Press Statement by DAP Secretary-General and MP for Bagan Lim Guan Eng in Kuala Lumpur on 15 July 2014.
With all this unethical and immoral credit given by Minister of Urban Wellbeing Housing and Local Government Abdul Rahman Dahlan of good billionaire cronies of BN, who are grateful for what Malaysia has given them, against bad BN cronies who have forgotten and ungrateful, it is useful to note that even pro-capitalist economists oppose crony capitalism. Describing it as corruption, crony capitalism is a distorted perversion of capitalism because it is not based on free market and rule of law but on favouritism and illegal abuse of public trust.
The credit given by Abdul Rahman to a billionaire BN crony shows that BN is openly unashamed in breeding cronies who benefit privately at public expense. And Malaysia is the only so-called democratic country in the world where the BN Federal government is not ashamed of celebrating a crony capitalistic policy as well as BN cronies who are so proud of their BN crony status until they are not afraid to make it public.
Has the favoured treatment of BN cronies benefited 28 million Malaysians on essential commodities and services such as rice and electricity charges? For example one of the important crony projects privatised in 1996 relates to our staple food, rice, where the monopoly concession agreement was given to a new crony company Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas). With the monopoly of rice imports in Malaysia, the concession agreement was extended for Bernas to 2021 in 2011. Until now, BN has refused to explain why such an extension of time was given.
More importantly BN must come clean on why a tax waiver RM 2.25 billion of duties on rice imports between 2008 and 2013 was given to Bernas. How is such a RM 2.25 billion tax waiver benefiting the public? If the price of rice did go down or the poor paddy farmers benefited in some manner, then the public can understand but if the only beneficiary is the private crony, then this is a betrayal of public interest and trust by BN. Further BN should also come clean on whether Bernas received a similar tax exemption before 2008 from the time Bernas was first privatised in 1996?
Bernas’s shareholders are so lucky that Bernas not only obtained a monopoly on rice imports without an open competitive tender but also a RM2.25 billion tax waiver. Were Bernas ultimate shareholders privy to information of such a huge RM2.25 billion waiver in rice import duties that it influenced the majority shareholders’ decision to privatise Bernas in April and removed it from Bursa Malaysia stock listing?
Another BN crony is YTL Power which was listed in 1997 after securing the concession agreement as the first IPP in Malaysia. Since then, YTL Power has paid out 36.3 per cent of earnings to shareholders as dividends with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate(CAGR) of 5.4 per cent since being listed. This compared favourably to CAGR of only 4% for the Malaysian economy in terms of GDP during that period.
YTL’s success in sustainable earnings and above average dividend yield is due to YTL Power’s ability to secure the highest internal rate of return (IRR) for an IPP of 15-19% and also an incredible provision that compelled Tenaga Nasional Bhd to enter into a compulsory power purchase agreement where Tenaga must take at least 90 % of the capacity of its plants.
If Tenaga can be compelled to purchase 90% of power produced by IPPs, why shouldn’t IPPs be compelled to compensate the public or Tenaga for the breakdown in power supply? The favourable concession agreements given to IPPs do not benefit the public in terms of lower electricity charges. Further there is an extra cost when Tenaga if forced to purchase power it does not need when it has a reserve margin of nearly 30%, one of the highest in the world.
These crony projects have either cost the Malaysian government and its people to lose out on revenue it could otherwise collect or paying a higher price. For this reason, BN leaders like Housing Minister Abdul Rahman must justify the contribution and national interest to Malaysians from BN’s corrupted policies of breeding BN cronies.
