vox populi small thumbnail 'Companies like Shell, which negotiate the best price, drive the price down. BN negotiates for the best price to drive it up so as to get the best kickbacks.'

Idris: Direct nego sometimes better than open bidding

By Election Fan: Idris Jala, you are now degrading yourself further. Name a single direct negotiation by BN/Umno government which has brought us real benefits.

You mentioned that in Shell there are direct negotiations - I am sure you would agree that the internal auditors from the Shell headquarters are much more "scary" than our Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the auditor-general.

That is what we call accountability - do we have that in BN/Umno's rule? Who are you trying to fool?

ONG: Either Idris thinks we are stupid or he has become stupid since becoming a BN minister. Of course, direct negotiations can sometimes be better than open tenders or open biddings. Anyone with any good business experience knows that.

But certainly not the kind of direct negotiations started by Dr Mahathir Mohamad more than 20 years ago, followed by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and now PM Najib Abdul Razak.

Does Idris dare to swear on his holy Bible that the direct negotiations carried out by the BN government has followed the same model practised by Shell?

Rajakera: What armoured personnel carriers are they talking about? Are they gold-plated lorries? At US$10 million a piece you must be joking. If you inflate the lowest price, would anyone believe that the lowest price of US$10 million is really true?

Companies like Shell, which negotiate the best price, drive the price down. Idris, your government negotiates for the best price to drive it up so as to get the best kickbacks. Show us one, just one tender, where you chaps have been able to beat any other country in the world.

Fido Dido: So direct negotiated tenders are alright because Shell does it that way. But one bloody screwdriver shouldn't have to cost RM90 through direct negotiations. What are you talking about?

Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia: Yes, as a direct result of the Umno-BN culture of 'direct nego' contracts, our poor schoolkids are getting two slices of bread minus the sardines and other nutritious food that they are supposed to be getting under the taxpayer-funded supplementary food aid programme.

Rolls-Royce: If we had a system where even open tenders are abused, what hope do we have when it comes to direct negotiations?

Shell is not a government. Government deals with public money. Public money means it is money that belongs to no one. If no one owns the money, who do you think will take care and protect the money?

The only safeguard is transparent processes - that is the only assurance we have. Do I trust you to take care of public money? No, I don't trust you, and I don't trust anybody with the money. I only trust a transparent process where deviation would be difficult and abuse of power would be quickly identified and punished.

By the way, Shell is a fat cat company, so don't be too smug if you think you were successful there.

History class: Teaching of Article 153 jitters MCA

Swipenter: Article 153 on special position of bumiputeras must be taught together with Article 8 on equality, otherwise it can be made a propaganda tool to justify unequal citizenship in this country.

Not one single Umnoputra has ever mentioned Article 8 when shouting about Article 153. They always shout about Article 153 in isolation.

If Article 153 is taught in isolation of all other articles, then the ketuanan ideology can be justified and the so-called social contract is made out be a truth, instead of a myth. Be very careful of those revisionists of history.

Anonymous: Any attempts to teach history of Article 153 has to go hand in hand with Article 8. If not, it is not teaching history but racism.

The consequences of teaching Article 153 only and ignoring Article 8 will bring about another round of racism which has already been planted through the years of a lousy education system.

I hope that history will not repeat itself again. It all depends on the BN government's intention - to teach real history or to teach racism?

DAP demands review on History subject

Fairnfair: I was born just after Merdeka and subject to the unfair New Economic Policy (NEP). Of course, when life gets tough, the tough gets going. My son of just 16 shares the same strong feelings against NEP.

It is not about studying history and passing the subject, my son could pass this subject with good marks. If our DPM Muhyiddin Yassin thinks a history subject could change the mindset of young generation by knowing our history better without doing something about NEP to make it fairer to all Malaysians, you are just too naive.

Geronimo: Another brain-washing scheme in the making, in the mould of the National Civics Bureau (BTN). While BTN modules are tailored made for adults, this revised history modules will target schoolchildren. No way am I going to send my kids to the national-type schools anymore.

Baiyuensheng: Very soon, they will be no non-Malays left in the national school system. The non-Malays should pool their resources together to start an independent school systems that are more in line with the requirements of globalisation.

Not to forget also about teaching those children enrolled Bahasa Malaysia and be proficient in it. We can be proficient in three languages - BM, English and our mother tongues (Tamil and Mandarin).

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