Fancy a RM130,000 a month paycheck? This is what the conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) is being paid.

And according to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, sustaining the conductor and the mostly foreign musicians is a waste of Petronas funds.

lim guan eng The DAP secretary-general, who returned to Parliament after nearly a decade in political wilderness, raised this issue when debating on the royal address at the Dewan Rakyat today.

The opposition politician revealed that the cost to maintain the musicians is a whopping RM3.5 million a month.

malaysian philharmonic orchestra "As much as 95 percent of the foreign musicians are paid between RM16,000 and RM28,000 a month and given two months paid leave every year. The conductor is paid RM130,000 a month while the (conductor's) assistant is paid RM50,000 a month," he said.

"For the past 10 years since it was established, this orchestra has 'swallowed' a total of RM500 million," he added.

Lim also claimed that MPO's former resident conductor, Malaysian Ooi Chean See, had resigned after being denied a more significant role.

"How can Petronas waste so much money but not benefit local musicians? While local musicians are neglected, Petronas spends so much money to entertain foreigners, especially from Europe. This is the attitude that caused the people to be so angry with Barisan Nasional," he added.

Help the poor

Lim, who is the MP for Bagan, urged the government to distribute more equitably the revenues and profits of the national petroleum firm so as to benefit Malaysians, especially the poor, instead of favouring certain sectors such as Independent Power Producers.

He said an economic stimulus plan that would include, for example, a yearly bonus amounting to RM6,000 for every family would not affect Petronas' profit of nearly RM80 billion.

Touching on the government's purchase of Russian Sukhoi jets, he asked why the price agreed upon was US$50 million per jet whereas India bought the same jets for US$40 million each.

khalid ibrahim Meanwhile, first time MP and Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim (PKR-Bandar Tun Razak), in his debate on the royal address, questioned the projection that 12 million jobs will be created over the next five years to produce a total of 23 million jobs by 2013.

"These assumptions have to be (based on the) correct (figures), because in the current world economic situation ... these figures may, and will be forced to, change," he said.

He also questioned the forecast contained in the royal address that RM30 billion would be invested in the property, tourism and recreation sectors in view of such "disasters" as the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) and the questionable benefits to the country of the Iskandar Malaysia project in Johor.

On the Selangor government's provision for free supply to households of the first 20 cubic meters of water, Khalid said the risk of wastage is balanced by a progressive billing system whereby subsequent consumption of water would be more expensive.

As for Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) who had earlier claimed the provision of free water amounted to 'bribing' the people, Khalid suggested that Ahmad get Umno Selangor to exempt those of its members - who disagreed with the move - from the state government's provision of free water.

"In this way, we can allocate the amount (saved) to the community religious schools, Chinese schools and Tamil schools," he said.