Former deputy prime minister Ghafar Baba was right in complaining that it was more difficult for him to contact a certain Umno menteri besar compared to the opposition PAS spiritual leader and Kelantan Menteri Besar, Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang today backed the Umno veteran leader, who had reportedly expressed his frustration at a meeting that it was easier to set an appointment with Nik Aziz than an unnamed Umno menteri besar.

Ghafar said that he was unable to meet the Umno leader even though the appointment was made six months earlier whereas it took him just one day to arrange an appointment with Nik Aziz.

Concurring with the ex-deputy premier, Lim lamented that cabinet ministers were even more inaccessible than during the time of the previous prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"In the past two days for instance my office had failed, despite repeated attempts, to reach the Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop and Minister for Higher Education Dr Shafie Salleh on urgent public controversies under their watch."

He said he wanted to talk to Nor Mohamed on the problem-ridden RM4.6 billion Ipoh-Rawang electrified double-tracking railway project , and to Shafie on the controversy involving two top university academics .

Given that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also the finance minister, is currently on an official visit to Iran, Lim had sought to talk to Nor Mohamed on the troubled double-tracking project, which is not only some four years behind schedule but is likely to cost 50 percent more than the original price tag.

Thundering silence

The multi-billion Ipoh-Rawang double-tracking project comprises two packages - the building a 180km dual-way track, and the installation of electrification and signalling systems.

DRB-Hicom was the turnkey contractor for the construction of the dual-way track, budgeted at RM2.58 billion.

For the electrification and signalling systems, the RM1.9 billion contract was awarded to DRB-Hicom and Mitsui & Co Transport Systems.

The opposition leader had earlier said that he had been reliably informed that the government had terminated the contract of DRB-Hicom and awarded the unfinished 18 percent portion of the civil and infrastructure contract to UEM at a cost of RM1.1 billion, inflating the cost to RM3.68 billion.

Meanwhile, Lim added that Mitsui & Co had asked for an additional RM450 million to complete the second package of the project - the electrification and signalling systems.

Lim decried the additional claims by both parties, which is likely to inflate the cost of the mega-project by more than 50 percent.

DRB-Hicom had reportedly been directed by the government to vacate all its work sites by today to prepare for the takeover by UEM.

"The thundering silence of the Finance Ministry and the Transport Ministry ... and (their) failure to throw light on this issue represent the height of irresponsibility and the mark of bad governance...," said Lim.

Diminishing breed

The opposition leader also said that he wanted to contact Shafie regarding the controversy involving University Putra Malaysia vice-chancellor Prof Dr Muhamad Zohadie Bardaie and the resignation of Universiti Malaya associate professor Dr Edmund Terence Gomez.

Mohd Zohadie was ordered to quit from his post after he recited a poem at a recent function which allegedly ridiculed the minister.

Gomez, described by Lim as "one of the nation's diminishing breed of internationally-renowned scholars", had been denied a two-year leave of secondment to take up the prestigious research appointment at a United Nations agency in Geneva.

The rejection has forced Gomez to resign from the university.