tumpang sekole...?: Ani Arope penentang Mahathir, meninggal dunia...

There was no negotiation.Absolutely none. Instead of talking directly with the IPPs, TNB was sitting down with the EPU. And we were harassed, humiliated and talked down every time we went there.The EPU just gave us the terms and asked us to agree.I said NO WAY I would. You are entrusted with this responsibility and you carry it out to the best of your ability. I do not want somebody to come and urinate on my grave. - ani arope

Ani Arope meninggal dunia...

Tan Sri Ani Arope, 83, meninggal dunia pada jam 5.20 pagi ini ketika menjalani rawatan di Sime Darby Ramsay Medical Centre di Subang Jaya.

Bekas ketua pegawai eksekutif Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) itu bertarung melawan kanser prostat sejak dua tahun lalu.

Jenazah Allahyarham akan ditempatkan di Balai Islam TNB, Jalan Bangsar untuk penghormatan terakhir anggota keluargam sahabat handai dan orang ramai bermula jam 11 pagi ini.

Jenazahnya akan disemadikan Tanah Perkuburan Islam Shah Alam selepas jam 1 petang.

Anak kelahiran Sungai Bakap, Seberang Prai, Pulau Pinang itu meninggalkan seorang isteri Puan Sri Saenah Ahmad dan tiga anak selain anak angkat.

Ani dikenali kerana berpegang pada pendiriannya pada 1996 dan meletak jawatan dalam TNB kerana enggan menandatangani perjanjian kontroversi dengan pengeluar tenaga bebas (IPP) yang dikawal oleh kroni kepada perdana menteri pada masa itu, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Laman Facebook Allahyarham juga dibanjiri ucapan takziah kepada keluarganya sejak pagi ini.

Bukunya bertajuk; "Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope", memoir Allahyarham diterbitkan pada tahun lalu.

Ani merupakan pengerusi TNB antara 1990 hingga 1992 dan pengerusi eksekutif antara 1992 to 1996.

Beliau berkhidmat sebagai pengerusi eksekutif TNB bermula pada tahun 1990 hingga 1996, sebelum itu beliau pernah berkhidmat untuk Institut Penyelidikan Getah Malaysia (RRIM) dan juga Guthrie Bhd.

Ani juga merupakan rakyat Malaysia pertama yang menerima biasiswa Fulbright.

Beliau dikenali sebagai individu yang berpegang teguh pada pendiriannya dengan meletak jawatan dalam TNB kira-kira 18 tahun lalu apabila enggan menandatangani perjanjian kontroversi dengan pengeluar tenaga bebas (IPP) ketika itu, YTL Power Services, Powertek and Malakoff semasa era pemerintahan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sebagai perdana menteri.

Arwah merupakan Timbalan Pengarah pertama Institut Penyelidikan dan Kemajuan Pertanian Malaysia (Mardi) dari 1969-1972.

Selain itu, Allahyarham pernah menjadi Pengerusi Majlis Institut Teknologi Mara dan Pengerusi Lembaga Pengarah Universiti Sains Malaysia dan Pengerusi Majlis Minyak Sawit Malaysia.- mk

Sekalung takziah buat keluarga atas pemergian Allahyarham kembali menemui Sang Pencipta...Al-Fatihah. - TS

Ani Arope, seorang rakyat Malaysia yang berprinsip

The man who stood up to Mahathir, former TNB chief Ani Arope dies...

Ani Arope, 82, passed away today at 5.20am while undergoing treatment at the Sime Darby Ramsay Medical Centre in Subang Jaya.

The former chief of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) had been fighting a battle against prostate cancer over the past two years.

After a short funeral, his body was buried at Seksyen 21 Muslim Cemetery IN Shah Alam this afternoon. Condolences can also be posted on Ani Arope’s Facebook page.

Ani was TNB executive chairman from 1992 to 1996 besides having been chief executive of several private companies, a higher institution of learning and various organisations.

He is best known for standing his ground in 1996 and quit his post as executive chairperson in TNB instead of signing the lopsided deal with independent power producers controlled by a number of cronies of then premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Under the deal, TNB was forced to buy electricity generated by these IPPs at a significantly higher price.

He released his memoirs last year.

In the book ‘Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope’ published by the Fulbright Alumni Association of Malaysia, Ani revealed how, after the landmark blackout in Peninsular Malaysia in 1992, TNB was forced to surrender the land it had acquired in Paka, Terengganu, and Pasir Gudang, Johor, to a third party for power plants.

