Teresa Kok

An open letter to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad: Not going gentle into that good night09 Jun 2006
By Rehman Rashid

WHY, Tun?
That’s what we — the products, inhabitants, stewards and legatees of the country you designed and built — need to know. Why have you become so harsh a critic of your successor’s administration?

You made them, too. They have cleaved to your vision of what this country needs to be, and they are moving forward — or at least attempting to, as best they can, given the way forward as they see it.

It wasn’t necessarily their way forward; it was yours. No one has argued with the road map you drafted for this country, nor the direction you determined, nor even with the pace you set to get where you wanted us to go.

Nothing of your legacy as prime minister has been dismantled. Such restructuring as is happening in the corporate Malaysia Inc you established — Proton and MAS in particular — is for companies in desperate trouble, needing to be re-engineered to new and more businesslike specifications. Whether this will turn them around remains to be seen, but it needed to be done.

On the fuel price hike, your suggestion that fuel subsidies could have been maintained by allowing the exchange rate to float was, well, radical. Certainly, so was your decision to peg the ringgit to the US dollar during the Asian financial meltdown in 1998. By that time the claws of the crisis had sunk deep, and there was no lack of popular and political support for your soon-to-be famously successful move.

But the present administration, in reducing fuel subsidies, was responding to imperatives of long-term prudence, and that too has been by-and-large accepted and supported by the people. Times have changed, Tun. You should know: You changed them.

In the case of the Tebrau bridge, you seemed beside yourself with irritation. But it was precisely with respect to national sovereignty that the idea was scrapped; it’s hard to understand how you could have implied otherwise.

We know it’s a gamble, but for this term at least, the electorate have fallen behind the present administration with a greater mandate than you received even at the record-breaking height of your popularity.

But that was in 1982. For the ensuing 21 years, you charged forward with stupendous resolve, damning the torpedoes, brooking scant dissent, building this city on rock and roll.

Your successor is more graceful at the waltz, it seems — and so far the people have responded fondly enough to that, too.

How has Malaysia changed in the first half-term of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration? It’s quieter. More circumspect. There’s more introspection at the top; a need, as much as a willingness, to listen, perhaps even more than to speak.

Hi friends, I am in New Zealand attending a MPs’ conference on population now.
The time here is 4 hours ahead of Malaysian time, it is Saturday night now and the
whole city is soooo quiet. I can’t sleep so early, so I try to put a few interesting emails
and articles which have been sent to me earlier to my blog, just in case some of you
have missed them earlier.

teresa

Of Ignorance, Impunity & Insult to Injury by the IGP
by Martin Jalleh , 2nd June 2006

The police force in Bolehland has very ironically lived up to its name it
carries out its supposed duty with brutal “force”. Sadly, such mindless
aggression is seemingly condoned and even commended by Inspector General of
Police Mohd Bakri Omar whose pathetic justification adds insult to injury.
Below is an open response to the IGP’s comments made in a Malaysiakini
interview on the violence demonstrated by the police when breaking up a
peaceful demonstration of about 500 people in front of the Kuala Lumpur City
Centre (KLCC) on 28 May, protesting against the price hikes in fuel and
electricity. Alas, very little has changed since Pak Lah took over.

Mohd Bakri: “The police have got a job to do (and) they were merely doing
their job. I defend the action of my officers and men…”
Is it the job of the riot police to run riot? Is it your job as the
Inspector General of Police to defend your men without “inspecting” and to
“generalise” so as to cloud the truth!

Mohd Bakri: “How serious are they? I don’t know how serious they are…” (in
response to Malaysiakini’s feedback that “a few of them were seriously
injured”).
Without knowing the seriousness of the situation you insist on defending
your men! Are you really serious about being the IGP of this country?

Mohd Bakri: “The police have been tasked into looking after law and order
that’s our basic function.”
There was law and definitely a lot of order when the public demonstration
and protest began… until the police created the chaos by clubbing the
dispersing protestors.

Mohd Bakri: “If you refer to section 33 of the Police Act, which is
available in the major bookstores in town, then you should know our
function.”
If you refer to the Federal Constitution, which is available in the major
bookstores in town, then you should know our function as citizens of this
country.

