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Pariah Dr M’s legacy in tatters, ashes
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21, 2024: The racist Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Dr M)’s legacy is not only in tatters but now in ashes.
He has only himself to blame for dumping his legacy in the garbage bin with his toxic and relentless racial and religious bigotry aimed at destroying Malaysia’s national unity and harmony so that the Government collapses.
Dr M is now treated as a pariah with Malaysians flooding the internet with unsavoury articles and images.
The posting have become relentless the past month and below is one blogpost which was reposted in Facebook with this comment (also view three other news reports below on Dr M's wealth):
“As PM4, he was like a buaya given custody of the hen house and he made full use of his powers to abuse Malaysians and plundered every hartanah his greedy eyes laid on for himself, his family and cronies.
The amount of loots he stashed overseas reduced forex parity with Singapore and against world currencies.”
Remembering Mahathir and his controversial past as 4th PM #BackInTime
Remembering Mahathir and his controversial past as 4th PM #BackInTime
18 Jan 2024 • 9:30 AM MYT
Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr. Mahathir (Source: Facebook)
Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad is a name that we Malaysians are familiar with. Most of us grew up during his reign as the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia and were still around when he shocked the world by becoming the world's oldest serving state leader at the age of 92. However, his reign as both the 4th Prime Minister and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia was marked with controversies. Here are 4 controversies that made headlines during his reign as 4th Prime Minister and you may have heard of them growing up:
1.Ops Lalang
Operation Lalang (or Ops Lalang in short) happened during Mahathir's reign as the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia. It involves the arrest and detention of over 100 people without trial under the infamous Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1987. Those who were arrested include opposition politicians (notably Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh), NGO activists, students, artists, reporters and others. To add insult to injury, the curtailment of media freedom soon followed with Watan, Sin Chew Jit Poh and The Star had their publishing licenses revoked.
The official reason for Ops Lalang was reported to have been to “defuse racial tensions”. However, many have speculated that it was a way for then-Prime Minister Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad to remove his political opponents. In March 2023, Mahathir said that Ops Lalang was ordered by the police and not him; he stated that former inspector-general of police Tun Hanif Omar was the one who ordered the police to carry out Ops Lalang despite him (Dr Mahathir) refusing it. To this day, Dr Mahathir has not sincerely apologized for Ops Lalang.
Those detained during Ops Lalang (Source: CILISOS)
2. Undermine royalty and the Gomez Incident
Back in 1983, Mahathir pushed through multiple amendments to the Federal Constitution; these included setting a 30-day limit for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA in short) to veto a law (see Article 66[4A]) and limiting the right of YDPA to declare a state of emergency. These proposed amendments sought to reduce the power of the Malay rulers as consent from the royals was no longer necessary when it came to the enactment of laws. In the end, the monarchy settled with Mahathir's administration given that Mahathir was willing to compromise, the constitution was amended once again. This time restoring the King’s right to declare an emergency and giving him a total of 60 days to delay legislation.
Yet another constitutional crisis happened under Mahathir's reign as 4th PM, this time it involved the infamous Gomez Incident. The late Sultan Iskandar of Johor assaulted Douglas Gomez. The reason? Well, buckle up because it is a long story, it first began with the second son, Tunku Abdul Majid assaulting a Perak hockey goalkeeper after his team (Johor) lost to Perak. This attracted the attention of Parliament which pressured the Malaysian Hockey Federation to issue a five-year ban on the young prince, barring him from participating in national hockey competitions. This angered the late Sultan Iskandar of Johor who then pressured the state education department to boycott participation in national competition. The decision by the education department enraged Douglas Gomez who then called for the resignation of all Johor Hockey Association office bearers. Douglas Gomez's callout in turn angered the late Sultan who then invited him to the palace before physically assaulting him.
Mahathir used the Gomez Incident as a lever and sought to remove Malay rulers' immunity from prosecution and the ability to pardon themselves and their families. Mahathir succeeded as the changes in the constitution were implemented in March 1993 and sultans who violated the law could be prosecuted in a special court.
Mahathir with the late Sultan Iskandar of Johor (Source: malaysiakini)
3. His speech at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (2003)
Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad drew the ire of many foreign governments by making anti-Semitic remarks at the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 2003. He said the following:
"1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way. And we can only find a way if we stop to think, to assess our weaknesses and our strength, to plan, to strategize and then to counter-attack.
We are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.
We are up against a people who think. They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also."
His comments drew widespread condemnation from governments around the world. Some of his most vocal critics include the United States of America, Australia, Germany and Italy.
