Friday 28 June 2013

TRUSTEES playing DUMB in theme park?

This is what Khazanah Nasional Berhad's website says about the government investment arm.

Khazanah Nasional Berhad is the Government of Malaysia's strategic investment fund. As trustees to the nation's commercial assets, our role is to promote economic growth and make strategic investments on behalf of the Government which would contribute towards nation-building.
Khazanah is also tasked to nurture the development of selected strategic industries in Malaysia with the aim of pursuing the nation's long-term economic interests.
Khazanah has investments in over 50 major companies, both in Malaysia and abroad, and our companies are involved in a broad spectrum of industries.
Khazanah is also the key agency mandated to drive shareholder value creation, efficiency gains and enhance corporate governance in companies controlled by the government, commonly known as Government-Linked Companies, or GLCs. 

In my last posting I was thinking aloud about Khazanah's elegant silence on a proposed theme park, on a heritage piece of Kuala Lumpur's green lung near Tugu Negara, by their 'Leisure and Tourism Division" company Themed Attractions & Resorts Sdn. Bhd. 

Was told earlier today some senior officials in Khazanah have actually broken their elegant silence. 

It seems that they have been saying a lot accusing bloggers and 'anti-govt' people of not telling the whole story about the proposed theme park on a 26.3 hectare site right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur (its a green lung too).
The proposed site of Khazanah's them park in KL
The problem with some arrogant knuckleheads is that they don't recognise the problem. 

NO! No one has stood up (yet) demanding for heads to roll for such a ludicrous idea of developing a theme park on that piece of Government property.

NO! We have not (yet) demanded for the entire board of  Themed Attractions & Resorts (TAR) or Khazanah's Investment Directors who sit pretty in the company to be sacked. 

We are also not telling the Prime Minister, yet again, that Khazanah is due for some serious 'transformasi' at the top. -Remember how some of them almost fooled the PM with the MAS-AirAsia share suap?

My advice to the all too powerful and increasingly arrogant Khazanah boys is simple. Don't start pointing fingers at others when you know very well that the stench is emanating from the load of shit in your backyard. 

Don't tell people that the shit belongs to TAR and that the company must clear it because YOUR executive directors and directors in charge of investments are sitting in TAR.

Stop accusing bloggers of telling half truths when you don't have the guts to stand up, own up and explain this shitty idea of developing a theme park near the National Monument.

Please re-visit earlier postings on this shitty theme park idea here, here, here, here and here. Read slowly and tell me which part of the expressed concerns that you don't understand.

It seems to me that some Khazanah directors and their businessmen friends are so dumb that they think they could get away with such an idea.

It appears they have fooled the Khazanah top guns with the theme park. 

If Azman Mokhtar thinks he was/has not been fooled then Khazanah should build up their guts to stand up and explain this dubious theme park project to the ordinary rakyat.

If you don't, we may call for heads to roll. We could start with the Khazanah directors who make up TAR.

How could we TRUST you and your directors with the nation's commercial assets when you play dumb about this brilliant theme park project while maintaining an elegant silence?


Kenneth Shen

Director
Kenneth Shen was appointed Director of Themed Attractions and Resorts on 25 August 2011. 
He is currently Executive Director of Investments in Khazanah Nasional Berhad. 


Stephanie Saw Ai Lin

Director
Stephanie Saw, aged 38, obtained a BSc. Accounting and Law from the University of Southampton in 1996 and has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants since 2003. She joined Khazanah in 2007 and is currently a Director in the Investments Division of Khazanah



Zaida Khalida Shaari

Director
Zaida Khalida Shaari joined Khazanah in January 2007. Currently a Director in Khazanah's Investments Division, with the oversight responsibility for Khazanah's property projects in Singapore and the Wellness sector, Zaida spends considerable time working on various aspects relating to the Iskandar Malaysia development.



Ganen Sarvananthan

Director
Ganen Sarvananthan was appointed as Director of Themed Attractions and Resorts on 15 June 2009. He is currently Executive Director of Investments in Khazanah Nasional Berhad. 

Remember that our reports are based on TAR's official announcement about the project, including the date of completion, and not based on hearsay or half-truths. We certainly didn't spin. 

Oh yes, we do have an agenda. The agenda is to protect one of the last remaining green lungs of Kuala Lumpur which many Malaysians feel is rightfully an heritage site. 

p/s BTW, what did the PM tell you about this brilliant theme park idea?


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Tuesday 25 June 2013

Swan song... for heritage or theme park?

I think we just have to start a campaign to keep a closer watch on our heritage sites, to protect them from the preying eyes of money driven developers. 

Take the (almost) well concealed plan to develop a Theme Park smack in the centre of Kuala Lumpur for instance. The idea of a theme park sounds fun but the location of Khazanah's Malaysia Truly Asia Attraction theme park is just plain stupid. 

Well at least that's what I thought. It is plain stupid. I sense that a tiny group of Malaysians share similar sentiments. It's simply illogical. 


This heritage building which houses ISIS Malaysia, once the official residence of @najib_razak 's grandfather is to make way for a theme park near the National Monument?
Photo: This heritage building which houses ISIS Malaysia, once the official residence of @najib_razak 's grandfather is to make way for a theme park near the National Monument?



