Yayasan Patriot Negara Malaysia (YPN) found itself under intense scrutiny during a press conference today, prompting some of the group's members to claim the focus of the press was misplaced.

YPN had called the conference today on its lucrative project to sell vanity vehicle plates bearing the word "Patriot". The scheme is projected to help the group make between RM10 million to RM15 million.

The group plans to use the proceeds for activities that promote patriotism.

Given the sheer scale of the profits involved, the press had grilled YPN leaders on how the money would be split with the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and on allegations that the group is politically linked.

Reporters had also wanted to know why many YPN office bearers came from the same family and if there were any check-and-balance mechanisms in place.

This appeared too much for two individuals claiming to be YPN members who sat among the press.

Focus on our 'activities'

One who identified himself only as Wong interrupted the press conference to tell off the press, expressing that it was unfair to accuse YPN of making money.

"You should focus on the patriotic activities YPN has done in the past," he said.

Following this, another unidentified person stood up to express similar sentiments.

However, the four YPN leaders at the press conference appeared to welcome the scrutiny.

Nevertheless, the leaders kept beating around the bush when quizzed how would the public be able to monitor the money spent in the future.   

 

Instead of replying directly to questions in the press conference, much of the time was used to explain why YPN is promoting patriotism.

 

While the press tried to focus back to the questions itself, YPN vice-president Nadzim Johan ( photo ) suggested the press should "come and see", stressing there was no foul play in its activities. 

He also explained YPN would fund programmes to foster unity in Malaysia's multiethnic population and instill patriotism.

 

One programme is dubbed "Go for three" - a multilingual education campaign to produce students conversant in "at least three languages" to help break language barriers in Malaysia.

 

On top of it, YPN has promoted patriotism through "radio talks, television talks, exhibitions" since its inception in 2013, Nadzim added. 

 

He also brushed off allegations that "Patriot" car plate showed "special treatment" by the government to YPN. 

 

He pointed out that the government had launched 25 other special car plate series, such as "1M4U", in the past, stressing that this is not something extraordinary. 

 

The "Patriot" car plate series, range from "Patriot 1" to "Patriot 9999". The bidding price starts from as high as RM1 million to as low as RM500 for a car plate.

 

There have been five bids for the "Patriot 1" plate, which had reached RM1.3 million at the time of writing.

 

Record holder

Thus far, the record holder for the most expensive car number plate is Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, the Sultan of Johor, who paid RM520,000 for the "WWW 1" number plate in 2012.

Two years later, Sultan Ibrahim won the 'W1N' registration number with a bid of RM748,000.

 

YPN was established on April 2013. The group disclosed it applied to run the scheme during Hishammuddin Hussein's tenure as acting transport minister but got the green light after Liow Tiong Lai ( photo ) took over. 

The group is led by Brig-gen (R) Husainay Hashim, who was Umno executive secretary for five years when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was Umno president.

It was also established that several of YPN's office bearers had the same paternal name of Nadim Johor.

Given YPN's obscurity and guaranteed windfall, some  critics  have complained that the scheme may have political links.