of them even threatened to snatch the supply from the Fo Guang Shan volunteers. Earlier, half the food supply (some 50 cases of dry food) from donors to the two villages were stolen by thieves. What has happened to Malaysia after 50 years of long rule under the Umno-led BN government? Guang Ming’s story… 災黎逾24小時沒有進食 麻坡2新村與外界失聯絡

updated:2006-12-24 21:00:12 MYT

■佛光山義工們正搬運救濟品上直升機，準備載往交通中斷的武吉哈逢新村。(放大)

■武吉哈逢與岭嘉這兩個地區的水淹至10呎。(放大)

（麻坡訊）由於昔加末的河水一直往下流，以致麻坡成了嚴重災區，其中武吉哈逢及岭嘉這兩個新村已變成“孤島”般，無法與外界接觸。馬來西亞佛光山總住持慧顯法師於週六晚帶領50位佛光人驅車前往災區時，接獲消息指當地水位已達危險水平，大卡車、船只不敢駕入，唯一的方法就是通過直升機發放食物。

據知，當地災黎已超過24小時沒有進食，生活陷入水深火熱之中，但又無人敢進入災區，要拯救當地災民，的確困難重重。
救援物無法運送

在經過商討後，終捎來好消息，佛光山終於向一位異族同胞租到兩輛直升機給佛光山運輸糧食進入災區，不過，由於天色已昏暗，慧顯法師決定延遲到週日早上，等待一切安排就緒後，就把救濟品載入災區。

週日早上9時40分，佛光山分租下的兩輛直升機，分批運了一萬個麵包、1000瓶礦泉水、600桶餅乾、米粉、蛋糕、衣服、藥品，手電筒、蚊香及睡袋等進入災區。

武吉哈逢新村的村長林清河（62歲）受詢時披露，該村的村民面對斷水斷糧的困境之餘，還被人偷取了由親友捐贈給他們的干糧。

他指出，當住在外地的親友知道新村斷糧時，曾籌措了100箱乾糧給他們，可是，當他們借到船隻把准備把食物運進村時，卻只剩下50箱，令他感到非常難過。

他表明，該村共有2000多戶華裔住家，50箱的乾糧根本不夠，因此，當週日早上他們見到佛光山的師父與佛光人到來分發食物給他們，令他們猶如見到菩薩來拯救他們般。

美樂村的村長陳清河（60歲）指出，新村內常發生水災，可是，這次卻來得非常突然，令他們措手不及，於上週五水淹到4呎高，隔天就到6呎，到週日已是10呎高，因此，村民都遷到武吉哈逢避難。

佛光山租借的直升機從早上至中午已運載了12趟救濟品進入。

此外，八打靈佛光文教中心於週六晚以兩部超大型的卡車運送大量賑災品漏夜送往麻玻。 （光明日報‧2006/12/24）

BMC Legal Fund launched with a bang!

 

 Lee Kee Hiong (wearing the Rocket cap) and Tan Boon Wah, the chairperson of BMC OARAC (holding the loud-hailer) were two of the main actors of the struggle. The lady standing besides me is Teresa Kok, followed by Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Tan Kok Wai and Fong Kui Lun. Even our DAP Veteran Club President Lau Dak Kee (extreme right) was there. The entire DAP Selangor committee led by Ong Chee Keng were also there last Sunday morning to lend our support to the residents. Some 800 residents turned up for the protest.

The Bandar Mahkota Cheras Open Access Road Action Committee has launched a legal fund as part of its effort to keep up the pressure. It was luanched yesterday with abig bang! Some 300 homeowners have participated in the legal fund, each paying RM80.The target for the fund would be RM50,000.

The developer Narajaya of The Lion Group has advertised extensively( incl print ads and brochures) about the free access road that bypass the Grand Saga toll when the official launched the housing project. BMC is a huge housing estate with a total of 120,000 units. Narajaya did build the access road with an approval from the Malaysioan Highway Authority and MPKj at a cost of RM16 million. The amount has been added onto the sales price of the properties (that goes without saying) but the raod was blocked “illegally” by Grand Saga, the Kajang-Cheras Highway concessionaire almost immediately.

 BMC residents (Cheras 9th mile)were forced to travel extra 3 miles to leave the township (after sharing the only outlet with the residents of BSL ) at Chears 12th mile. They were then have to pay tolls at Cheras 11th mile and 9th mile before heading to KL. 