We heard the approval for the 'theme park' was granted before the last general elections and that the Federal Territories Ministry was aware of the massive project but not aware of the details of the project 'because it was a 'Khazanah affair'.

I was told that even the PM is not fully aware of this ridiculous theme park idea on the grounds where his grandfather Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mohammad Noah bin Omar once resided after he was made the first speaker of the Dewan Rakyat. 

At present ISIS Malaysia occupies the Government owned colonial era heritage building which sits on the 26 hectare site earmarked for Khazanah's theme park.

So, shall we start a campaign?  

In the meantime Khazanah Nasional Berhad's spokesperson or managing director may want to break their elegant silence and shed some light into this ridiculous venture.  

Dear Prime Minister sir, You may want to re-read Datuk Dr Fawzia Abdullah's 'The Three Swans'. I was told it holds many vital messages from the past, for the future.  

p/s Wouldn't it be better for Khazanah to shift the theme park to someplace in Bukit Beruntung? It could at least push up the chances of survival for some of the abandoned, deserted housing estates there.

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Sunday 23 June 2013

DAP, PKR and Pas MPs stepping down for Anwar?


Padang Merbok in Kuala Lumpur is where the #Blackout505 illegal political gathering took place on Saturday afternoon. Padang Merbok is a stone’s throw away from Tugu Negara, our National Monument for fallen heroes of Malaysia.

The National Monument is a sculpture that commemorates those who died in Malaysia's struggle for freedom, principally against the Japanese occupation during World War II and the Malayan Emergency, which lasted from 1948 until 1960. It is located in the Federal capital, Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian Houses of Parliament is situated near the monument.
It is the world's tallest bronze freestanding sculpture grouping.[1] Every year on 31 July on Warriors' Day, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Prime Minister and heads of military and the police pay their respects to the fallen heroes by laying garlands at the monument. - Wikipedia


The black political gathering of about 10,000 people (I think all of them were Malaysians ;-) near Tugu Negara was not in protest of the proposed development of a 'Theme Park" on a 26.3 hectare green lung adjacent/around Tugu Negara. It was a simply a black political gathering to massage the ego and arrogance of some Opposition politicians and their NGO buddies.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim should by now know and recognise the fact that his black gathering to topple the Government of Malaysia via street demonstrations and violent disobedience does not have the support of even his fellow Pakatan bed fellows.

I don't think many PKR members and supporters attended in the first place. 

The gathering demanding the resignation of the top Election Commission (SPR) leadership and its council members has failed. Anwar knows he has failed. 

He has now promised more gatherings because the gathering today was a total failure. Anwar, in one of his worst speeches I've witnessed, even tried blaming the lack of support at Padang Merbok to the prevailing haze from Indonesia.

Some of those at Padang Merdeka actually started walking away when Anwar started his ego-boosting antics on the microphone. Relating his recent conversation with the President of Indonesia and how he was badmouthing his country, he tried to cajole the crowd but people were leaving. It could have been due to the enveloping haze but is Anwar not the God sent leader for Pas, DAP, PKR and all progressive NGOs put together? Well, I leave it at that. 
In a nutshell Nurul Izzah outshined her desperate daddy with good showmanship and intonation. The contents were spiced up political rhetoric but she did better than her visibly desperate daddy. Even rabble rouse Adam Adli spoke better than the 66-year old sacked former Deputy Prime Minister.

By 6pm there were a maximum of 3,000 people at Padang Merbok and all dispersed peacefully except for a group of Badrul (they guy who ran from Rembau to someplace in Penang and still lost in the last GE...) followers who started camping on the field. Anwar and gang left Padang Merbok much earlier. 
Oh ya!... after boasting about his conversation with President Susilo Bambang, Anwar did deny that he was in Indonesia recently for a secret meeting with Prime Minister Najib who was also there on the same date. 

"I didn't meet Najib in Indonesia. No! No! No!," came in Sivaji the Boss style. 

We might never know if Anwar was finally telling the truth as it is or he purposely blurted the No trice in style to fuel further speculations. But generally not many were listening to him compared to those who had their eyes glued on Nurul Izzah when she was on stage.

Maybe the best Anwar could attempt now to restore his relevance is to persuade all 89 Pas, Dap and PKR representatives (including himself) to 'step down' or rather refrain from taking their oath as elected members of the Dewan Rakyat on Monday. 
That would be the litmus test for you at this point of time YB Anwar Ibrahim (Permatang Pauh), not flogging the almost dead horse called sympathy.

Even your own people appear tired, very tired of your cry baby antics.


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Saturday 22 June 2013

Sibu Fire Disaster Fund

SIBU: A bank account has been opened for the public to channel donations to the victims of a fire in Kampung Datu here last Wednesday.

Donations can be made to the account no. 11090011389059 at CIMB Bank in the name of 'Jawatankuasa Bencana Kampung Datu/Kampung Hilir', said a spokesman of the committee, Hamden Merais.

Hamden said people who wished to donate in kind could do so at the operations room of the committee at the office of the Sibu Islamic Development Board (Lakis) at the An-Nur Mosque here.

According to the Sibu Social Welfare Department, 735 people from 101 families had registered as victims of the fire.

Most of the victims are being accommodated at the Lakis school building. -- BERNAMA




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