Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must come clean on any link between the RM4.4 billion public transport trust fund and the involvement of his son's company in several transport-related projects, said an opposition politician.

PAS vice-president Husam Musa said he was concerned with recent developments that have raised "an obvious question".

He asked whether Abdullah's son Kamaluddin, who owns a controlling stake in Scomi Group Bhd, will benefit from the RM4.4 billion savings from fuel subsidies that will be channelled into a trust fund to improve public transport.

He said one news report stated that Scomi had won a RM50 million project to overhaul and maintain national railway company KTM Bhd.

Another press report revealed that the company's subsidiary, Scomi Engineering Bhd, is eyeing a project involving the fabrication of body parts for buses, for the government-owned Syarikat Prasarana Negara Sdn Bhd (PNSB).

"From the reports, we see clear ties between the premier's decision to reduce the fuel subsidy and decision to invest the savings in the public transportation sector. If we follow this to a logical conclusion, we would see his son benefiting from these decisions," claimed Husam.

He said that Abdullah cannot continue to be silent on such issues because these involve the interests of every Malaysian who is suffering because of the 30-sen fuel price increase following the cutback in the oil subsidy in February.

"Pak Lah owes all of us an explanation. On the surface, it looks like his son may directly gain from the fuel price hike. He cannot say that he knows nothing about his son's company. If you don't know what your son is doing, how can you manage a state?" asked Husam.

"Further PNSB is 100-percent owned by the government. Surely he knows which companies are bidding for a project. I don't think Pak Lah can claim ignorance. He must be bold and give the nation an explanation about the two projects said to involve Scomi."

Why transportation?

Husam, who is also the Kijang state assemblyman and PAS Kelantan deputy commissioner, further questioned the premier's decision to allocate the RM4.4 billion savings solely for public transportation.

"Why not other nation-building projects like education and health, which will benefit everyone irrespective of age, race or location? Putting the savings into transport is discriminatory in terms of location.

"How will this help people in remote areas in Sarawak and Kelantan? They don't have LRT, monorail or Rapid KL (bus service). Some only move around in sampan (small boats)."

He said the savings must be divided equally among all citizens who are bearing the brunt of the fuel price hike.

If the government is genuinely concerned about improving public transport, he said, it could always get national oil company Petronas to invest directly in PNSB as it was set up to consolidate the assets of several public transport operators.

"Such a directive would not be new. If you can direct Petronas to fund mega-projects like Putrajaya and the Twin Towers, I don't see why it can't be told to do the same for public transportation.

"Why burden the people? The explanations given to date (for reduction of the fuel subsidy) are unreasonable."

Husam agreed with the vocal protests against the fuel price hike, stating that the government would not have gone into the red even if it had maintained the subsidy.

Referring to the Budget Report for 2006, he said the government's revenue from petroleum-related activities has steadily increased since 2000. (See chart)

"Last year, it received RM31.12 billion from taxes, excise duties, royalties and dividends from petroleum-related activities. This would mean that even if the government spent the RM16.6 billion needed to subsidise petrol price, it still has RM15 billion to spend - some of which can be chanelled to transportation," he said.

Back to Square One

Even the projected revenue for this year show that the government will gain a thumping RM39.92 billion. which is RM8 billion more than last year.

Returning to Scomi's perceived involvement in public transportation projects, Husam said the situation is similar to those under the administration of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"Pak Lah claimed that he would create reform and bring about changes. But now it is back to Square One...if not worse. On issues like this, Dr Mahathir was better as he would have responded to enquiries. Whether we like his answer or not, is another issue but he would have responded.

"Now we see all these developments but there is not a word from Pak Lah. He prefers to claim ignorance. If this continues, Pak Lah will no longer have the moral leadership that he and his people had claimed when they came into power."

Abdullah had pledged to create a climate for greater transparency and accountability in administration when he took over as prime minister in November 2003.