THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The Works Minister has just announced that the new National Palace a.k.a. Istana Negara will not cost RM1 billion after all. It will just cost about RM600 million or thereabouts. That’s ‘fair’. RM600 million is the same amount Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi gave the 191 Umno Divisions one day before last year’s Umno Annual General Assembly. But while the new Istana Negara will probably still be standing for the next 100 years, the RM600 million handed to the 191 Umno Divisions disappeared in just two months and was never seen again. Christmas is again around the corner. Will Abdullah be again handing out RM600 million Christmas presents to his Umno supporters? Hey, that is like building an Istana Negara every year. Malaysia’s Agongs get one once every 100 years and even then they have to share it amongst the nine Monarchs.
The idea for this new palace was mooted by the government before the present Agong took office. And it would probably be ready for occupation after the present Agong leaves office. This is something that the government has not clarified. The Agong did not ask for the palace to be built and neither will he be able to live in it. Whose idea is it, therefore, that this new lavish palace be built? It was certainly not the Agong’s. And do we know the history of the present Istana Negara?
This was what Shanti Gunaratnam wrote in the New Straits Times in an article called ‘The palace that Chan built’.
Istana Negara was once home to an immigrant Chinese millionaire, writes SHANTI GUNARATNAM
ISTANA Negara is a popular tourist attraction and every day, visitors stop to admire the building with its lush, manicured gardens while others take the opportunity to have their pictures taken with the guards on duty there.
Many newlyweds too stop at Istana Negara, where investiture ceremonies take place and where the royal regalia are kept, to have their wedding pictures taken in front of the main gate.
It was once the home of a Chinese immigrant who made his money in tin mines and other businesses. Chan Wing built the huge house to accommodate his large family, including his 26 wives, whom he brought to Kuala Lumpur from Hong Kong in the 1920s.
According to the book, From Poor Migrant to Millionaire Chan Wing 1873-1947, written by Chan King Nui, the eighth daughter of Chan Wing, the house (now Istana Negara) was the scene of big celebrations including Chinese New Year.
During World War II, the Chan family fled to India and only returned after the war. Often referred to as “the house on the hill”, Istana Negara was acquired by the British Army for the Royal Airforce (R.A.F.) after the war.
Later, the house was bought by the Selangor Government for the use of the Sultan before it was acquired by the Federal Government in 1954. Extensive renovations were then undertaken on the property.
After Independence, the house became the official residence of Malaysia’s first King and all the royal regalia are kept at the house.
Yes, the Istana Negara will be almost 100 years old by the time the new palace will be ready for occupation. And the Istana Negara used to be the home of an immigrant Chinese tycoon before the government acquired it. The Agong is in fact occupying a third-hand palace -- and even back in the late 1950s when I used to run around the many hallways and rooms to play hide-and-seek it was already quite an old building. And it is a palace that has been home to 13 Agongs thus far.
Anyway, the issue is not whether the present palace is too old or dilapidated and whether it is therefore time for Malaysia’s Agongs to be given a new palace. It is also not about whether the palace will cost RM1 billion or RM600 million, or a mere RM100 million. The issue is that it is the government’s and not the present Agong’s idea to build this palace. His Majesty was not the Agong yet when they mooted the idea for this new palace. And His Majesty will no longer be the Agong when the palace will be ready for occupation.
The fact that the government remained silent on this matter has created this false impression that it is the Agong who wants to spend RM1 billion (which has now been confirmed as RM600 million and not RM1 billion) of the rakyat’s money to satisfy his craving for an opulent new abode. Why did they not clear the air and tell the nation that the present Agong did not ask for it? Why allow this myth to continue? What do they need the Agong to do? Do they want the Agong to issue a public statement that he does not wish for a new palace and that it is not his idea that the government build one? Do they want the Agong to make a public declaration that he will never live in the palace even if they rush and build it before he retires and when the next Agong will take over? If the Agong were to do this, then His Majesty would be accused of intentionally embarrassing the government and of attempting to trigger another crisis between the Executive and the Monarchy. ‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t’, or, as the Malays would say, ‘telan mati emak, ludah mati bapak’.