We have been trying hard to set up a joint meeting between the developer, the toll concessionaire, the highway authority and our committee to find a solution but to no avail thanks to the indifferent attitude of LLM,Grand Saga and Narajaya. And that’s not fair to the BMC and MSL residents who have suffered very much. They were forced to pay tolls and yet stranded in the massive traffic jam everyday!

According to Boon Wah, each car-owner who lives in BMC and BSL has to pay some RM49,420.80 over 20 years (based on passing the tolls to and fro 26 times per month plus toll hikes adjusted once in every 3 years). If one has to pass the toll more than once a day, you just have to imagine how ridiculous the eventual cost would be!

The committee will visit a mamak store in Section 2 from 8 to 10 am this coming Friday morning to gather more residents to participate in the legal fund. Homeowners were asked to bring  along a photostated copy of their S&P agreement.

The committee has also decided to hold another public protest on 31 Dec 2006 at 10 am at the Cheras 11th mile toll plaza to keep up the pressure.

All residents of BMC and BSL must unite in the struggle to open the access raod. You ‘ll always have the support of the DAP. See you there!!!

Warmest “Thank You” and Merry X’mas to YOU!

 This is the X’mas greetings i received from Lim Swee Kuan, a young and energetic political worker who’s currently serving Malaysians through the DAP Headquarters.

It says ” Warmest “Thank You & Merry Christmas“. That’s the same message I wish to extend to all fellow Malaysians in general and the readers of “Colour-blind” in particular.

This year, the mood to celebrate was somewhat dampened by the massive floods in the South and numerous bad news such as toll hikes, inflation, sluggish market, rising crime rates, revival of NEP and the constant “brainless” racial slurs from various Umno politicians. 

We Malaysians owe it to ourselves to wake up to the fact that the Umno-led government they have trusted all these years  was actually “tak boleh pakai, tak boleh harap” (useless, cannot be trusted). And please remember that Umno is the mother of all evils.

Jesus Christ will always be remembered as one of the greatest reformist in the history of mankind. And reforms and changes are what we need to make Malaysia a better place for all of us. Please spread the message far and wide and together we can make a difference.

Merry Christmas, my fellow Malaysians.

Ronnie Liu

…if we depend on the Govt, we’ll surely die!

 The banner says…” The private sector saved our lives. If we have depended on the Goverment, we will surely die!” The banner was written and put up by flood victims of Kg Abdullah, Segamat.  PM Abdullah, can you hear the voice of the rakyat in Kg Abdullah? Pic courtesy of SL.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi has finally visited some of the flooded areas on Saturday. He has given order to all rescue units to provide food, water and medicine to all flood victims. He must have gone back to his comfortable home in Putrajaya by now but little does he knows that his people in the grounds are not performing as expected. A district councillor from Tangkak told Nanyang Siang Pau that the rescue units in his area did not work around the clock. They still work from 9 to 5 as usual and some of them do not even report to work on time. Many flood victims were forced to charter boats from the private sectors to save their lives and belongings.

Yesterday, The President of Johor Chinese Chamber of Commerce Datuk Lim Ba complained to the press that he was stucked in the flood for more than 18 hours and he personally witnessed  some rescue boats simply ignore victims( incl children and old folks) who have climbed to the rooftops. Some of them were stucked there for more than 20 hours. He believes that many have lost confidence with the Government. (Yes , my brothers and sisters in Johor, please wake up to the fact that the Umno-led government they have trusted for years actually “tak boleh harap“!)

Najib said he has sent some 80 boats ( mana cukup?) and several helicopters. And how about Ong Ka Ting who leads the Bomba and Penyelamat department? What has he done for the flood victims?

By right, Ong should be directing all local government like MBPJ, DBKL, MPAJ to send their enforcement officers to help rescue the victims (instead of tearing down squatter homes). AAB should mobilise the FRUs to help as well, instead of bashing the protestors in the streets.

Meanwhile, the water levels at Sg Muar, Sg Segamat and several other rivers in Johor are still way above the alarming levels according to the latest report from several Chinese newspapers.

 LKS, Teresa and LGE were in Segamat on Sunday.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang has led a delegation to visit Segamat and othe flooded areas this afternoon. DAP SG Lim Guan Eng will join them from Melaka.

