Bukan kemahuan sesiapa pun, rasanya, untuk melihat pilihan raya kecil diadakan ketika jari sebahagian rakyat masih ada kesan hitam yang kadang-kadang membuat mereka rasa menyampah.
Belum 100 hari pun pilihan raya umum (PRU) berakhir, kita kena berdepan pula dengan pilihan raya kecil (PRK) di Sungai Kandis.
Takdir tetaplah takdir. Ajal maut memang ketentuan Tuhan dan kita sebagai makhluk tidak mampu berbuat apa-apa. Dan memang betul PRK itu hanya melibatkan segelintir daripada lebih 3 juta pengundi di seluruh negara.
Nah, sekarang ini masalahnya: bahang PRK itu bukan saja terhad di kawasan tertentu malah tempiasnya terpaksa ditanggung oleh semua orang.
Dan bukan semua orang mempunyai daya tahan daripada melugai melihat, mendengar atau membaca kerenah ahli politik yang ada di negara ini.
Atas semangat dan kefahaman itu jugalah kita berharap parti yang kalah - serta parti yang mengharapkan parti kalah itu menang - mengawal mulut masing-masing daripada terus bercakap tentang hal-hal memualkan.
Keputusan sudah dimuktamadkan malam tadi. Kalah menang memang adat pertandingan dan hidup perlu diteruskan.
Kita boleh faham parti parti yang kalah - serta parti yang mengharapkan parti kalah itu menang - perlu bercakap sesuatu. Selain harus memujuk kekecewaan penyokong masing-masing, air muka pengucap serta penceramah yang berkobar-kobar itu perlu juga dijaga.
Wajah dan keaiban bukannya boleh ditanggalkan dan disimpan dalam almari.
Rendahkan diri kalau bukan suara
Betul, segala kata-kata, ajakan, dorongan, tekanan atau 'fatwa' yang dikeluarkan sebelum PRK Sungai Kandis perlu diabsahkan. Kerana memang begitulah politik.
Cuma apabila pengabsahan itu dibuat keterlaluan - dan sangat ketara pandirnya - ia akan membuat rasa mual itu datang dengan lebih kerap dan sukar untuk dihilangkan.
PAS terutamanya, wajar belajar mengawal lidah agar tidak lebih petah berbanding otak yang ada. Seni politik memanglah rumit dan berbelit-belit namun ia tetap perlu bersandarkan kepada realiti.
Kecuali di kalangan pengagum dan penyokong tegarnya, PAS ialah sebuah lelucon sejak sebelum PRU ke-14 lagi. Cuma sebelum 9 Mei itu kepandirannya belum jelas.
Selepas PRU ke-14 kepandiran itu makin jelas. Dan apa yang mereka lakukan di Sungai Kandis ialah pengesahan kepada kepandiran berkenaan.
Sebagai orang yang selalu memetik nas itu ini dalam setiap pendiriannya, sangat wajar PAS merendahkan diri - kalau pun terlalu sukar untuk mereka merendahkan suara - buat seketika.
Selepas ini ada kemungkinan PAS kena mengerah tenaga, masa dan materi di kawasan Seri Setia pula. Seperti muafakat tak rasmi yang dibuat dengan Umno, maka giliran PAS pula menurunkan panglima mereka.
Sama ada panglima itu setaraf dengan Datuk Lokman Noor Adam atau tidak, ia tentu sangat menarik diperhatikan. Justeru mereka perlu belajar dengan tekun ilmu mengawal lidah dan otak masing-masing.
Lebih banyak komen untuk meyakinkan orang ramai bahawa mereka konon-konon tidak silap di Sungai Kandis, maka lebih lucu jadinya pemimpin PAS itu.
Kecualilah mereka sebenarnya mahu menyedapkan hati sendiri. Jika itulah tujuannya, sila buat di media sosial masing-masing atau dalam lidah rasmi parti.
Tak semua orang ada daya tahan yang tinggi untuk melawan rasa melugai. - Al-Abror Mohd Yusuf
Kemenangan terlalu besar (majoriti 9,488 undi) hingga mengejutkan UMNO/BN di Sungai Kandis ternyata akan memberi suntikan semangat baharu kepada PAS yang akan bertanding di Seri Setia pula. Mereka kini bersaing siapa yang akan memperolehi undi paling tinggi menewaskan calon Bebas dengan majoriti lebih besar sebagai modal sembang keyakinan rakyat kepada mereka kembali pulih...
