YOURSAY 'How fitting for Umno with its reputation as a contractors' party. This seals it then for Umno-BN in GE13.'

Hafarizam: Highway contract won on merit, not a reward

your say Fencesitter: Let the voters see the tender process. What track record? I understand Emrail was involved in the laying of track - was the record satisfactory?

These two companies should get more jobs from current Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir as the lawyer and the judge were his saviours.

Clearwater: Umno lawyers moonlighting as RM2.2 billion highway contractors? How fitting for Umno with its reputation as a contractors' party. This seals it then for Umno-BN in the 13th general election (GE13).

Gerard Samuel Vijayan: Is a lawyer or a contractor? He is more like a jack of all trades with a singular motive to serve his master Umno's interests.

As for the former chief justice's wife, shouldn't a judge's wife be above suspicion like Ceaser's wife? No wonder, the Federal Court and Court of Appeal in their decisions on the Perak constitutional crisis bent over backwards to accommodate the interests of the palace and the BN.

The next time there is a closely divided Parliament, Pakatan Rakyat should do the same - get a few BN MPs to defect, bus them to the palace and demand that the king sack the incumbent government and appoint a new PM since there is an ‘apparent' loss of confidence.

No need for a vote on the floor of the House since this ‘process' is unnecessary according to our judges. What a great way to serve the interests of democracy and the will of the people.

Not Confused: Oh really? No suggestion of cronyism here? Mohd Hafarizam Harun has a thriving legal practice located in Menara Dato Onn - Umno HQ at PWTC (Putra World Trade Centre).

He acts for Umno in many cases, and yet companies with which is he is linked gain lucrative government contracts? Who is kidding who here?

Even if there is nothing underhand involved, public perception is more important, and in this case, perception is that there is a 'You help me, and I'll help you' situation going on here.

What else can Hafarizam expect when his involvement comes to light like this? Naive or what?

Wira: "Why attack us when there are others... I am sure you'll know who else got it?" Wow ... this reminded me of a similar statement by ‘Cow Lady' when she was earlier cornered.

Magic Mountain: Is this a joke? Does a lawyer understand the word merit? How can it be by merit when you can only get it only if you are a bumiputera company?

Adcin: Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said it was Plus' original idea but it was hijacked, any rebuttals from either side? Stiff competition? From whom? Among 'themselves'?

Do not be surprised if the final award is more than RM2.2 billion. How do I know?

That's how Umno works, steals someone's idea, offer to do it for the same or less and then quietly ask for more. Why? Because, of course, ‘ semua barang sudah naik'.

Justice Pao: How is building a double-tracking railway considered having the same experience or track record as building a highway? If this is not an open tender, how do we know there is really ‘stiff competition'?

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Rafidah Aziz also claimed that they did not participate in the decision-making of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) and approved permits (APs) respectively.

No matter what former chief justice Zaki Azmi or Umno legal adviser Mohd Hafarizam Harun may claim, most of us knew that they would be rewarded for their work in delivering the Perak government to BN.

Dean Kuok: If the contract is won on merit, than there is no fear for the government to reveal the details. Further concealing the details will snowball the issue in favour of the critics.

I for one would love to understand the word "merit", and probably the government should also review and consider enforcing the clause on "conflict of interest".

Anonymous: When Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) provides groundbreaking news on BN corruption, Malaysiakini reports it like a pussy cat.

But when RPK does the same with Pakatan, Malaysiakini attacks him like a rabid dog. As a paying subscriber, I demand unbiased news on corruption on both sides like I do get when I go to the Malaysia Today blog for free.

Rick Teo: That's how our government has been running the country. They form a pack of unscrupulous cronies and rob the country by giving inflated contracts under the guise of bumiputera contracts.

Why should such contracts be given to bumiputera companies? Shouldn't they be given to the company with the most competitive bids? What's the point of saying that we won on merit when it was only opened to bumi firms?

Is the public's and taxpayers' money to be exclusively enjoyed by these few Umno cronies? This government is rotten to the core and they will never be able to transform and reform.

The only way they can reform is to be kicked out of the government to show how serious the rakyat is in combating such cronyism.

Anonymous_3f4a: What transformation is Najib talking about? Umno's culture of croynism is still very much alive and kicking. It's Najib's policy of 'you help me. I help you' in action.

Lim Chong Leong: More Cowgate-like scandals. Our nation's wealth is being distributed among Umno cronies like candy on Halloween night.

Gandhi: Juicy fodder for the Pakatan to attack BN in their ceramahs. I'm sure there are more as it's only a matter of time before everything surfaces eventually.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission must dig further to clear this crime.

Kalijamaludin: It is time for the government to stop the practice of awarding retired government servants or politicians to the board of directors of public-listed companies or GLCs (government-linked companies). It is a form of corruption .

Quigonbond: All talk of winning a project on merit gets washed into the drain without an open tender.

In the end, true or otherwise, juxtaposing Umno and government projects is cronyism, and the reward is just too big to ignore. And the simplest explanation tends to be true.

 

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