Malaysians are very quick to jump to conclusions. They hear something and they make assumptions based on what they hear. Sure, TV3, RTM, NST, Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia, etc., all lie, swear Malaysians. They will boycott the government-controlled mainstream print and electronic media. They will not buy newspapers anymore. They will not watch the prime-time news on TV. Lies, lies, and more lies. But when they read or hear these lies they immediately believe them and react without researching the facts.
Aren’t Malaysians stupid? Now you know why Barisan Nasional will rule this country forever. And I am quite happy with that. When it comes to Malaysians, who says you can’t fool all the people all the time? Malaysians are so stupid they deserve Barisan Nasional. And I vote in favour of Barisan Nasional ruling this country until Malaysians acquire some maturity and common sense. Malaysians talk about media transparency and truthful reporting and all such ‘western’ notions’. But at the same time they are the ones easily fooled by media spinning.
I remember more than 20 years ago when the Gerakan President, foaming at the mouth and splashing spit onto all those within ten feet of him, accused the Sultan of Pahang of raping the Pahang forests. Yes, that’s right, that Chinaman Minister whacked the Sultan of Pahang good and proper while the Malays gleefully clapped and cheered as their Sultan, the so-called Raja-raja Melayu, got ‘stripped naked’ in public.
That Chinaman Minister revealed how another Chinaman, ‘Tengku’ Wong, had been given hundreds of millions of Ringgit worth of timber concessions. You should have seen all those Melayu cheer on that Menteri Cina. ‘Tengku’ Wong is none other than the Sultan of Pahang’s business partner, said the Minister. And in support of the attack on the Rulers, Umno Selangor tabled a Resolution at the AGM asking the government to expose those who Umno labelled as ‘Kapitan China’.
Now, that is not true one bit. Actually, ‘Tengku’ Wong was the Pahang Menteri Besar’s business partner, not the Sultan of Pahang’s. And that particular Pahang Menteri Besar has now been given a ‘Tun’, Malaysia’s equivalent to ‘Sir’, and is now the Governor of Melaka. And in the meantime, while that Cinakui Minister and the scumbag ex-Menteri Besar of Pahang cum Governor of Melaka laugh all the way to the bank, the Sultan of Pahang has to suffer a black mark in his reputation.
While Pahang had its ‘Tengku’ Wong, Terengganu had its ‘Tengku’ Yong. (And of course Johor has its ‘Tengku’ Goh, as previously revealed in this column). ‘Tengku’ Yong was (or maybe still is) the business partner of Datuk Yusoff, the late Sultan of Terengganu’s private secretary, Datuk Azhar, the then Terengganu State Secretary, and Wan Mokhtar Ahmad, the Terengganu Menteri Besar until 1999 who is now Malaysia’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Wan Mokhtar had been quietly awarding a company called Seri Terukun hundreds of millions worth of government contracts. The contracts were all negotiated without tender and the contract prices were twice the JKR estimates. This was further to the timber concessions that ran into hundreds of millions more. Going by the value of today’s purchasing power we are talking about billions.
In the late 1980s, a few of us made an appointment to meet the Terengganu Menteri Besar to complain about the monopoly Seri Terukun was getting. Furthermore, if they had tendered out the projects, not only would more companies have benefited rather than just one company, but all the projects could have been implemented at half the cost.
We must remember that Wan Mokhtar is an ulamak, a religious scholar, and Muslims have been taught to respect and trust ulamak. Ulamaks are, after all, special friends of God. And this special friend of God told us that he had no choice in the matter. He had received a surat kuning (yellow letter) from the palace with instructions to award all these contracts to Seri Terukun.
Realising that we would get nowhere in the state, I decided to meet Shahidan Kassim who was then the Chairman of the Parliament Back Benchers’ Club (BBC) to ask him to take up the matter. Shahidan agreed and brought it to the attention of Deputy Prime Minister Ghafar Baba who called a press conference and told the nation that the government is going to investigate the abuse of power by the Terengganu palace. The issue was on the front pages of all the newspapers.
