Top leaders engrossed in child’s play as economy wanes

Deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Khazanah Nasional managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar took time out from their busy schedules on Tuesday to launch Kidzania, a RM50 million “educational theme park from Mexico” that will create 400 jobs, reported the Business Times.

Strip away the usual marketing hyperbole and Kidzania appears to be just a glorified play centre and property development project.

“Theme park” for me conjures visions of acres and acres of space a’la Disneyland and Universal Studios. The Kidzania “theme park” will take up merely 60,000 square feet of space in a new mall. That’s equivalent to about 40 modest terrace (link) houses. Not 40 bungalows or mansions, just normal terrace houses.

Also, the project entails the construction of a seven-storey new building. Khazanah is in an 80:20 joint-venture with Boustead Holdings to develop this project. Boustead, developer of the Mutiara Damansara area and owner of the Curve mall in Selangor, will build a seven-storey structure to house KidZania (Picture from Malaysia Insider). KidZania needs only two floors of space, Petaling Jaya really does not need another mall. So why build a completely new property?

Furthermore, I am sure the bulk of the 400 jobs will likely be low-skilled and low-paid. Those who have been to Disneyland, whether at your own or taxpayer expense, know most of the jobs are routine, menial and fulfilled by young people on a temporary basis. Hardly highly-skilled and certainly not creatively or intellectually challenging nor highly-paid.

Still, a job is a job, But, in this case, does it warrant the attentions of not one, but two luminaries? None less than our deputy prime minister himself and the MD of Khazanah, who presides over TENS of billions of investments saw it fit to launch this project. In the meantime, tens of thousands of Malaysians are being thrown out of work, the government deficit is expected to hit a high 10% and sorely-needed capital is fleeing Malaysia, just to name a few items of great import.

On the subject of Khazanah and its multi-billion portfolio, I have three key questions:

1) Khazanah, in its own words, is “committed to building a globally competitive Malaysia by developing the right human capital”. What human capital does Kidzania really develop?

2) Why is Khazanah taking such a large 80% stake in this project? I doubt whether children’s play-centres can be considered among the “sectors that are deemed strategic to the nation's economy” that are supposed to be Khazanah’s focus.

3) What is Khazanah’s expected investment return on this project?

The startling lack of integrity at the very top

Should a scholarship defaulter even be considered for the position of director of Petronas, our national oil company?

PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak seems to see no problem. He is reportedly seeking to appoint his special officer, Omar Mustapha, to the board of Petronas. But, the appointment hit a snag when the board of Petronas raised reservations as Omar had reneged on his scholarship obligations.

Omar apparently graduated from Oxford on a scholarship from Petronas in the mid-1990s and worked briefly with the national oil corporation and another government-linked corporation before moving on to join prestigious global consultants McKinsey & Co.

Malaysia Insider carries the article.

Not fulfilling scholarship obligations betrays a lack of integrity and ethics. The scholar owes his fancy degree to contributions from the rakyat. The least he can do is repay that obligation, making good on his debt to the people of Malaysia. Instead, he gallivants of to more lucrative pastures.

Omar can hardly plead financial constraints for reneging on his scholarship commitments. McKinsey consultants are famously well-paid. So, what can the reason be? A misplaced sense of entitlement? Such is the quality of people advising our very top leadership …

PKFZ – Should we throw good money after bad?

As it stands, the cost of PKFZ is RM7.5bn.

Where do we go from here? The emotional will say we have spent too much to abandon the project.

But rational, standard investment practice is to look forward. Forget the costs already incurred. They are already sunk. What matters is what you can get in the future. And the future, based on Port Klang Authority’s “optimistic” assumptions is a further outlay of RM8.5bn over the next 42 years. We will start making money only in 2051.

Is it worth it? I can’t imagine any sane businessman, or government, for that matter, embarking on an investment with a 42 year payback period, and that too on optimistic projections.

So, the government really should consider an exit strategy. There are many alternatives for RM8.5bn. RM8.5bn is sufficient to build 340,000 low-cost houses. Or 30,000 students can have full scholarships for overseas studies. Or PLUS and LITRAK can be privatized, saving the government billions in compensation to the toll concessionaires and reducing the burden on motorists.

Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat, who is away in France for unspecified reasons, has characterized the proposal that the government cut losses and close down PKFZ as “a premature statement by politicians who think they can make well-informed financial decisions based on a few hours of looking through the PKFZ report”. He said he will let “the financial consultants and management experts work out a more viable solution based on further in-depth studies before a more structured approach and solution is implemented”.

So, another round of studies and fees. But you can’t conjure money from nothing. The fact is based on Port Klang Authority’s own forecasts, a cashflow deficit to 2051 is projected, and that is based on assumptions deemed ‘optimistic’ by reporting accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The core problem is PKFZ was built too fast and at inflated costs. So you have underutilized facilities and punitive interest payments, including on the instalments due to turnkey developer Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB). The cost base could be addressed if turnkey developer KDSB is taken to task. I would expect the legal team to comb through the various agreements and find a way to reduce the payments due to KDSB.

Doing so, though, would likely result in KDSB not being able to meet its own debt obligations. Bondholders will scream because these bonds were rated investment-grade “AAA” based on the government “guarantees”. But they can seek redress from the bankers and rating agency. We have established that the “guarantees” were really “letters of support” signed by the Minister of Transport. No doubt, they could be “construed as guarantees” but the Ministry of Transport has no authority to issue government guarantees. Only the Ministry of Finance can do that. Surely the bankers and rating agency were aware of this fact? Without the “guarantee”, the bonds would have warranted a much lower rating.