Lim Guan Eng
—– Mandarin Version —
民主行动党秘书长兼峇眼区国会议员林冠英于2014年7月15日在吉隆坡发表声明：
马来西亚是当今世界上唯一一个自称民主的国家，而且执政的国阵政府不耻于张扬其朋党资本主义政策以及国阵朋党还为本身国阵朋党地位沾沾自喜，一点也不怕公诸于世。
城区福利、房屋及地方部长阿都拉曼达兰竟然违背道德伦理，赞扬国阵“好的亿万富翁朋党”懂得感恩，批评坏的国阵朋党忘恩负义，我们要记得就连亲资本家的经济家家也反对朋党资本主义。朋党资本主义就是一种贪污，它是资本主义堕落的一种形态，因为它不是基于自由市场和法治，而是任人唯亲及滥用公共信任。
阿都拉曼如此赞扬一个国阵的亿万富翁朋党，显示国阵不知廉耻地公开供养牺牲公众利益来谋利的朋党。马来西亚是当今世界上唯一一个自称民主的国家，而且执政的国阵政府不耻于张扬其朋党资本主义政策以及国阵朋党还为本身国阵朋党地位沾沾自喜，一点也不怕公诸于世。
这种优待国阵朋党的做法是否能够让2800万马来西亚人民受惠？让人民在基本商品及服务如白米及电费方面得益？例如，其中一个1996年私营化的朋党计划直接冲击我们的主要粮食：白米，政府直接把垄断性的特许经营合约颁布给新的朋党公司国家稻米局。随着白米入口的垄断，特许经营权从2011年延长至2021年。至今为止，国阵都不愿意解释为什么他们的特许经营权获得延长。
更重要的是，国阵政府必需透明地做出交代，为什么从2008年至2013年，共批准了总值22亿5000万令吉的稻米进口税优惠豁免给马来西亚国家稻米公司。这22亿5000万令吉如何惠及我国民众？若米价因此降低，或稻农能从某方面获益，那民众至少可以明白稻米入口税的减免用在何方，但倘若此举只是私人朋党公司获益，那岂不是违背了公众利益，更是信任国阵换回来的背叛。还有，国阵也应该交代 ，在2008年之前，也即是从1996年当国家稻米局私营化变成来西亚国家稻米公司后的这个阶段，它们是否也享有类似的免税优惠？
马来西亚国家稻米公司的股东何其幸运，因为马来西亚国家稻米公司不只在无需公开招标的情况下，垄断了我国的稻米进口，更获得高达22亿5000万令吉的进口税减免。马来西亚国家稻米公司的大股东会否因知悉了这22 亿5000万令吉的“内慕消息”，而影响大多数的股东的决定，以在4月份全面收购、私有化马来西亚稻米公司，并将之从大马股票交易所主板除牌？
另一个国阵朋党是杨忠礼电力。它是在1997年获得马来西亚首个独立发电厂合约后，成功上市的公司。自此之后，杨忠礼电力经已发出36.3巴仙的股息给股东，自上市以来，其复合年均增长(CAGR)率为5.4巴仙。这与同期的马来西亚经济4巴仙复合年均增长(CAGR)率（以当时国内生产总值计）相比，毫不逊色。
杨忠礼在永续盈利及高于平均股息率的成就，是基于杨忠礼电力能获得独立发电厂最高的内部回报率 (IRR)即15-19%的能力。加上强逼国家能源有限公司签署了强制购电合约 – 即国能必需购买该发电厂的至少90%电源。
若国能可以被强逼购买独立发电厂的90%发电量，那当最近发生多次的电流中断时，为何独立发电厂就不能够同样地被强逼赔偿损失给民众呢？ 对独立发电厂有利的特许经营合约，并没有在降低电费方面惠及民众。更甚的是，即使国能已有全球几乎最高30%的能源储备、根本没有能源需要，它也被逼要向独立发电厂购买所有的电源，增加了国能的成本。
这些朋党计划，要么让马来西亚政府及人民在可能获益的收入上面对亏损，再不然则是让马来西亚人被逼以高过市价的成本，购买基本产品及服务。为什么这些赚取上亿令吉的国阵朋党，并没有像普通的非马来人或非穆斯林老百姓般面对诸如513重演的恐吓？
林冠英