Wan Mokhtar panicked. He thought once he told us he had received a surat kuning from the Terengganu palace we would drop the issue and not pursue it any further. After all, who would dare challenge the Rulers? But we did dare and if the state would not challenge the palace then we would take this national and get the Federal Government to take on the Rulers. But what was really on our minds is not so much that the Rulers should be challenged but that Wan Mokhtar was lying and we were going to call his bluff.
Unfortunately, Wan Mokhtar is not a poker player and we managed to call his bluff. He instructed the State Secretary to call a press conference and issue a statement that he never had a meeting with us or told us that he had received a surat kuning from the palace. These are all lies and the work of the opposition just to embarrass the government, explained Wan Mokhtar in a meeting he held with more than 1,000 Terengganu contractors. And he glared at me sitting in the front row when he emphasised ‘opposition lies’. He probably detected that satisfied smirk on my face and this made him mad as hell.
From that day on I never trusted ‘government’ ulamaks. Hey, they are more like ular dalam semak (snake in the grass). Wan Mokhtar told us during an official meeting that he had received a surat kuning from the istana. Now he denies saying that.
The Sultans of Terengganu and Pahang were smeared to kingdom come. The Menteris Besar of these two states were scamming their states and were using ‘Kapitan China’ as their front men while telling the public that these Chinamen were the Sultans’ business partners. Then they showed video clips of the Sultan of Kedah’s and Sultan of Selangor’s so-called ‘palaces by the sea’ on Penang Island. Again, bloody lies, but all those who saw the shots on TV believed these government lies. And Umno Selangor officially declared war on the Sultans by tabling a Resolution asking that the ‘Kapitan China’ be exposed as lackeys of the Rulers.
Today, the Rulers are suffering a very serious image problem. Sure, granted, the Rulers are not saints. Some have misbehaved, especially in the past. But much lies and untruths have been spun by the government-owned mainstream media. And they get the Chinese and Indians to whack the Rulers while the Umno Malays
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The Works Minister has just announced that the new National Palace a.k.a. Istana Negara will not cost RM1 billion after all. It will just cost about RM600 million or thereabouts. That’s ‘fair’. RM600 million is the same amount Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi gave the 191 Umno Divisions one day before last year’s Umno Annual General Assembly. But while the new Istana Negara will probably still be standing for the next 100 years, the RM600 million handed to the 191 Umno Divisions disappeared in just two months and was never seen again. Christmas is again around the corner. Will Abdullah be again handing out RM600 million Christmas presents to his Umno supporters? Hey, that is like building an Istana Negara every year. Malaysia’s Agongs get one once every 100 years and even then they have to share it amongst the nine Monarchs.
The idea for this new palace was mooted by the government before the present Agong took office. And it would probably be ready for occupation after the present Agong leaves office. This is something that the government has not clarified. The Agong did not ask for the palace to be built and neither will he be able to live in it. Whose idea is it, therefore, that this new lavish palace be built? It was certainly not the Agong’s. And do we know the history of the present Istana Negara?
This was what Shanti Gunaratnam wrote in the New Straits Times in an article called ‘The palace that Chan built’.
Istana Negara was once home to an immigrant Chinese millionaire, writes SHANTI GUNARATNAM
ISTANA Negara is a popular tourist attraction and every day, visitors stop to admire the building with its lush, manicured gardens while others take the opportunity to have their pictures taken with the guards on duty there.
Many newlyweds too stop at Istana Negara, where investiture ceremonies take place and where the royal regalia are kept, to have their wedding pictures taken in front of the main gate.
It was once the home of a Chinese immigrant who made his money in tin mines and other businesses. Chan Wing built the huge house to accommodate his large family, including his 26 wives, whom he brought to Kuala Lumpur from Hong Kong in the 1920s.
According to the book, From Poor Migrant to Millionaire Chan Wing 1873-1947, written by Chan King Nui, the eighth daughter of Chan Wing, the house (now Istana Negara) was the scene of big celebrations including Chinese New Year.
