January 9, 2009
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I hope these pictures can say what words can never describe. Do the Kuala Terengganu voters still want to vote these people into office on 17 January 2009? These are the people who have milked an estimated RM20 billion of Terengganu’s Oil Royalty or Wang Ehsan.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Yesterday, we showed you some scenes of how the man-in-the-street Kuala Terengganu voter lives. Today, we are going to show you how the ‘other side’ lives so that you can see the contrast between the very few Bumiputera haves and the majority have-nots. The New Economic Policy and the RM1 billion a year Oil Royalty has not really touched the lives of all Malays or the majority of Terengganu residents as many may have thought.
1. Datuk Seri Tok Guru Haji Abdul Hadi Awang’s humble abode. Hadi, the President of PAS and Menteri Besar of Terengganu from 1999 to 2004, continued to stay in this old family home although he was entitled to stay in the Menteri Besar’s official residence. He also refused to take his RM4,000 a month housing allowance all through those five years. This is the same for Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat who has been the Menteri Besar of Kelantan for almost 20 years now.
2. In the middle is Tun Salleh Abbas, one-time Lord President of Malaysia (now called Chief Justice) and head of the Terengganu Ombudsman when the PAS-led Pakatan Rakyat was ruling the state from 1999 to 2004.
3. Handing over a Barisan Rakyat T-shirt to Tok Guru Ayah Chik, the manja name for Datuk Seri Haji Abdul Hadi Awang.
4. The famous Rhusila mosque.
5. Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar Ahmad’s residence. Wan Mokhtar is head of the ‘Wan Clan’ and was Menteri Besar of Terengganu almost as long as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister of Malaysia.
6. Wan Mokhtar has to explain what happened to more than RM12 billion of Terengganu’s Oil Royalty from 1974 to 1999 — before it was converted to Wang Ehsan from 2000 until now (which resulted in another RM8 billion or so in ‘missing money’). That makes a total of RM20 billion which flowed into Terengganu and was never seen again.
7. The home of Wan Farid Wan Salleh, the man who would like to be the new Member of Parliament for Kuala Terengganu.
8. And this is the home of Wan Farid’s brother, Wan Hashim, the man behind the RM300 million a year Terengganu Monsoon Cup. Thus far, RM1 billion or thereabouts has been spent on this lavish but non-income generating extravaganza.
9. The official residence of the Menteri Besar of Terengganu. Unlike the Umno Menteris Besar, Hadi Awang refused to stay in this house although he was entitled to do so and he also refused the RM4,000 a month housing allowance.
10. See the stable of expensive cars. Most of us can’t afford to acquire these cars even if we worked and saved our money for 30 years.
11. Now see how the other Terengganu cronies of those who walk in the corridors of power live.
And then we have this:
12. And this is how most of the man-in-the-street lives. Although there are brick houses in Terengganu, the majority of the Malays live as this picture shows.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
You reap what you sow. And people deserve the leadership they elect. What can we do? May be they will be awakened now, hopefully?
What we can see are the houses that they live in. What we also can see are the cars they drive (or driven in). We can also see the types of attire they and their family members are dressed in, including the types of jewellery and watches they wear. What we don’t see are their bank balances. Yet no queries from IRD? But if a hawker buys a house with his hard earned cash…holy mackerel…all hell breaks loose from IRD. They will promptly hassle him to death.
Pat,
In Malaysia, you must have a powerful political patron, then you can be sure that the IRD and ACA won’t hassle you and you can also commit blue murder and the Police will botch the evidence and the AG’s Office will not prosecute. There are people who are above the law and the rest of us are subject to all kinds of punitive and draconian laws.
The hawker selling char keow teow in Jalan Imbi in Kuala Lumpur told me some time ago that he was often harassed by tax investigators. So, it is no fun to be in a low income class in an elitist and corrupt society. Why are most Malaysians still indifferent then? This phenomenon is something I cannot understand. Can someone please explain this to me.—Din Merican
Looking at the pictures of these obscenely ostentatious houses, I now understand where all those billions of oil money go to. No wonder they are so desperate to hang on to power, whatever the cost.
