I was on Malaysiakini a few minutes ago, reading a story headlined "Sabah politicians warn PM over fuel hike." Clearly, the BN government's preposterous increase in the price of fuel has stirred up a hornet's nest of anger, incredulity and resentment. This paragraph, in particular, struck me as extremely significant:
In a statement issued in Kota Kinabalu yesterday, [the DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu Dr Hiew King Cheu] described the latest fuel price increase of 40 percent for petrol and 60 percent for diesel as unreasonable and unacceptable, citing the fact that Malaysia is an oil-producing and exporting country.
He also questioned if there was something that the government was not telling the people concerning the nation's crude oil sale.
"Is it true that our crude oil is being sold at a 'fixed price' without any fluctuation allowed in the selling price for a set number of years?" he questioned.
Around the time when the last fuel price hike was inflicted on the public, a well-connected friend whispered in my ear something that I have to date been unable to ascertain - simply because Petronas is accountable to only the reigning Prime Minister. This means very few are privy to its international dealings, which makes any leaked information virtually impossible to verify - except by court order or royal command.
Anyway, at the risk of being labeled a spreader of unfounded rumor, I feel duty-bound as a Malaysian to reveal what I was told by my informant, who shall remain nameless (mainly because I have actually forgotten who it was!)
What I heard was that Dr Mahathir, in his infinite wisdom, had signed a secret pact with the Japanese to supply Malaysian crude oil at the fixed rate of USD30 a barrel - until the year 2012! Apparently, this occurred sometime in 2002 when the price of oil was around USD20 a barrel.
If there is any truth is this - and the DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu seems to have heard a similar rumor - then Dr M's business acumen certainly has to be reassessed. Personally I have never been greatly impressed by the man's much-vaunted intelligence (in my opinion it's more accurately described as "rat cunning"). Indeed, I can recall many instances when Dr M's dubious navigational skills caused the nation to lose billions as a result of bad gambles. Take the BMF scandal, for instance, which cost us RM2.5 billion in 1984 (today that amount would be easily worth RM11 billion). And then there was the hastily covered-up currency trading disaster, and an even bigger financial calamity involving an attempt to monopolize the tin market.
I do hope there are a few former Petronas executives who might be in the know about this alleged act of monolithic stupidity on Mahathir's part - and that they will be granted immunity from prosecution under the OSA should they decide to blow the whistle on this story. Think about it: if Petronas is bound by contract to keep selling Japan our crude oil at pre-Iraq invasion prices, Malaysians have been subsidizing the Japanese since Abdullah Badawi took over from Mahathir! Is that why the Japanese are so happy to finance Malaysian dams like the monstrosity proposed for Kelau, in Pahang?
Jun 28, 07 5:12am Malaysiakini
ReplyDelete...Refined petroleum products was the top revenue generator at RM62.7 billion on volume of 215.9 million barrels, followed by crude oil sales worth RM45.4 billion from 192.4 million barrels...
So that's worked out about over USD 60 Per barrel (circa 2006)
Could be a small portion goes to Japan though
the amount was US$ 15 and the deal ends in 2015. I have filled the documentation, that is why malaysia was flush with money in the 90's and started its mega projects. Another thing Malaysia produces low sulphur content crude or sweet crude, and if I am not mistaken this has a premium price, it was an exercise that will come back to bite malaysia in the butt according to a minister who has since passed away, this minister was fuming mad that the cabinet was not informed and mahathir did the deal signed the documents ans forced the cabinet to sign documents to declare their resignations, these were empty pages and mahathir held these papers, why he could implicate anything on these pages and the cabinet ministers would go to jail for signed "confessions". that is how umno controls the cabinet. ask samy and mahathir they should know about this shenanigans, or else why no action taken against the 2 of them they know where the bodies are buried, all the political garbage, incest, rape, financial kickbacks, mismanagement, photographs of pedepholia, thats what our very own malaysian mahathir(hoover)has.
ReplyDeleteThanks for both anonymous comments. The second one is what I have been hoping to hear: more precise details from somebody on the inside. Of course, as an anonymous comment this info doesn't have any value as evidence of wrongdoing - but at least it reinforces the veracity of the gossip I originally received about Mahathir's stupid attempts to wheel and deal. That megalomanic nincompoop should have remained a second-rate doctor instead of becoming a fourth-rate dictator of a failed banana republic.
ReplyDeleteI will not be surprise if the rumour/allegation is true. There was rumour/allegation about our corrupted judiciary and now it is no longer a rumour or allegation with the Lingam-tape exposed.
ReplyDeleteOur BN government created quite a lot of 'sagas' in Malaysia. We have 'proton-saga', 'Tun Salleh-saga' and DSAI-saga. Recently, we have 'Lingam-tape- saga','Grand-saga', 'petrol-harga-naik-saga' and maybe now a 'Petronas-saga'!
Hi there, they want the oil to USD 200 a barrel within months (compensating the low dollar against the euro.
ReplyDeleteSecond: obama and mrs clinton are at the moment joining the Bilderberg in west-virginia. both are also member of the AIPAC, the Jewish (kazarian) Lobby in Washington DC.
It cannot be true that Dr.M signed that secret pack fixed at USD30,if so ABD would wash his hand clean by diverging the secret pack and put all blame on Dr.M.
ReplyDeleteKapitan, haven't you noticed Pak Blah's modus operandi? He rarely attacks his enemies - what he does is he allows others to dig up the dirt on them. Soon after Mahathir began his vicious attacks on Abdullah, disclosures that put the Mahathir administration in a poor light began to surface in the MSM. Abdullah also holds enough evidence against Najib to put him and his wife in jail for life - but he needs Najib as a shield against all the other halitose hyenas in Umno.
ReplyDeleteAbdullah is a patient guy - he knows that the shit piling up around Mahathir will soon bury him, leaving his own hands clean. That dangerous old lunatic has too many cronies in corporate circles to be
attacked frontally - indeed it's possible that more than 40% of the grassroots Umno still look to Mahathir as the Melayu Baru Messiah (knowing full well he's actually a Mamak through and through) - the IGP and AG are both beholden to Dr M (they owe their jobs to him) so would be loath to act against him.
What binds them all is their abject fear of completely losing control of the country to the Pakatan Rakyat under Anwar Ibrahim. The first heads to roll would be the AG and IGP's - after that, watch the fun!