For newcomers, click here for earlier posts on the PKFZ scandal.

PKFZ scandal – Printer-friendly report available

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on the PKFZ debacle is now available at Kit Siang’s blog (in the right-hand side panel). This version is more user-friendly and in accordance with the principles of accountability and transparency than the one that was available at the Port Klang Authority (PKA) for 2 weeks only. The PKA version did not allow for hard-copies to be printed.

Reminder: PLUS can be privatized at ZERO incremental cost to the taxpayer

Someone is circulating a story, staying PLUS cannot be privatized because it will “anger East Malaysian Barisan Nasional component parties which control 40% of the coalition.” (Edge Daily June 10)

May I remind you of the DAP proposal to privatize PLUS, at zero cost to the tax-payer, and which we have offered completely free for the benefit of the public. No fees a’la PKFZ.

By the way, the RM8.5bn it will take to keep PKFZ running over the next 42 years is sufficient to privatize PLUS, and Litrak! Based on Port Klang Authority’s own assumptions, which reporting accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers has termed ‘optimistic’, PKFZ will be cumulative cashflow positive only in 2051. I don’t know about you, but I will most likely be dead by then. I would take a toll-free North-South Expressway and LDP which I can enjoy immediately over PKFZ, which may or may not actually make money in 2051.

Irony: Former chairman of scandal-hit PKFZ launches standards boards!

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung launched Malaysian Institute of Accountant’s new standards boards on June 9.

Datuk Chor had once been chairman of scandal-hit Port Klang Authority (PKA). But, he said, “Other than visiting the PKFZ and receiving reports pertaining to the development of the PKFZ … at every board meeting … I was never involved in any other activities on the PKFZ.” (Edge June 10).

A strangely hands-off approach given that the Auditor-General himself had raised warning points as early as May 2004 and as the cost ballooned 6-fold from under RM2bn to RM13bn and counting … And this man is now Deputy Finance Minister.

Directors are supposed to exercise diligence and oversight, even more so in the case of government bodies like PKA which ultimately belong to the taxpayers. Yet, Datuk Chor seems to think merely receiving reports is sufficient fulfilment of his director duties.

Somewhat ironic then that he officiated at the launch of the Audit and Assurance Standards Board and Ethics Standards Board of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants at no less than the headquarters of the Securities Commission.

“Honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability are the key words in good corporate governance,” said Chor according to the Sun on June 10.

Those words ring hollow in the wake of PKFZ.

Besides fulfillment, or the lack of, of his director duties, Datuk Chor was also in a conflict of interest situation. Reporting accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers noted Datuk Chor was also deputy chairman of Wijaya Global Sdn Bhd, which was linked to a key beneficiary of contracts signed with PKA when he was PKA chairman.

PKFZ scandal – will we actually see accountability?

A “Special Task Force” and two committees have been formed to “take immediate action” on Port Klang Free Zone, so said a Wednesday, 10 June press release by Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairman Dato’ Lee Hwa Beng:

1) The Task Force, comprising lawyers, accountants, quantity surveyors and building cost consultants has to make “in depth analysis and studies within their given scope of expertise and provide PKA the appropriate recommendations, within 2 months, for follow-up actions to be taken by the government”;
2) A Committee of Corporate Governance led by Datuk Paul Low, President of Transparency International Malaysia “shall oversee all future (emphasis mine) governance issues to ensure that lapses that have been identified .. do not recur in future”;
3) At PKFZ level, an Executive Committee has been formed “to plan and monitor the business development of the trade zone”.

More committees, more fees! Yes, we do need to chart the most effective part forward. But just as importantly, we need accountability for the past. Jail terms for wrong-doers. Not just more committees, studies, recommendations, planning and monitoring.

Otherwise, Malaysia is doomed. Because wrongdoers have nothing to fear. It’s OK if you swindle the rakyat of RM13bn. RM13bn that could have been used to build 500,000 low-cost houses; RM13bn that could have sent 43,000 deserving students to further their studies overseas, RM13bn that could be used to give RM1,300 cash to each adult Malaysian. You just suffer a few days, or perhaps weeks, of adverse publicity. After that you can go about enjoying your luxurious life, your overseas holidays, flashy cars ….. when you really should be in jail.

Citizen Nades of the Sun on Wednesday published a good long, list of people who should shed light on the issue. Here’s my summary. Accountability must start from the top down. The top in this case starts from the Ministers of Transport. No guilt is presumed, but some explanations are in order, for a start:

1) Former Ministers of Transport Tun Ling Liong Sik and Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy have to explain how the cost ballooned over 6x from RM1.957bn to RM13bn today despite constant reassurances the project was viable;

2) In addition Transport Minister Chan signed not one, but THREE letters that “can be construed as guarantees”. Such letters can be issued only by the Ministry of Finance. How could he have signed THREE such letters? Was he misadvised? Or did he sign knowing the implications? Either way, the Minister and/or senior civil servants have to answer;

3) The men who held the position of PKA chairman (at different times) through this mess: Senior MCA politicians Datuk Dr Ting Chew Peh, Datuk Yap Pian Hon and Datuk Chor Chee Heng, who is now Deputy Finance Minister.
The chairman is head of the board of directors which governs PKA. The board of is supposed to scrutinize management and guide policies. Yet, the Pricewaterhouse report confirms “a general lack of Board oversight and governance over the Project”.
For example, PKA gave KDSB development contracts on the basis of unfinalised building plans, and as early as May 2004, the Auditor General said PKA did not have sufficient financial resources.
Where was the Board and the Chairman when all these transpired?;

4) Datin Paduka O.C. Phang, former general manager of PKA.