ONLY 8 MIL VOTERS DECIDE THE FATE OF 26 MIL POPULATION

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
By Raja Petra Kamarudin

Practically the whole country is focused on the coming general election due to be held on 8 March 2008. But while we look the other way, distracted by the intense election campaigning, some parties are quietly about to make RM4 billion from a property development that involves a piece of land belonging to the rakyat. And rakyat here means 26 million Malaysians, 11 million or so who are registered voters. Sadly though, only 8 million who will come out to vote this election while the other 3 million will just stay home to watch television.

But it will not be 26 million Malaysians who will profit from this development. It will be handful of people who walk in the corridors of power. And these handful of people are the man with two Muhammad's in his name who would like to be Malaysia's future Deputy Prime Minister, Anuar Zaini who runs the Malaysian government's propaganda machinery also known as Bernama, and the cronies to the powers-that-be.

In June last year, it was reported that a company owned by Hong Leong's Quek Leng Chan will be taking over the land which the Universiti Malaysia sits and will turn into a new township. The university would then be relocated to Sepang.

There was a big hue and cry and the government flatly denied such a thing was in the cards.

Everything went quiet for awhile. Part of the objection to this proposal was because of the 'sacred' status and sentimental value of Malaysia's first university. But what was even more of an objection was the fact that a Chinese company was going to become the beneficiary to a very valuable piece of government asset.

To quell the outrage, the government quickly denied such a thing was being planned. But the denial was a lie and merely meant to quieten things down for awhile so that alternative plans could be put into place.

Realising that the university land was a 'goldmine', other parties jumped in and last week they announced that the university would sell off 27.5 acres of its under-utilised land for a price of RM312 million or for a value of RM200 million plus a share of the developer's profit, whichever is higher.

 

However, what was not revealed was that the Selangor State Government, which is supposed to be a joint-venture partner, would get only 10% of the deal while 90% will go to Muhammad son of Muhammad and Anuar Zaini. The state government company is merely a front to give an impression that this is a government deal and to avoid any more controversy while in actual fact certain individuals are going to profit from the entire arrangement.

Yes, while Malaysians sleep, while Malaysians get distracted by the 8 March 2008 general election, those connected to those who walk in the corridors of power are going to make billions while the government will get pittance in return. Is this not one more of so many reasons to cut Barisan Nasional down to size by denying it its 92% hegemony in Parliament?

It is time Malaysians demonstrate outrage and shout loudly, "NO MORE!" And this demonstration must come in the form of no longer allowing Barisan Nasional a landslide victory in the coming general election and by denying it its 92% hegemony in Parliament.