After being pressed by Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the whole of the rakyat, finally Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz revealed the full list of the alleged 101 direct negotiation projects under PH within 22 months.

Well, now we know why he was hesitant in sharing the list: It was filled with blatant lies!

1. PH direct-nego projects were only 0.07% of the total turnover

Firstly, before the full list was revelead, the RM6.61 billion figure touted by Zafrul is only 1.38% of government’s total turnover. That by itself is a remarkable figure and in line with Pakatan Harapan’s Promise 23 of the GE14 Manifesto.

However, it turns out that PH actually did far better than that!

Zafrul’s ‘own goal’ actually revealed that most of these direct-nego projects are NOT new initiatives by PH, but are projects inherited by the past Barisan Nasional regime!

PH continued these projects with various renegotiation which yielded substantial amount of savings.

The total expenditure for direct-nego projects under PH was only RM352 million or 0.07% of total turnover!

In other words, an incredible 99.93% of total turnover was achieved using open tender. Hence, saying that RM6.61 billion were approved by PH for direct-nego projects is a total lie by Zafrul.

2. RM6.258 billion worth of BN-era projects were mischievously put as PH projects

The second lie made by PN’s Finance Minister was putting a whopping RM6.258 billion worth of BN direct-nego projects as PH-approved projects.

We break down these projects below:

BN projects – RM4.48 billion (67.7%)

A total of 5 direct-nego projects signed by BN were mischievously put as approved by PH, including a mega-project worth over RM4.47 billion:

The most shocking is the inclusion of the Klang Valley Double Track Project Phase 2 (KVDT2). This was a project offered to Dhaya Maju Ltat Sdn Bhd via direct negotiation by the BN government.

The cost was RM5.265 billion and approved by BN a day before Parliament dissolved in 2018.

Former Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke explained it via a Facebook post here:

PH saw the value of the contract as overpriced and the Cabinet agreed to terminate the contract. However, the contractor – a collaborative company between Dhaya Maju and the Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) -appealed to the government.

Through renegotiation, PH managed to secure a much cheaper contract, at RM4.475 billion.

This settlement not only ended up saving a whopping RM790 million of the rakyat’s money but also avoided the government from being embroiled in a legal battle with the company as it was already signed by BN.

The other 4 on the list were projects under MITI worth RM8.18 million. They were for events between April 2018, when BN was the government. Bangi Member of Parliament and former MITI Deputy Minister Deputy Minister explained in a Twitter thread here:

545k was spent on a Young CEO Summit 2018 for Youtubers under MITI’s direct nego list of contracts but according to this facebook page, this event was organized in March 2018, before GE14…@DarellLeikinghttps://t.co/sZ07sTV64v

— Ong Kian Ming 🇲🇾 (@imokman) August 26, 2020

Is PH so powerful that they can approve projects before they were even government?

These 5 projects under BN alone makes up 68% of the alleged RM6.61 billion direct-nego projects by Zafrul.

Projects inherited from BN – RM1.753 billion (26.5%)

Besides the 5 above, a total of 31 projects worth RM1.753 billion listed by Zafrul were projects inherited by PH from the past BN regime.

Here is the full list:

All of the above are a continuation or an improvement on the supplies and services contracts inherited from BN. Most of them are also niche services or supplies that requires specific skills or are monopolized by certain companies.

Here are some examples:

• The Ministry of Communication and Multimedia (MCMC) rented services of a multiplexer, infrastructure and network facilities for the broadcast of TV Digital for 3 years because they are no other option. The contract to appoint Mytv was signed in 2014 during BN era.
• The maintenance and operation of the Malaysian Emergency Response Services (Mers) 999 with Telekom Malaysia Berhad worth RM94 million was also signed in a similar cicumstances.

Broadcast of the 2018 World Cup – RM29.9 million (0.45%)

Zafrul should not even put this in the list as even though RTM under Ministry of Multimedia and Communications indeed paid to the broadcaster, the expenditure have been recouped through sponsors from the private sector which were AirAsia and Maxis.

In other words, AirAsia and Maxis paid RTM and RTM paid Sports Media & Distributor, the sole broadcaster with a monopoly on World Cup coverage in Malaysia.

In fact, government profitted RM3.3 million through adverts!

This was announced by then Minister of Communications Gobind Singh Deo in Parliament back in August 2018.

Others – RM352 million (5.3%)

Therefore, only RM352 million or a measly 5.3% of the RM6.61 billion purported by Zafrul was in fact approved by PH.

From the list, almost half of it (RM170 million) were utilized for the construction, operational and maintenance project of solid waste transfer stations in Taman Beringin, Jinjang Utara to replace its existing facilities.

This project was under the Housing and Local Government Ministry, whose minister is one of the ‘traitor ministers’ in PN right now. Perhaps PN can ask her to clarify why it was made through direct negotiations.

Furthermore, the RM70 million contract given to Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) to publish primary school curriculum text books was due to urgency. If not done through direct-nego, students won’t have text books to start the school session.

The RM2.89 million direct negotiation project under the Ministry of Agriculture was to combat the Rabies outbreak in Sarawak. It was an emergency situation and the government needed to act fast.

3. PH’s direct-nego projects followed financial procurement procedures and needed cabinet approval

Zafrul tried to cover up the fact that Prime Minister and other ‘traitor ministers’ in the PN government have also requested for direct negotiation projects.

They tried to deny as such in Parliament and in the media but Zafrul’s revelation clearly showed:

• Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin asked for RM517.7 million as the Home Minister.
• Zuraida Kamaruddin asked for RM170.8 million as the Housing and Local Government Minister.
• Dato Seri Azmin Ali asked for RM1.2 million as MITI Minister.
• Datuk Seri Rina Harun asked for RM7.36 million as Rural Development Minister.

Besides, all the direct-nego projects listed were approved by Cabinet meaning these ‘traitor ministers’ must be either sleeping on the job or too busy planning the infamous ‘Sheraton Move’.

4. Zafrul must prove PN’s approved direct-nego projects are for the public’s benefit

The Finance Minister himself admitted that there’s nothing wrong with direct negotiation projects, as long as it adhered to financial procurement procedures comprising of 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.

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 that the open tendering is used extensively and transparently, particularly for large projects.”

Zafrul’s list proved that PH did live up to its manifesto, and remarkably well at that.

Only 0.07% of the total turnover of the PH government were through direct negotiations!

PN’s Finance Minister must now come clean and reveal the direct-nego projects under BN and under his own government. Are all the projects in line with SOPs and for the benefit of the public?

Let the rakyat decide, which government actually practices accountability and transparency. Let the facts speak for itself.

Berani kerana benar. Amar makruf, nahi mungkar.