Helo,
maybe these guys are smart.maybe they know how to work for money and later make that money work for them.is it so wrong to
enjoy doing the right thing and make money?
do you know how?
Be brave.
Fancy mansions & imported limos notwithstanding, I wouldn’t want to be any of these Umnoputras for even a billionth of a second. The chromosomal damage isn’t worth it! 😉
Well, I am now convinced that ‘reatitution” must be part of the ACA if we are to make any headway on corruption.
Sorry the word is “restitution”
Are you guys planning to turn Trengganu into a communistic state ? 🙂
Communism was introduced in Russia, China, etc, to eradicate poverty but it turned out that even in communist societies, there were rich and poor communists !
The only difference between the pictures of the haves and the have nots that you have shown, is that the ” other side” is not in power yet. Show us the pictures of their “humble abodes” after they have been a term in office and show us how unopulent they still are !
The moral of the story – power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely ! 🙂
Hello Din ! long time no see ! You are right, Malaysia is divided into those who are connected and the others who are not. What has become of the investigation into the VK Lingam types ? There was so much fuss and smoke but no fire. The Royal Commissioners have written their findings for more than a year and no action has been taken; will the Pakatan Government if they take power progress the work of the Royal Commission ?
What has become of the promised reforms to the judiciary ? All smoke and as usual no fire. I had written to the 2 Judge Managers, Dato Mohd. Raus Shariff and Dato James Foong; however I only managed to speak to Dato Mohd. Raus Shariff on the issue of the CRIMINAL CONDUCT OF ONE OF THE COURT OF APPEAL JUDGES. I have both written and faxed to both the judge managers and we will know if the appointment of these judge Managers are intended to be taken seriously. I have asked Dato Mohd. Raus for the priviledge to phone him after tomorrow on the issue of my complaint.
The order of this judge has caused me to loose RM.80,000 (interest plus capital) by her unlawful and criminal conduct. This judge had acted criminally. WILL THE PAKATAN RAKYAT WHEN THEY COME INTO GOVERNMENT RESTORE THE INDEPENDANCE OF THE JUDICIARY AND RESTORE THE PAST PROFESSIONALISM AND ETHICS OF THEIR CALLING AND RESTORE THE RULE OF LAW AND JUSTICE TO THE PEOPLE OF MALAYSIA AGAIN.
Hello Din,
How about small house in segambut?
i still dont get it.the most common views when one see a house own by UMNO people then they tend to go that the owner of the house is a “thug”.a “crook”.
i see it in a simple.we choose on how we wanna live.some choose to be modest and some choose to be high-profile.no big deal.some choose to be comfortable to be where they are now and some choose to upgrade their lifestyle.
is it a crime to own a big house?is it a crime to be rich when they really deserve it?
_________
rashidjailani, it is not crime to own a big house. But the question is that when you are holding public office or are an UMNO/BN crony, you must account for your wealth and pay your taxes. We know that the UMNO/BN fat cats make money by patronage.—Din Merican
Copperhead & rashidjailani,
There’s nothing wrong in owning ferraris, rolls royces, hugh houses or mansions – if it’s paid for from their own honest efforts/pockets.
The whole issue here is that when ownership of such luxuries are not coming out of their own hard earned honest savings, then, it becomes a big issue (and rightly so) for the rakyat.
When you consider what a person can honestly earn or capable of earning and their available resources or facilities and then analyse the oppulent lifestyles some of them are enjoying/displaying/lapping up, it can become apparent that certain lifestyles cannot be possible without “other sources of revenue.”
When this happens, we need to look at the potential opportunities available for that person to earn “extraordinary unexplained income” and reconcile such opportunities to their known lifestyles and displayed wealth.
If such attempt to reconcile sources of income with their blatant display of wealth is carrried out, we can then safely conclude whether these unexplained wealth is sourced from the sweat, blood and miseries of the poor rakyat of the nation or otherwise!
That, basically, is what the writer is trying to expose here – not those who can and are able to display their hard earned wealth through honest means (work/investments or strategies).
Therein lies the difference!