Peratusan keluar mengundi sedikit telah menyelamatkan UMNO/BN
serta sekutunya lebai PAS dari kalah lebih memalukan...
How our Socso money got loaned to TRX...
The question: “Where has the US$3 billion (RM12 billion) raised in 2012 for the purpose of
investing in Tun Razak Exchange gone to?” - Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng
The reply: “So far, the loan is government-guaranteed and we managed to get the returns as promised which is twice a year. They have also started to repay the principal payment. The coupon payment was twice a year, normally in April and November and the recent payment was paid on time. So, all this while they have honoured (payments), meaning there is no lapse in payment.” - Social Security Organisation (Socso) CEO Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed in stating that TRX City Sdn Bhd honoured its repayment schedules for the RM800 million loan.
The scenario is frightening. Money from Socso (read, money from the workers of Malaysia) was loaned in 2012 to TRX has disappeared. Yes, someone in the 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) took it – perhaps to buy a yacht or pay for their casino gigs. The money belongs to us – you and I, who part with deductions from our salaries every month for a scheme under the employees’ social security scheme.
It is easy to dismiss this loan transaction as “guaranteed by the government” and hence, there is nothing to fear. One must realise that if there is a default, it will once again be the taxpayers who will have to pay for it. The workers who pay taxes are getting the wrong end of the stick. It is a case of heads you win, tails we lose.
But why were the loans given in the first place? Socso is not a bank or a financial institution. Neither is it in the money lending business, or has a money lending licence. There are explicit provisions in the preamble to Socso’s statute book which reads: “An Act to provide social security in certain contingencies and to make provision for certain other matters in relation to it.”
Does the law allow Socso to go into such business or transaction? The answer is “no”. Did it breach the regulations governing the use of its funds? The answer is likely, “yes”.
Who pulled the trigger?
Having perused the Act in totality, there are no provisions for Socso to give any loans except for loans or scholarships to a dependent-child of an insured person. So how does the RM800 million fit into the scheme of this transaction?
There is one catch-all clause that may provide some clue as to the compelling reasons for Socso to provide loans. Section 71 of the Act outlines how its monies should be spent. Sub-section (ix) says it can be used for “purposes as may be authorized” by the minister in consultation with the minister of finance.
Therefore, is it safe to assume that the then human resources minister, Dr S Subramaniam (photo) and the then finance minister, Najib Razak had been consulted and gave their consent to the loan? But wasn’t there a whimper of objection from any quarter, because the money belonged to the workers? You and I could not have raised it because the transaction only appeared in public domain a few years later.
What were the (then) board of directors doing? Didn’t they approve the loan? Or will they pass the buck to the management by claiming “we were in the dark”? Shouldn’t a “board paper” have been prepared for discussion by the directors, especially when it involved a whopping RM800 million? (The loan attracted an interest rate of 4.041% per annum with a tenure of 10 years, which is paid on an amortised basis – much less than the interest from commercial banks.)
So, were there voices of objection or dissent, or was this case of the usual and unanimous shouts of “setuju” or the act of “angkat tangan” a’la local council decisions?
If this was the case, shouldn’t the entire board (of that time) be held responsible? Wasn’t it a breach of fiduciary duties as directors? Will they use “we were instructed” as an excuse? They can’t. Aren’t they are supposed to act independently as stakeholders of workers’ money?
Shouldn’t they have told the ministers that it could not be done? (There have been several CEOs and boards which had in the past put their feet down despite insistent requests from various quarters, the prime minister included.)
In any organisation, the statute book is the guiding light. If the necessities and provisions are not considered by those in authority, they might as well throw the rule book out of the window and allow jungle law to take effect.
The long tentacles of 1MDB have stretched far and wide for funds. Government agencies which are flushed with funds became soft targets for the vultures who wanted money from every nook and corner to cover their failures and shortcomings.
The public has a right to know the events and discussions leading to the loan. The human resources minister should direct Socso to make public the board papers (if any), the board minutes and the discussions that followed whereby the board agreed to release the money.
By the way, RM800 million is not someone’s weekend rojak money. Let us, the taxpayers decide if the directors of the board are fit to remain. Their dereliction of duties is something serious and must be looked at intensely and intensively. - R.Nadeswaran
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