Press Statement by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bagan, Lim Guan Eng in Parliament on 25 August 2020:

The RM6.6 billion total value of projects awarded by the PH government is only 1.4% of the total turnover value of RM477.4 billion

Yesterday in Parliament, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zaful Abdul Aziz tried to divert attention away from PN’s ‘antara dua darjat’ (double standards) debacle, whereby the Minister of Plantation Industry and Commodities who broke the 14 days self-quarantine ruling was ‘lightly’ compounded RM1,000, when a 72-year-old senior citizen was brought to court and fined RM8,000 and 1 day imprisonment.

The Finance Minister said that 101 direct negotiations projects worth RM6.6 billion were approved by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Finance Ministry within 22 months of PH administration. In other words, the average cost for each direct tender projects under PH was RM65.3 million. However, how much is RM6.6 billion compared to the total turnover value under PH?

The answer is 1.4%! Please refer to the table below taken from the Estimated Spending Report of 2018-2019:

Can Zafrul also state the cost of direct negotiation projects under Barisan Nasional (BN) and direct negotiation projects approved by him under Perikatan Nasional (PN)? Are these direct negotiations projects less or more than the 1.4% of the government’s total turnover value?

The list below highlights some of the direct negotiation projects by the BN government worth billions; in fact tens of billions of ringgit. The sensational Jepak Holdings case during the BN era involving a bribe scandal of a prominent BN member in court by itself is already worth RM1.2 billion.

The 12 direct negotiation projects under BN above have already amassed RM139.3 billion and that’s not even the full list. This is far more than the 101 direct negotiation projects under PH of RM6.6 billion (average cost of RM65.3 million each). Furthermore, the number of direct negotiation projects under PN approved by Zafrul are yet to be known. 

The Finance Minsiter has also failed to disclose the full list of the 101 direct negotiation projects under PH as well as the companies involved. Why is he afraid to do so? The Finance Minsiter should not play hide and seek with this information. I dare him to reveal all of the information so that the rakyat can judge and compare which companies received the tenders, who’s cronies received them and which minister asked for approval for direct tender.

Or is Zafrul afraid that he would end up revealing that the Prime Minsiter himself, when he was the Home Minister under PH and other ‘traitor ministers’ had applied for direct award from me when I was Finance Minister? If so, is PN’s very own Prime Minister guilty if he himself did apply for projects via direct negotiations during that time? How could they ‘ridicule’ themselves?

It must be stressed that the PH Finance Ministry practiced an open tender system in line with the PH General Election 2018 Manifesto which states in its promise 23, “We will ensure an open tender system is used widely and transparently, especially for large projects.” It is clear here that it does not state that direct negotiation is not permissible, given certain circumstances. 

An exception to the use of open tender is permissible by the Finance Minsitry in line with the guidelines above, which are, depending on certain requirements such as crisis or natural disasters, tender involving national benefit and national security (Angkatan Tentera Malaysia and Royal Malaysian Police), one of a kind specialty and others. The cabinet may also decide to exert direct tender, one thing that has seemingly been forgotten by the traitor ministers. 

Tengku Zafrul must urgently reveal the full list of direct tender project by the BN, PH and PN governments. Don’t slander. Don’t sail under false colours (baling batu sembunyi tangan). Don’t try to create perception to divert attention away from PN’s instability. 

Berani kerana benar. Amar makruf nahi mungkar.

Lim Guan Eng,
DAP Secretary-General,
Member of Parliament for Bagan.