In his twilight years, Ani was also an avid licensed pilot and has flown many hours.

'He had been a fighter'

Born in May 17, 1932 in Sungai Bakap, Seberang Perai, Penang, the late Ani Arope left behind wife Saenah Ahmad and three children - Sakinah, Salina and Ismail.

Sakinah said her father had been battling cancer for a long time.

"We had expected him to go," she said. "In fact, we are relieved that he is now resting in peace. He had been a fighter all throughout the time that he was not well."

Her younger daughter, Salina, who is still in Switzerland, said the family has accepted the fate.

"From God, we came, to God, we shall return," she wrote in her WhatsApp message to Sakinah. "Thank you for being there for him."

Salina added: "What a journey (that father has taken). We pity him. He had endured so much medical treatment. Too much... He had been a soldier and braved through so many treatments."

Among the dignitaries who came were the Sultan of Perlis Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail, former minister Sanusi Junid, nephew Hamid Pawanteh, Lembah Pantai parliamentarian Nurul Izzah, Raja Eleena Sultan Azlan Shah and his oncologist, Dr Ahmad Kamal, who cut short of his holiday in order to be present for the funeral.

'A caring man'

Meanwhile according to Bernama, Prime Minister Najib Razak conveyed his condolences to Ani's family via Twitter.

"My condolences to the family of TS (Tan Sri) Ani Arope who passed away this morning. May his soul be placed among the believers. Al-Fatihah," he said in his Twitter posting.

Bernama also reported Ani's 42-year-old son Ismail saying his father's caring attitude was evident as he had more than 50 adopted children of various backgrounds and race.

"He has so many adopted children that even we don't know (the actual figure). Some are overseas. He liked to provide assistance, especially financial, for them to further their studies," he said.

He said Ani had hid his illness from family members and they only found out about it in 2010, when the cancer was at stage four.

"Since then we spent more time together and the best memory was performing umrah as a family in 2011," he said.

Ismail added that his father always reminded them to serve the country, society and religion.

Apart from TNB, Ani has held the posts of Bank Simpanan Nasional chairman, Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd chief executive and Malaysia Rubber Research Institute director.

He was the first deputy director of the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) from 1969 - 1972.

Ani has also served as chairman of the Mara Institute of Technology Council, chairman of the Universiti Sains Malaysia Board of Directors and chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC). - mk

Ani, who published his memoirs last year, is best remembered for standing up to former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad over the privatization of the energy sector to Independent Power Producers at grossly disadvantageous terms to the nation and electricity consumers.

In his book 'Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope', he levelled a startling string of corruption and conspiracy allegations against the Mahathir government over the infamous Blackout of 1992 incident.

On Sept 29, 1992, a total power blackout engulfed the nation for several days. This landmark incident sparked a privatisation of the power generation sector that broke the dawn for IPPs in Malaysia.

In the process, however, TNB’s monopoly of the power generation sector was dismantled by Mahathir as YTL Power was awarded the nation’s first IPP licence in 1993.

Ani accused those in power in 1992, through the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister’s Department, of threatening the nation and TNB with more wide-scale blackouts as had happened earlier that year to push for the power company to turn over land it owns to the government.

This, Ani claimed, was orchestrated so that the IPPs - companies seen to be close to the government and often dubbed cronies - could then be contracted to build the power plants that were in fact in excess of Malaysia’s electricity demand.

A move which Ani lamented was unnecessary as TNB then was well prepared to build its own plants and had proper planning in place. He accused the EPU and the government of colluding to enrich the IPPs at the expense of TNB and the 'rakyat' or populace who had to foot the bill for the sweetheart deal.

"All these instances can be arranged,” said Ani during an interview with Malaysiakini, referring to the 1992 blackout.

He added that even among TNB’s staff members at the time there were some "unhappy quarters that were against him.

“I’m not accusing them, but there were some disgruntled people.” -Malaysia Chronicle

Ani Arope, the Malaysian who stood up years ago

ANI AROPE'S MEMOIRS

Part 1.Race riots could be costly, warns Ani Arope in memoirs

Part 2.Ultra Malays out to polarise nation, warns Ani Arope

Part 3.Ani Arope on how TNB got a raw deal from IPPs

Ani: TNB got a raw deal

Part 4.Why such uneasiness among Muslims over 'Allah'?