The land in question is Lot 12, Petaling Jaya, where the PKNS head office is located and its size is 9.85 acres. In 2005, the Selangor state government under Khir Toyo gave 8 acres of Lot 12 to Puncak Wangi Sdn Bhd (an Umno-linked company?). The remaining 1.85 acres was retained (perhaps to be bequeathed to Khir Toyo?).
The matter of converting the land use condition to that of ‘development’, however, was left outstanding.
In March 2008, the BN state government was replaced by the PR one led by Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. Thus, any kind of “business deal” arranged by Puncak Wangi with all those individuals and bodies responsible for land development matters in Selangor before the PR takeover was left “hanging in the air”.
In view of the millions already spent by Puncak Wangi for it to be the favoured party of PKNS to the extent of being appointed the ‘taukeh’ for the PKNS-owned Lot 12 land, the company needed to develop the land immediately in order to recover its initial outlays.
The new Menteri Besar, Khalid Ibrahim, deliberately kept mum over applications for land use over the said land as in his opinion there was still scope for the people of Selangor to benefit and their interests protected over the land deal with Puncak Wangi.
Recognising the impasse with Khalid, the company realised that any further effort to solve the problem requires making whatever offers necessary to Khalid’s bosses to get them to instruct Khalid to favour Puncak Wangi. That was something Khalid refused to do as he knew the DAP excos were fully aware of the situation. Thus the Selangor state leadership crisis erupted, with Azmin Ali resigning in protest from the PKNS board of directors and by implication threatening Khalid’s position as the person favoured by PKR to carry on as the MB of Selangor.
Through an edict issued by the party’s God-given leader, it was made clear that an immediate solution must be found, even if it appears that PKR has made deals which it should not with ‘pirates’. Unless, of course, there are ulterior motives. A new agenda, perhaps?
The upshot was that Azmin Ali was appointed the Selangor PKR chief replacing Khalid, thus making Azmin the boss to Khalid within PKR. Khalid was allowed to continue as MB and he pursued efforts to include and protect the interests of the people of Selangor in the Lot 12 project and to uphold PKR’s honour and dignity by not being perceived to be giving in or selling out to pirates. Praise be to God that there is still such an individual who is conscious of his roots and religion.
Khalid’s latest offer was for PKNS to give the remaining 1.85 acres to Puncak Wangi to be developed and in return the company will grant a 30% share of the whole project (now enlarged to 9.85 acres) to PKNS. Whether this compromise will bring the desired economic and commercial benefits to the Selangor people, that’s for the analysts to study and decide.
What is clear and needs to be questioned is the appropriateness and wisdom of PKR in being the new buddy of Puncak Wangi, one of those companies which mushroomed during the Mahathir era and participated in the economic cronyism which caused the economic re-structuring, so desired by the rakyat under the NEP, to fail. In fact, eradicating the existence of crony companies such as Puncak Wangi and the conditions that caused them to exist was one of the campaign vows of PKR during the 12th general elections, a vow that was well received and taken to heart by the rakyat.
As a “reformasi party”, PKR promised to the people that PKR will not continue with the way BN has administered the country. “We don’t promise you to just do things better, we promise to do things different altogether”, thus declared the party’s God-given leader to the thunderous applause of the rakyat. So, what has happened?
Word has been going around that relating to the above deal, RM10 million was promised and of that, RM3 million has already been paid. To whom? PKR itself appears to be with no funds. So only God knows. And, of course, the person who gave and the one who received. Will DAP be keeping silent or has its silence been bought in the same manner? It’s the rakyat who as always are the victims. The greedy ‘crocodiles’ and unscrupulous ‘snakes’ of this country will continue to thrive as long as its Malay leadership will not walk its talk and ignores the rakyat’s trust.
Do not compare PKR with UMNO and say it is “the lesser of the two evils”. That was not the reformasi deal. The rakyat demand that promises are honoured by their leaders even one who is supposedly God’s gift to them.
Be wary of the prayers of those who have been victimised.
MISKAM HJ SUPARMAN
Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur
