Malaysian Maverick

Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times is a biography about Mahathir Mohamad written by Australian journalist Barry Wain (1944-2013).

When the book was first released, it was detained by the Home Ministry of Malaysia upon arrival of the first batch at Port Klang in December 2009. The home ministry finally approved the book for sale in April 2010.^[1]

The Malaysian Maverick became one of the best-selling books in Malaysia. Wain claims that 12,500 copies of the book have been sold in Asia and Australia.^[1]

Time Magazine quoted an economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore as saying that the country might have lost as much as US$100 billion since the early 1980s to corruption. Under former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir's 22 years term, there were monetary losses amounting to over at least hundred of billions of ringgit and this excluded those unaccounted for, and irretrievable.

Opposition politician Syed Husin Ali said, “Petronas has neither been fully transparent nor accountable with how it spends its money, especially in aiding and abetting Tun Mahathir to indulge in unproductive construction of mega projects, to bail out ailing crony companies and corporate figures, and to involve itself in excessive and wasteful spending on celebrations and conferences.”

Mahathir used his position and power to intercept and/or to bail out his children or to give them special benefits and also to his cronies.

These include:

•Forex scandal in early 90s : RM30 billion

•The Perwaja Steel Scandal : RM10 billion ^[2]

•Bank Bumi scandal: RM10 billion ^[3]Past Scandals – Bank Bumiputra

•Maminco-Makuwasa Affair RM1.6 Billion^[4]

•Mahathir used Petronas as a ‘bank’ to bail out many cronies' companies, banks etc.

Konsortium Perkapalan

In early 1998, Petronas acquired a debt-laden shipping concern controlled by Mahathir’s eldest son Mirzan Mahathir’s Konsortium Perkapalan for RM 226 million and assumed its debts of more than 324 million, according to Far Eastern Economic Review stating the debt at RM 1.6 billion.

Sapura-Kenaca Petroleum

In early November 2012, Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd reportedly awarded a RM700 million contract to a Sapura-Kencana Petroleum Bhd wholly owned subsidiary where Mahathir’s son Mokhzani is a vice-chairperson.

Mahathir ever replied in a sarcastic tone when asked during a press conference whether there was conflict of interest in the deal: -

“Yes of course, he (Mokhzani) is given it because I instructed Petronas. Put that in your paper. I presided over everything. I told them, please give to my son and not to anybody else. That’s what I have been doing all the time. When I was the prime minister, everything was given to my children. .."

Furthermore, what makes interesting is : In 1998, when Mahathir's eldest son Mirzan Mahathir loss 0.2Billion in Macau casino, and his daughter was in 'house arrest', Mahathir ordered the then finance minister Daim used national reserve to rescue son.

Proton and MV Agusta : The Story

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir was appointed as Proton advisor In 2003. Since 1999, MV Agusta was heavily in debt, and the manufacturer was bought by Proton in December 2004 for €70 million. However, the Proton management decided to sell the stake to GEVI SpA, a Genoa-based financing company related to Carige, in December 2005, just for a token one euro.

During the selling negotiation process, there were a lot of Malaysian voices to object the deal, however, all was ignored by Proton. As the result, the selling deal caused Malaysian taxpayers facing total losses of 138.4 Million Euro (RM1.92 B), including the assets that MV Agusta have.

Malaysia corruption society root cause start from Tun Mahathir era's bail out to son and cronies company etc. At the UMNO General Assembly in 1998, a leading Anwar supporter, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, criticised the government for not doing enough to combat corruption and cronyism.

According to "Malaysian Maverick", Tun Mahathir era costed RM 100 Billion in taxpayers' money. This included misuse of national reserve on silver price speculating and BNM's forex speculating under Tun Mahathir's order.

References

External links

• Malaysian Maverick on MPHOnline