During World War II, the Chan family fled to India and only returned after the war. Often referred to as “the house on the hill”, Istana Negara was acquired by the British Army for the Royal Airforce (R.A.F.) after the war.
Later, the house was bought by the Selangor Government for the use of the Sultan before it was acquired by the Federal Government in 1954. Extensive renovations were then undertaken on the property.
After Independence, the house became the official residence of Malaysia’s first King and all the royal regalia are kept at the house.
Yes, the Istana Negara will be almost 100 years old by the time the new palace will be ready for occupation. And the Istana Negara used to be the home of an immigrant Chinese tycoon before the government acquired it. The Agong is in fact occupying a third-hand palace -- and even back in the late 1950s when I used to run around the many hallways and rooms to play hide-and-seek it was already quite an old building. And it is a palace that has been home to 13 Agongs thus far.
Anyway, the issue is not whether the present palace is too old or dilapidated and whether it is therefore time for Malaysia’s Agongs to be given a new palace. It is also not about whether the palace will cost RM1 billion or RM600 million, or a mere RM100 million. The issue is that it is the government’s and not the present Agong’s idea to build this palace. His Majesty was not the Agong yet when they mooted the idea for this new palace. And His Majesty will no longer be the Agong when the palace will be ready for occupation.
The fact that the government remained silent on this matter has created this false impression that it is the Agong who wants to spend RM1 billion (which has now been confirmed as RM600 million and not RM1 billion) of the rakyat’s money to satisfy his craving for an opulent new abode. Why did they not clear the air and tell the nation that the present Agong did not ask for it? Why allow this myth to continue? What do they need the Agong to do? Do they want the Agong to issue a public statement that he does not wish for a new palace and that it is not his idea that the government build one? Do they want the Agong to make a public declaration that he will never live in the palace even if they rush and build it before he retires and when the next Agong will take over? If the Agong were to do this, then His Majesty would be accused of intentionally embarrassing the government and of attempting to trigger another crisis between the Executive and the Monarchy. ‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t’, or, as the Malays would say, ‘telan mati emak, ludah mati bapak’.
Malaysians are very quick to jump to conclusions. They hear something and they make assumptions based on what they hear. Sure, TV3, RTM, NST, Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia, etc., all lie, swear Malaysians. They will boycott the government-controlled mainstream print and electronic media. They will not buy newspapers anymore. They will not watch the prime-time news on TV. Lies, lies, and more lies. But when they read or hear these lies they immediately believe them and react without researching the facts.
Aren’t Malaysians stupid? Now you know why Barisan Nasional will rule this country forever. And I am quite happy with that. When it comes to Malaysians, who says you can’t fool all the people all the time? Malaysians are so stupid they deserve Barisan Nasional. And I vote in favour of Barisan Nasional ruling this country until Malaysians acquire some maturity and common sense. Malaysians talk about media transparency and truthful reporting and all such ‘western’ notions’. But at the same time they are the ones easily fooled by media spinning.
I remember more than 20 years ago when the Gerakan President, foaming at the mouth and splashing spit onto all those within ten feet of him, accused the Sultan of Pahang of raping the Pahang forests. Yes, that’s right, that Chinaman Minister whacked the Sultan of Pahang good and proper while the Malays gleefully clapped and cheered as their Sultan, the so-called Raja-raja Melayu, got ‘stripped naked’ in public.
That Chinaman Minister revealed how another Chinaman, ‘Tengku’ Wong, had been given hundreds of millions of Ringgit worth of timber concessions. You should have seen all those Melayu cheer on that Menteri Cina. ‘Tengku’ Wong is none other than the Sultan of Pahang’s business partner, said the Minister. And in support of the attack on the Rulers, Umno Selangor tabled a Resolution at the AGM asking the government to expose those who Umno labelled as ‘Kapitan China’.