Mahathir at OIC 2003 (Source: AP Archive)
4. His sacking of then-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
In the late 1990s, Malaysia's economy entered a depression. This in turn caused a split between Mahathir and then-Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Anwar Ibrahim (the current PMX). Anwar favored open markets and international investments which was in deep contrast to Mahathir's growing distrust of the west. Anwar also instituted an austerity package that reduced government spending by 18%, slashed ministerial salaries and deferred major projects. “Megaprojects”, despite being a cornerstone of Mahathir’s development strategy, were greatly curtailed.
Their conflict came to a head in 1998 which saw Anwar being sacked from his posts and arrested on charges of sodomy. According to Sydney Morning Herald, it was a "blatantly political fix-up"; the police Special Branch fabricated evidence (see semen-stained mattress) and coerced witnesses. Munawar Anees, the aide of Anwar whom Anwar was accused of sodomising, later wrote in The Wall Street Journal of his experience, “My detention by the Malaysian Special Branch taught me how it feels to be forcibly separated from one's wife and children. How it feels to be searched and seized, disallowed to make phone calls, handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped naked, endlessly interrogated, humiliated, drugged, deprived of sleep, and physically abused. What it's like to be threatened, blackmailed, hectored by police lawyers, brutalised to make a totally false confession.”. Anwar’s conviction and prison sentence ignited more protests under the Reformasi movement, which called for Mahathir’s resignation. Nevertheless, Mahathir continued to suppress Anwar’s supporters and consolidate his power.
Anwar with a blackened left eye (Source: FMT)
These are all incidents we may have read about or heard of when we were growing up in Malaysia. Perhaps, Malaysian youths these days wouldn't remember it as they weren't there but for those of us who have witnessed it, it shall be forever engraved in our minds. Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad once said, “Melayu mudah lupa” but fortunately for us all, “bangsa Malaysia tidak mudah lupa”.
The Coverage/News/EXXONMOBIL Scandal Starring Mirzan Mahathir – Where Do You Think The Difference Of USD 400 & 280 Million Went?
EXXONMOBIL Scandal Starring Mirzan Mahathir – Where Do You Think The Difference Of USD 400 & 280 Million Went?
21 January, 2024
Mahathir Mohamad on the one hand is using Ibrahim Ali to stoke up the Malay sentiments’ anti-drinking, anti-everything for his return to power, while on the other using his son Mirzan to buy Esso Malaysia using San Miguel’s beer drinking money.
By JO & M.Nathan
I am so utterly disgusted with the BN government for its inability to engage Esso Malaysia for the rakyat. I am further disgusted with the hypocrisy of Mahathir Mohamad on the one hand using Ibrahim Ali to stoke up the Malay sentiments’ anti-drinking, anti-everything for his return to power, while on the other using his son Mirzan to buy Esso Malaysia using San Miguel’s beer drinking money. Worse still, he is exploiting the tax incentives reserved for us the rakyat, the unimportant Malaysians.
If you remember, Mirzan surfaced as a director of Petron, San Miguel’s beer company as the parent. Now he is using his brotherly influence on Muhkriz as the Minister of MITI to get the FIC approval and whatever else needed, for a deal which no decent government would ever allow.
Ministers need to protect the welfare of the rakyat especially when 80% of Esso customers are Muslim and do not want to have to change their lifestyle or travel another 25 km to pump petrol at another station that is halal, just to line Mirzan’s pocket. For Mirzan everything can, for us unimportant Malaysians everything cannot.
Back to Mahathir, how can we the rakyat even think of allowing this Mahathir-Mirzan-Muhkriz beer for subsidy petrol scandal to occur? In the internet, so many people are complaining that even the minority shareholders are up in arms and considering a class action suit against Exxon-Mobil for the utmost disregard for minority shareholders.
We expect Exxon-Mobil to uphold the highest and most stringent standard of professionalism and integrity, whether it is in the USA or in another third world country such as Malaysia. But obviously our BN government doesnt seem to think that is important. It seems to think that what is good for Mirzan must be good for Muhkriz, and therefore it is good to rip off all of us normal Malaysians, and we must just swallow.
I wonder why the goverment has not hauled up Esso staff Mr Stafford T. Kelly who made several announcements on the manner in which he felt Exxon-Mobil divested San Miguel. The funny thing is, his valuation exercise was done in a highly irregular manner leaving us minority shareholders to question what is actually behind this deal, and who in Exxon-Mobil is benefitting personally from this deal?