The Johor DAP has set up a “humanitarian helpline” to provide clean water and other assistance to the victims. They could be reached at 012-737 1058／019-721 7256／07-512 7652／012-737 7654. Our PJ Action Team has donated some money towards the fund under the “Sunshine Project” yesterday.

EITI…was that the reason why AAB avoids meeting Soros?

 George Soros introduced EITI to the audience in Kuala Lumpur last week. Malaysia has decided not to have anything with EITI but why? Was that the reason why AAB was avoiding seeing Soros?

I first heard about EITI from Dr Simon Zadek of the UK-based institution AccountAbility last Saturday at a dinner hosted by Anwar Ibrahim ( Honorary President of AccountAbility). According to Zadek, US$200 billion has gone missing (where else but ended up in some government leaders’ pockets)  just from Nigeria alone.

There is something called “resource curse”- the very rich resources you have turns out to be the root cause that bankrupts you. 

Can Malaysia spare the “curse”? Let’s look at some rough figures…

The Government says we produce about 700,000 barreals of crude everyday. And our daily domestic consumption is about 500,000 barrels. So we have some 200,000 barrels in surplus for export if we trust the Government’s figures. But Lim Guan Eng, the SG of DAP has gotten a figure elsewhere that shows that we actually produce slightly less than 1,000,000 barrels a day (so that we could avoid joining OPEC). If that’s true, who’s keeping the money from the sales of these extra 200,000 to 300,000 barrels?

And according to Najib and Mustapha, Malaysia will become a net oil importer by 2011. Our Carigali has not been successful in finding new oil fields the last few years.

It’s an open secret that Petronas has been selling oil and gas on long-term basis to Japan, taiwan and several other countries at a fairly low price (around USD 19 per barrel?) since the days of financial and economic crisis (in 1997). For every barrel they buy, they get a barrel or two FREE. 

AAB  recently signed a 20-year deal with Wen JiaBao to supply gas to Shanghai at a price undisclosed until today.

If you asked me, I would think that the leakage from oil and gas is certainly in the tune of billions. Author Kim Quek’s estimate has not been refuted by any of our government leaders until today.

And how many times our petrol money were used for bailouts for GLCs and cronies of the powers that be? Dear fellow Malaysians, I leave it to you to ponder…

Jeff Ooi (Screenshots) has a story on Soros and EITI…

‘Weak governance breeds corruption and poverty’

EITI stands for Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (website: www.eitransparency.org).

In a nutshell, the EITI supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the full publication and verification of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.

The EITI website has this citation:

Many countries are rich in oil, gas, and minerals and studies have shown that when governance is good, these can generate large revenues to foster economic growth and reduce poverty. However when governance is weak, they may instead cause poverty, corruption, and conflict – the so called “resource curse”. The EITI aims to defeat this “curse” by improving transparency and accountability.

EITI holds the view that the primary beneficiaries of EITI are the governments and citizens of resource-rich countries.

“Knowing what governments receive, and what companies pay, is critical first step to holding decision-makers accountable for the use of those revenues,” EITI says.

“Implementing EITI as part of a programme of improved governance will help to ensure that oil, gas, and mining revenues contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction.”

Corruption and political instability caused by the plundering of national wealth, and poverty, are two challenges facing companies and investors in the extractive industries.

Supporting EITI in countries where they operate, it is reasoned, can help mitigate these investment risks, which in turn threatens investments which are often capital intensive and long-term in nature.

Thus far, over 20 countries have committed to EITI principles and criteria since the EITI Lancaster House Conference in June 2003. Some countries — from Peru, to Trinidad and Tobago, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, and East Timor — are only beginning to launch the process, while others have published revenue and payments data.

‘Truth is relative’

Malaysia, with Petronas fast depleting the country’s natural sources for decades, is not one of these countries. Malaysia joins the rank of the USA and both do not commit to EITI principles and criteria.

And neither does our government-owned Petronas publish revenue and payment data related to its extractive activities.

 “Natural resources belong to the people. Governments are just the managers (of these resources), so the people have absolute rights to question on the issues of revenue and payment derived from the extractive activities,” Soros told the KL audience.Soros also urged all governments, including Malaysia’s, to improve the governance on the extractive industries, and to ensure transparency and accountability. (Also see Bernama story on this.)

That is, tell the truth about how Nature’s riches are extracted and wealth derived are spent for mankind. 

Henceforth, for better or for worse, that’s where the LSE Dinner Talk fell flat on Soros’s message.