Now, that is not true one bit. Actually, ‘Tengku’ Wong was the Pahang Menteri Besar’s business partner, not the Sultan of Pahang’s. And that particular Pahang Menteri Besar has now been given a ‘Tun’, Malaysia’s equivalent to ‘Sir’, and is now the Governor of Melaka. And in the meantime, while that Cinakui Minister and the scumbag ex-Menteri Besar of Pahang cum Governor of Melaka laugh all the way to the bank, the Sultan of Pahang has to suffer a black mark in his reputation.
While Pahang had its ‘Tengku’ Wong, Terengganu had its ‘Tengku’ Yong. (And of course Johor has its ‘Tengku’ Goh, as previously revealed in this column). ‘Tengku’ Yong was (or maybe still is) the business partner of Datuk Yusoff, the late Sultan of Terengganu’s private secretary, Datuk Azhar, the then Terengganu State Secretary, and Wan Mokhtar Ahmad, the Terengganu Menteri Besar until 1999 who is now Malaysia’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Wan Mokhtar had been quietly awarding a company called Seri Terukun hundreds of millions worth of government contracts. The contracts were all negotiated without tender and the contract prices were twice the JKR estimates. This was further to the timber concessions that ran into hundreds of millions more. Going by the value of today’s purchasing power we are talking about billions.
In the late 1980s, a few of us made an appointment to meet the Terengganu Menteri Besar to complain about the monopoly Seri Terukun was getting. Furthermore, if they had tendered out the projects, not only would more companies have benefited rather than just one company, but all the projects could have been implemented at half the cost.
We must remember that Wan Mokhtar is an ulamak, a religious scholar, and Muslims have been taught to respect and trust ulamak. Ulamaks are, after all, special friends of God. And this special friend of God told us that he had no choice in the matter. He had received a surat kuning (yellow letter) from the palace with instructions to award all these contracts to Seri Terukun.
Realising that we would get nowhere in the state, I decided to meet Shahidan Kassim who was then the Chairman of the Parliament Back Benchers’ Club (BBC) to ask him to take up the matter. Shahidan agreed and brought it to the attention of Deputy Prime Minister Ghafar Baba who called a press conference and told the nation that the government is going to investigate the abuse of power by the Terengganu palace. The issue was on the front pages of all the newspapers.
Wan Mokhtar panicked. He thought once he told us he had received a surat kuning from the Terengganu palace we would drop the issue and not pursue it any further. After all, who would dare challenge the Rulers? But we did dare and if the state would not challenge the palace then we would take this national and get the Federal Government to take on the Rulers. But what was really on our minds is not so much that the Rulers should be challenged but that Wan Mokhtar was lying and we were going to call his bluff.
Unfortunately, Wan Mokhtar is not a poker player and we managed to call his bluff. He instructed the State Secretary to call a press conference and issue a statement that he never had a meeting with us or told us that he had received a surat kuning from the palace. These are all lies and the work of the opposition just to embarrass the government, explained Wan Mokhtar in a meeting he held with more than 1,000 Terengganu contractors. And he glared at me sitting in the front row when he emphasised ‘opposition lies’. He probably detected that satisfied smirk on my face and this made him mad as hell.
From that day on I never trusted ‘government’ ulamaks. Hey, they are more like ular dalam semak (snake in the grass). Wan Mokhtar told us during an official meeting that he had received a surat kuning from the istana. Now he denies saying that.
The Sultans of Terengganu and Pahang were smeared to kingdom come. The Menteris Besar of these two states were scamming their states and were using ‘Kapitan China’ as their front men while telling the public that these Chinamen were the Sultans’ business partners. Then they showed video clips of the Sultan of Kedah’s and Sultan of Selangor’s so-called ‘palaces by the sea’ on Penang Island. Again, bloody lies, but all those who saw the shots on TV believed these government lies. And Umno Selangor officially declared war on the Sultans by tabling a Resolution asking that the ‘Kapitan China’ be exposed as lackeys of the Rulers.
Today, the Rulers are suffering a very serious image problem. Sure, granted, the Rulers are not saints. Some have misbehaved, especially in the past. But much lies and untruths have been spun by the government-owned mainstream media. And they get the Chinese and Indians to whack the Rulers while the Umno Malays
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