First, everyone knows that the assets in Esso Malaysia are part of a listed company and thus require close scrutiny. It is precisely because of this we are shocked that Mr Stafford told the reporters that the decision to sell the Esso assets (at USD280 million valuation for the whole 100%) cheaper than the Mobil equivalent (at USD 400 million) have been sanctioned and approved by the Government of Malaysia tacitly.
One only has to examine whether the sales of the assets are mutually exclusive. Judging from the newspaper report, it is a packaged deal and not mutually exclusive. It is then very curious that the sales of the assets are cross-subsidized using the unlisted ones in Mobil to be subsidized by the listed Esso shares in Malaysia.
This is against the law but Mr Stafford knows the Mahathir children will follow the footsteps of the father to cheat all Malaysians. Since he has taken care of Mirzan (where do you think the difference of USD 400 and 280 million went?) he does not have to worry who he steps on. That is why the Bursa is so quiet even though this is clearly criminal.
Second, it is obvious Mr Stafford has botched up the entire bidding and valuation exercise when he can announce to the world (and all of Malaysia) that the deal to his preferred partner San Miguel is final even before the Malaysian authorities have a chance to consider the Foreign Investment Committee ruling. Obviously he knows something we don’t.
He must know that it will just be Mukhriz telling his puppet Minister Mustapha to sign on the dotted line. Strangely, he is trying to rush something which needs due process, and behaving so arrogantly as if EXXON is more important than the interests of the rakyat under the BN government. If this is the case, I urge all Malaysians to vote them out this PRU-13.
Third, Mr Stafford goes on to say that the tax incentives benefitted from Malaysia for the Esso refinery will be passed to San Miguel (read as pass on to San Mirzan or maybe one or two more of Mahathir’s children since he is after all THE ADVISOR to Petronas) simply because he says so – on the reasoning that San Miguel is going to invest some money into rehabilitating the refinery.
Come on, give us a break. We dont need Mirzan to use his ill gotten money as equity and then borrow to the hilt from the local banks and enjoy the subsidy by trying to say as though San Miguel is doing us, the rakyat, a favor. And then use the profits to fund Ibrahim Ali and make the non-Muslims look bad. Shame on you.
Let me remind you that we only have to ask the question in open court – where did the tax benefits given by the Malaysian government to Esso Malaysia finally accrue to? It will become obvious that this will lead to a bigger scandal than BP’s Gulf of Mexico burst oil-wells.
No American or French journalists take lightly individuals or corporations who evade tax. Also, Mr Stafford has no feel on whats on the ground as it is not about how much who is going to invest in the refinery as it is an afterthought (not to mention that it has been picked up as an attempt by Exxon to try to openly bribe the authorities as if Malaysia is so starved of Foreign Direct Investment). By jove, this will go to court, and Mahathir and the children after PRU-13 can hide behind a cage as they give their statements.
Fourth, the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) specifically prohibits any employee from concealing information from the tender committee be it in the form of shredding or disposing of evidence which would clearly show that the entire tender exercise was skewed to favor San Miguel. This is evident in the inability of EXXON-MOBIL to explain how a single executive like Mr Stafford was allowed to make such decisions which contravenes not only the laws of good ethical corporate governance, but also the follow up cover up and announcements of trying to justify his pick of the winner by saying that San Miguel will then invest heavily in the refinery. Who cares? A simple check on the phone numbers most called by the San Miguel local team will reveal and clearly show the trail to the EXXON-Mobil nest and of course to Mirzan and his 012345678 special number.
The same fate that bestowed Mubarrak and Gaddafi is awaiting Mahathir. And it would be silly of Mr Stafford to count on that rather than on good clean corporate governance which is what Exxon-Mobil has been built upon. For us simple Malaysians, I think we should stand up and say that if after all these years of benefitting from our subsidy as a foreign company in Malaysia, the least you can do if you want to exit is to do so graciously, and not so bloody arrogantly, not caring for the minority shareholders, and in the process, make a mockery of our government.
I used to be a long-time BN supporter. No more because I can see that this is not a government that will protect the interests of us the rakyat. Even as I read how the Muslim dealers have protested against this, everything is falling on deaf ears.
Esso Malaysia is supposed to be a blue-chip company, not material for a future B-grade movie with San Miguel booze starring Mr Stafford and Mirzan, tax evasion, shredding of evidence amid growing protests and boycotts in a country which is predominantly Muslim. Not to mention all of us minority shareholders will lose from the General Offer since we are getting a far lower valuation and subsidizing Mobil, and amortizing the big bucks which Mirzan wants to extract from us the unimportant Malaysians.
