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Seda, call new bids and do it right this time
Published:  Jul 26, 2012 9:02 AM
Updated: 12:27 PM

YOURSAY 'Surely, Fong should have the 'cow sense' to apply what's known as the 'single customer rule' in the banking industry to deter manipulation.'

Seda admits to screw-up in solar power applications

your say Onyourtoes: Cut the crap. May I suggest Seda (Sustainable Energy Development Authority) rescind all the offers and call for new bids.

It is obvious the offers were tainted - too much in favour of the well-connected and too much of information asymmetry. I think some companies knew more than others and were abusing the system.

Senhua: I agree with Onyourtoes. Seda at the end of the day has - if it found multiple stakeholders with a conflict of interest - a right to reject the tainted applicant and re-instate a new bidding, rather than saying, "Oh crap, it happens and there's nothing we can do about it."

This isn't a contract worth thousands but in the millions. Hence, spend the time to go through the details and legal options.

Abasir: "Although each applicant can only apply for a maximum of 5MW in solar power production to ensure fair distribution, Suzi managed to circumvent the system by applying through different companies."

Now one wonders, where did former chief secretary Mohd Sidek Hassan's daughter Suzi Suliana acquire this obvious and blatant crookedness to ‘circumvent the system', which is another way of saying ‘dishonestly hoodwinking the process for pecuniary gain'?

Quigonbond: Seda chief Fong Chan Onn has just admitted that he did not include in the rules that ultimate shareholders should not bid in aggregate more than 5MW.

My immediate reaction is the rules were purposely not put in place so that a crony can get around the system. There is no getting out of this one, Fong.

The percentage isn't the only problem - they don't even have technical qualification to begin with. That, too, was left out from the rules? Preposterous.

Democrat: Simple, just probe the daughter of the former government chief secretary for violating the clause. She must have known about it.

And aren't they supposed to declare they have no interests in other companies that are applying for this project? I am sure there is.

After all, we small people are made to make such declarations in small petty contracts.

Caripasal: Seda should charge the applicant who submitted multiple applications, or cancel his/her bids if the total application exceeded 5MW.

Knowingly submitting multiple applications by using different companies is a crime. The government should declare the previous tender as null and void, without any compensation.

Ethnicmalaysian: The more they try to cover up and explain and shift the blame, the deeper the hole they dig.

Assuming there's no collusion/abuse/biasness/cronyism in the award process (big assumption, I know), the fact that the government can so easily be screwed, cheated, tricked and taken for a ride so blatantly without any recourse whatsoever against the perpetrators, doesn't at the very least constitute criminal/gross negligence?

And if so, where's the accountability? As usual, none whatsoever. Let's ‘move on' and ‘learn' from this, and by the way, please give us another 55 years.

Headhunter: It's not a screw-up. They deliberately gave it to a crony ex-civil servant who got rewarded for being a true-blue BN sycophant. It's as simple as that.

Please Fong Chan Onn, stop treating us like idiots. How can a company without track record, practically no capital, and was only registered a few months earlier before the tender, be awarded a massive project?

Only fools can make that kind of decision. And fools should not be allowed to helm Seda.

Ksn: Headhunter, you are no doubt right, they are fools but very clever ones. This ex-minister did not come up with this foolish justification in the first place for awarding the contract to a crony's daughter, a RM2 shelf company she owns with no capital, no expertise and no background on the industry.

But then this has been the norm and not an exception for about 30 over years. This ex-minister, if anything, looks more silly with the foolish justification pleading that he cannot correct the mistake totaling many millions.

Is it being implied that there is no way to rescind the contract? Hard to believe and stomach.

YF: Fong really doesn't know what he is talking about. There is such a thing as a fool-proof system provided you don't have fools creating it at the first place.

The banks already have an existing system to check the credit status of any entity so what is Fong talking about?

MP Tony Pua is the smart and realistic one here, it's not rocket science and anyone who is familiar with credit or risk management is capable of handling the foolishness of Fong's excuse.

Malaysiawatch4: Isn't it cheating when people conceal their identities in multiple companies to grab a monopoly? Go ask the AG (attorney-general) do some useful work.

Starr: Since when did the Umno-BN government, in spite of its logo, want to be fair to all applicants or tenders? They may claim 'fairness to all' but invariably some are better treated than others.

Clearly, Seda is caught with its pants down, having to eat its own words. Fong, in all probability, is just an instrument for Umno-BN cronyism and nepotism.

Surely, Fong should have the 'cow sense' to apply what's known as the 'single customer rule' in the banking industry to deter manipulation. Maybe, Seda is not exposed to such practice.

Anonymous123: These MCA hypocrites said loudly and bravely, let developers sue the Penang government for cancelling the hill housing projects, but they are voiceless and spineless when it's about the screw-up in the solar power application exercise.

Myop101: Fong, you have Securities Commission, Bursa Malaysia, Bank Negara (BNM) and Companies Commission of Malaysia.

Even BNM has guidelines on determining single customer limit by classifying which group qualifies to be viewed as single customer.

Besides, if the opposition can trace things easily via company searches, are you to tell me the government can't do it despite having the registry and records? Negligence like this should not have happened.

Tangsyt: This is only the tip of the iceberg. Same modus operandi as in the NFC (National Feedlot Corporation) case and other exposed scams - those in positions of authority enriching themselves at the expense of the rakyat.

No wonder the country is heading nowhere despite the availability of so much natural resources.

Armageddon: It is obvious Suzi was beating the system and Seda is either closing one eye, or is just plain incompetent.

Simple, just re-do the whole bidding exercise if Seda is serious in doing the right thing.


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