Mohd Bakri: “If people start going to the streets, demonstrate, and if the
police do nothing about it, it will affect the flow of traffic, it will
threaten the safety of the location.”
In the first protest on March 3 when your men allowed a peaceful
demonstration, the flow of traffic was normal though some slowed down to
honk in support of the demonstrators! No one felt unsafe.

Mohd Bakri: “If it is a business centre, then people will shy away (from
it), people will not go to that premise anymore and it causes a lot of
disturbance to the peace.”
For many foreigners, public protests in their country are a daily affair!
What frightens tourists most, Mohd Bakri, is the sight of baton-wielding
police unleashing their violence on innocent people like the protestors.

Mohd Bakri: “So we have a job to do, and my men have a job to do, and that
is why they advised (the protestors) ... (to) get this group to disperse. In
the course of it – if you go ahead and confront the police…”
The citizens of this country have a job to do too. The protestors were doing
what everybody including your men and their families should in fact be
doing protesting against price hikes that would gravely affect all of our
lives.

Below is an interview with Ani Arope which was published few days ago. I missed it, a blogger emailed it to me, I hereby share with those who have missed that article.

Tuesday June 6, 2006

Ani: TNB got a raw deal
WHEN the Government decided to approve the request from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to raise electricity tariffs, the plight of the national utility took centre-stage. Naturally, the knee-jerk reaction among consumers was not favourable. The 12% rise in tariffs appears to have re-ignited the debate on how good the going is for independent power producers (IPPs) at the cost of the national utility’s cashflow. The imbalance between the generation side of the business and that of transmission and distribution has put a strain on TNB. To understand the privatisation of the power generation sector, one needs to take a look back in history to understand that the country’s IPPs came about as a result of the Government’s effort to address the issue of stable power supply after the landmark 1992 blackout. Lending a historical perspective to the issue of IPPs is former TNB executive chairman Tan Sri Ani Arope, who headed the national utility from 1990 to 1996. It was during his tenure that the first generation IPPs were created. StarBiz deputy news editor JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU has the story.

STARBIZ: What happened after the first major blackout in 1992?

Ani: TNB had plans in place to pump out more energy by building plants in Pasir Gudang and Paka. Financing was no problem and our credit standing was very high. We had the land acquired and were ready to move in and plant up.

But we were told by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) that it had its own plans. We cautioned EPU that if those plants, which would take two years to complete, were not built, Malaysia would get another major blackout. When you have a place with 250 engineers, it does not make sense to say (the blackout) is because of poor planning. But the EPU said it had its own plans and we were told to surrender the land.

Then it surfaced that it wanted to privatise the power plants. I am not anti-IPPs per se. It is good to have other players but it has to be done fairly. It has to be fair to the consumers, not just TNB, which is a conduit. TNB, because of the electricity hike, has been treated as the whipping boy. The focus should be on the consumers.

When the generous terms were given to the IPPs, all my other peers around the world asked what was happening. They said they would like to have a share in the IPPs. They said (the contracts to IPPs) were “too darn generous.’’ (The terms) were grossly one sided.

How was the Malaysian model of IPPs created?

Ask our previous Prime Minister.

How was the process of negotiations with IPPs conducted?

There was no negotiation. Absolutely none. Instead of talking directly with the IPPs, TNB was sitting down with the EPU. And we were harassed, humiliated and talked down every time we went there. After that, my team was disappointed. The EPU just gave us the terms and asked us to agree. I said no way I would.

What about the pricing and terms of the contracts?

It was all fixed up. (They said) this is the price, this is the capacity charge and this is the number of years. They said you just take it and I refused to sign the contracts. And then, I was put out to pasture.

Why did you disagree with the terms?

It was grossly unfair. At 16 sen per unit (kWh) and with the take or pay situation, actually it was 23 sen per unit. With 23 sen, plus transmission and distribution costs, TNB would have had to charge the consumer no less than 30 sen per unit. If mixed with TNB’s cost, the cost would come down but that was at our expense because we were producing electricity at 8 sen a unit. We can deliver electricity at 17 sen per unit.

And then there is a capacity charge. Nobody produces excess electricity like Malaysia and it goes to waste because there are no batteries to store that power. TNB only needs a reserve of 15% to 20%.