Source : Malaysia Today
The Coverage/News/Wall Street Journal : MISC To Pay $220 Million (RM1 Billion) Price For Assets From Mahathir’s Son
Wall Street Journal : MISC To Pay $220 Million (RM1 Billion) Price For Assets From Mahathir’s Son
21 January, 2024
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Easing fears of an expensive, politically motivated rescue, a state-controlled shipper said it would pay $220 million for assets from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s eldest son, a price many analysts called fair.
When Malaysia International Shipping Corp., or MISC, in March said it would buy the shipping assets of Mirzan Mahathir’s company, Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd., whose primary activity is providing container-haulage services, it provoked accusations of a bailout, especially since Mr. Mirzan revealed that the sale would reduce his company’s debt to almost zero. Many analysts viewed the deal as another example of the rescues that have put in doubt Malaysia’s commitment to face its economic troubles, mainly by using state funds to help sickly private companies.
These analysts came away happier Thursday. “Yes, [MISC is] helping out Mirzan, but they are not paying a hefty price for it,” said Alan Inn, an analyst with Caspian Securities. “MISC got away quite nicely,” he added.
“The entire exercise will make MISC a stronger organization,” said MISC’s chairman, Tan Sri Hassan Marican, who is also president of state oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas.
“Overall,” he added, “it is a fair deal for everyone.”
The entire deal comes in several parts. MISC will buy the entire share capital of Petronas Tankers Sdn. Bhd. from Petronas by issuing 859.91 million new MISC ordinary shares of one ringgit (26.8 U.S. cents) each at 6.96 ringgit per share to Petronas. This will result in Petronas owning 62.01% of MISC, from 29.34% currently.
MISC will also buy Hong Kong-based PNSL Ltd., formerly known as Pacific Basin Bulk Shipping Ltd., from Konsortium Perkapalan, or KPB, for US$55 million. Analysts described the price as low but fair considering the expected hit the company’s business will take from the Asian economic turmoil in the next few years. Mr. Mirzan had bought Pacific Basin in 1996 for US$230 million.
In addition, MISC will buy the assets of KPB’s Malaysia-based PNSL Bhd. for US$165 million. Mr. Mirzan purchased PNSL Bhd. for 247.4 million ringgit from a state agency in 1992. The higher price MISC is paying partly stems from the charters and therefore fixed revenues these assets come with.
That means MISC will hand over a total of $220 million to Mr. Mirzan. That figure is just below the range of $224 million to $313 million at which the assets were valued by an independent appraiser appointed by MISC’s bankers. That valuation assumed that MISC would also take over net debt of $311 million from the acquired companies.
Tan Sri Hassan said the parties expect to wrap up the deal by the end of August, subject to regulatory approval. MISC will pay for the deal partly from internal funds and partly from borrowings, he added.
Source : WSJ
The Coverage/News/How Tun M Made Mirzan Mahathir A Billionaire By Bailing Out RM1.7 Billion Debt-Laden Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd
How Tun M Made Mirzan Mahathir A Billionaire By Bailing Out RM1.7 Billion Debt-Laden Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd
21 January, 2024
Finally, PM Anwar Ibrahim has agreed to settle the 25-year feud with Mahathir – in court. His former boss, Mahathir, was the longest serving prime minister of Malaysia – ruling with iron-fist for 22 years (1981-2003) during which his deputy Anwar was sacked in 1998 over corruption and sodomy charges, accusations condemned internationally as politically motivated.
Astonishingly, after 25 years of fighting the Barisan Nasional, the same corrupt regime that had imprisoned him “twice” for the same sodomy charges – first under Mahathir Mohamad and later Najib Razak administration – Mr Anwar got his wish granted when he was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister on Nov 24, 2022, forming the Unity Government with the same coalition.
Mr Mahathir, who was already 92 years old in 2016 when he announced his stunning political comeback from retirement to unseat yet another protégé-turned-nemesis Mr Najib, struck an unlikely deal with the still imprisoned Mr Anwar. Mahathir became prime minister again when he led the Opposition Pakatan Harapan alliance to victory in 2018’s landmark elections.
While he fulfilled his promise to free Anwar from prison through a full royal pardon, the ex-premier broke his promise to hand power to his former protégé within 2 years. He would rather let his lieutenant Muhyiddin Yassin, president of Bersatu, snatched power than to see Anwar take over. On Feb 2020, the old man unexpectedly resigned without consulting allies in Pakatan Harapan.
