YOURSAY ‘And when they sell, they sell for a song.’

                                   

Overpaying is our culture, says Dr M of Mara fiasco

Oh Ya?: Sorry, former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, overpaying is not a Malaysian culture. In fact, regardless of their race or creed, Malaysians are known to be very ‘kaisu’ when it comes to spending their hard-earned money.

 

They would shop around to get the best deals. They love cheap sales. They would take back any change, even if it is only 10 sen. Only the ruling elite, who are spending taxpayers' money like nobody's business, are very generous for reasons known best to them.

 

When they buy with taxpayers' money, they pay inflated price and when they sell, they sell for a song. And every Malaysian except the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) knows where the difference goes to.

 

In the past, they used cronies as the conduit. Now they are more sophisticated, with tax havens and investment funds to cover their tracks.

 

In the past, they spend within the budget. Now they have no shame incurring heavy debts for future generations to pay off.

 

Mosquitobrain: For all I know, Umno lawmakers and cronies will ‘mati-mati’ cheat to grap on to power, so that they can continue to stay on the gravy train.

 

This is no more a secret. It’s not a Malay dilemma but an Umno dilemma. Take away corruption, Umno will die a natural death.

                                               

Leongan: What is the purpose of privatisation? It is to reduced costs. For example, if changing a lightbulb costs the ‘owner’ RM10, then it is better to give the task to a private individual, who can do it at RM1.

 

But it is the other way round in Malaysia. The privatised operator does it, not at RM1, but at RM20 or RM30!

 

Indeed, the privatisation of our highways is based on this overpaying culture. The authorities do not take into consideration of the increase in vehicles over the years, resulting in the concessionaires earning more.

 

Why this factor is not taken into account? The number of vehicles using the highway has double or even triple, so much so the extra amount collected far exceeded the cost of building and maintaining these highways.

 

Ib: Notice that the holy political party has not said a word about the Mara scandal. What's the point of being holy and all the talk on Malay unity when you are not willing to speak up when the Malays are being robbed by corruption?

Since PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat died, they seem to be behaving more like a BN component.

 

Rosysam: A shocking statement from Mahathir. Corruption and over-payments are two very different fundamental concepts in business and criminal law. No wonder the country is so messed up.

 

Rupert16: With the 1MDB and now Mara scam, hopefully more of our rural Malays brethren will be more aware of how Umno leaders and their members are really lining their own pockets under the guise of protecting ‘agama’, ‘bangsa’ and ‘negara’.

 

Sin Lee Huang: Malaysian does not overpay, not unless it is paid on our behalf by the government or government-linked bodies - against our wishes, I should add.

 

Vijay47: Yes, Mahathir, Malaysians are generous by nature. You may recall that a few years ago, someone paid RM8 for each of Tajuddin Ramli's MAS (Malaysia Airlines) shares when they were worth only RM3.70 each. You could say generous to a fault.

 

Sirach: Dr M is wrong. Here we pay RM10 for a RM7 item and tell the shopkeeper not to keep the change, but to funnel the RM3 into our Cayman Islands bank account.

 

 

'Mara Aussie property deal before my time'

Dont Just Talk: So Idris Jusoh was the Mara chairperson during the time when the Melbourne real estate purchased was approved by the Mara council on Feb 21, 2013.

                       

Was it another ‘willing buyer and willing seller’ transaction with an inflated price of A$4.75 million which the Mara chairperson has no knowledge of.

 

Roar For Truth: Soon there is no government-related organisation that is not tainted by corrupt practices, whether in purchases or rental.

 

Corruption is now a way of life for some. Tun is right, some people will go to jail if this is investigated by the opposition.

 

Headhunter: The whole government machinery is corrupt from top to bottom. It's just like a rotten fish, no matter which part you examine at its rotten to the core.

 

If the head of the government is corrupt, chances are that the rest will follow suit because the general attitude is; if the boss can do it, why can't we?

 

Anticonmen: Umno steal millions from Malay but blame Chinese.

 

Anon1: The decision by Mara might have been made in 2012 but when were the transactions completed?

 

Who signed and authorised the money transfers, etc? I hope the Aussies will name every one of them.

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