Anwar, president of PKR (People’s Justice Party), was left empty-handed once again. But the backdoor Perikatan Nasional government hastily glued by Muhyiddin with defeated Barisan Nasional and extremist PAS Islamist party was soon plagued with political turmoil. Muhyiddin eventually tasted his own medicine when UMNO-led Barisan withdrew support, forcing him to resign.
Muhyiddin proved to be nothing but an empty vessel, having mismanaged the economy and mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic. His successor, “turtle-egg” Ismail Sabri was equally clueless and incompetent. Malaysia wasted 33 months under both prime ministers that saw sagging economy, bearish stock market, rising costs of living, un-affordable housing and depreciating local currency.
It’s hard to blame Anwar for wanting to take revenge after what Mahathir had done to him, from throwing him into jail over fabricated charges to breaking a promise to hand power after defeating Najib. His youngest daughter, Nurul Hana, was only 6 years old when Mahathir, whom she described as the “wicked man” who had taken her “papa” to prison on the night of Sept 20, 1998.
Even if Anwar can forget and forgive Mahathir for wrongly imprisoned him, and given the infamous “black eye” after assaulted by none other than former police chief Abdul Rahim Noor, the new PM finds it hard to ignore the damages done to the country as a result – either directly or indirectly – of Mahathir. When he took over 5 months ago, he was shocked to discover RM1.5 trillion debt.
Last month, PM Anwar said Mahathir, without specifically mentioning his name, had enriched his family during his administration. The old man went ballistic, demanding a public apology as well as a withdrawal of the remarks or be sued for defamation. It could be a deliberate provocation to lure Mahathir into a long court battle that would reveal all his skeleton in the closet.
Mahathir might think he was still the same strategist grandmaster in his latest brinkmanship game with Anwar. He probably had forgotten the dozens of scandals during his 22 years in power, not to mention he no longer controls the judiciary and anti-corruption agency. Anwar is calling Mahathir’s bluff as going to court will open the Pandora box which the ex-premier tries to protect all his life.
It’s not hard to prove how the ex-premier had enriched his family. Of all the financial scandals, the most personal was the bailout of his son’s Konsortium Perkapalan Berhad in 1998. In fact, the primary reason Mahathir had sacked Anwar was not merely because both men disagreed on the method to tackle the 1997-1998 Asia Financial Crisis plaguing the country.
Then-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar (1993-1998) was seen as Mahathir’s successor – till the Asian crisis exploded, triggered by the collapse of the Thai baht in July 1997, leading to a currency crisis followed by a financial crisis and ultimately economic recession in most countries of the region. Panicked, Mahathir blamed currency speculators, especially George Soros and even the Jews.
On September 1997, Mahathir declared that “currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and immoral”. More damagingly, the prime minister threatened a unilateral ban on foreign exchange purchases unrelated to imports. It only upsets the markets further. Heck, he had even threatened to use repressive measures against anyone who published unfavourable reports about the Malaysian economy.
Investors saw Mahathir’s denial as proof that he had a lot to hide from public scrutiny. The Malaysian Ringgit plunged from RM2.50 to a record RM4.885 per dollar in 1998, before it was pegged at 3.80 per dollar. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) Composite Index (KLCI) dropped from over 1,300 in the first quarter of 1997 to less than 500 in January 1998, to around 300 in August 1998, and to 262 on September 2, 1998.
Anwar, who was also the Finance Minister at that time, was considering a modified IMF-type measures. As the economic situation deteriorated in the second half of 1997, Anwar became more receptive to IMF policy advice. After securing the full cabinet support (in Mahathir’s absence in early December 1997), Anwar implemented a series of tight-money prescription – without taking IMF money.
There was one huge problem – Mahathir rejected Anwar’s approach, whose free-market-oriented corrective measures would mean Mahathir and his sidekick Daim Zainuddin’s cronies would go bankrupt for over borrowing. More importantly, Mahathir’s eldest son, Mirzan Mahathir’s company – Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd (KPB) – would go bust without a bailout.
Mahathir was also shocked by the surprise resignation of Indonesia’s President Suharto in May 1998. The Malaysian dictator began to worry about the foreign media’s calls for Anwar to replace him as well as the increasingly independent and critical stance of Anwar supporters in the government. He began to criticize Anwar as a “stooge” of the IMF, before finally sacked him on Sept 2, 1998.
In March 1998, Malaysia International Shipping Corp. (MISC) announced that it would acquire Mirzan company. The news triggered accusations of a bailout at a time when the country was facing its economic troubles. The sale included US$55 million for Hong Kong-based Pacific Basin Bulk Shipping, which Mirzan’s Konsortium bought for US$230 million in 1996 as part of an aggressive regional expansion campaign.
In addition, MISC will buy the assets of KPB’s Malaysia-based PNSL Bhd for US$165 million, which Mr Mirzan purchased for RM247.4 million from a state agency in 1992. Not only MISC handed over a total US$220 million to Mirzan, who owned 51% of Konsortium, but would also take over a net debt of US$311 million from the acquired companies.
Interestingly, even before the 1997 Asia Financial Crisis, Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd had already accumulated RM1.7 billion debt (end of 1996) under Mirzan leadership. It was so bad that there were naughty rumours the Mahathir’s son was considering “suicide” over the massive debts. Without the bailout, Mirzan would go bankrupt as KPB’s market value was almost wiped out during the financial crisis.
The best part was the main shareholder of MISC was Petronas, the national oil company which comes directly under the Prime Minister Office. Yes, while 6-year-old Nurul Hana cried after her “papa” was taken away to prison, 37-year-old Mirzan Mahathir cried to his “papa” to rescue his company. Thanks to his father, Mirzan’s debt in KPB was settled.
The rescue of his son’s company came just six months after Mahathir Cabinet announced on September 3, 1997 of the creation of a special RM60 billion fund for “selected Malaysians” – understood as a bail-out facility designed to save “cronies”. Besides Petronas, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) money had been deployed to bail out some of the most politically well-connected and influential.
Other companies that enjoyed mega bailouts, just to name a few, included UEM-Renong, Malayan Banking, Bank Bumiputra, Sime Bank, KUB, Bank of Commerce, RHB Bank, Ekran’s Bakun Dam Project, Park May-Intrakota bus and Monorail. A whopping RM2.34 billion of taxpayers’ money was used – quietly – to bail out UEM-Renong alone, which was linked to Mahathir’s political party UMNO.
Under Mahathir’s instruction, the EPF and other Malaysian government controlled institutions were believed to have bought about RM2 billion of Malaysian stock through Singapore and Hong Kong based brokers to give the impression of renewed foreign investor interest in the Malaysian market. In the end, EPF lost over RM10 billion in 1998 thanks to Mahathir and Finance Minister Daim.
Clearly, not only Mahathir had abused his power to rescue Mirzan, but had enriched his son by bailing out Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd. The burning question is from where did his son get all the money to fund his purchase in KPB, not to mention other companies like Petron, Malaysian Helicopter Services, Lion Corp, Artwright Holdings, Dataprep Holdings, Leader Universal, Diperdana Corp and whatnot?
As early as 1994, Mirzan bought at a 24% discount to the market price 1.5 million shares in steel cable firm Leader Universal, under a preferential state allocation scheme to transfer corporate ownership to bumiputras or indigenous people. At the age of 37 in 1998, analysts valued Mirzan Mahathir’s holdings in public companies alone to be in excess of US$880 million. He was said to sit on the board of 95 companies in 1999.
But Mirzan was not the only lucky son having strong cable to enrich him. Mokhzani Mahathir, the second eldest son of the former prime minister, joined the ranks of the country’s top 10 richest people in 2014 on the 9th spot – worth an estimated RM4.22 billion. In early November 2012, Petronas awarded a RM700 million contract to the SapuraKencana Petroleum mogul.
Billionaire Mokhzani also became the largest shareholder of Pantai Group of hospital after acquired it from Berjaya Group founder Vincent Tan, who happens to be one of Mahathir’s cronies. Pantai hospital was part of Parkway Holdings Ltd, which in turn was started by Malaysians (Tan family of IGB Corp and the Ang family of Petaling Garden) in the 1970s.
Together with another brother, Mukhriz and Mokhzani were awarded contracts in optical fibre manufacturer Opcom Holdings Berhad, which has profited from the RM21.6 billion project of the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP). According to the opposition, close to 500 companies were registered under the names of Mahathir and four of his children.
While 16 companies were under Mahathir Mohamad’s name and 29 were under his daughter Marina’s name, a jaw-dropping 156 were under Mirzan’s name and 158 were under Mokhzani’s whereas 126 were under Mukhriz’s name. When the trial starts, Anwar’s attorney will be having fun grilling every single offspring of Mahathir, exposing how they get mega rich so young and so easily.
Source : Finance Twitter
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