Sivarasa: No harm making recommendations to Alam Flora

Subang Jaya MP and PKR VP R Sivarasa says that there is apparently no harm in politicians recommending certain contractors to solid waste management company Alam Flora as it does not mean the contracts will be awarded to them.

He clarified today that no matter whoever made the recommendations, it was up to Alam Flora to select the right contractor.

"What is happening is just a misunderstanding by some people and this has been played up in the media. Individuals, and including leaders of political parties will make recommendations... and we see no harm in that absolutely," said Sivarasa.

Sivarasa explained that the contracts have a fixed quantum and the number of contracts is also fixed by Alam Flora and has nothing to do with any political party.

"So what has been happening is that names are being recommended but the final decision is in the hands of Alam Flora," he added.

Sivarasa was responding to recent attacks by Petaling Jaya councillor A Thiruvenggadam, (left) who claimed that the Selangor government divides Alam Flora's waste management contracts to political parties - 40 percent is awarded to PKR, 30 percent to PAS and 30 percent to DAP.

He accused the state of calling the shots when deciding which contractor bags the deal, which is the prerogative of the state government.

The councillor argued that the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) should be the agent with the upper hand in the matter as the council deals directly with the people and is answerable to the public.

Thiruvenggadam added that the pact between the state government, which is run by Pakatan's three coalition partners, and Alam Flora is designed to finance the political parties and divisions which lack funds.

"In 2009, 30 percent is kept by Alam Flora for contractors of their choice. The remaining 70 percent of its work is handled by contractors picked by the state government.

If the rubbish is not collected or the drains are not cleaned, the public (will) accuse councillors and councils (because the) public pay (their) assessment (fees) to the councils and not to Alam Flora.

"When contractors are chosen by politicians, especially by state assembly representatives and MPs, and if there are subsequent complaints of rubbish collection, do you know how difficult it will be for the council and Alam Flora to act on these contractors?" he had said.

Who chooses what

But when asked to comment on Sivarasa's clarification today, Thiruvenggadam said that state executive councillor Ronnie Liu had recently denied that such a practice existed and that the council had a free hand in deciding the contracts.

"So I was partially correct that political parties have a hand in this matter... this leaves only one thing for me to substantiate... the percentage," said Thiruvenggadam.

"Now, the next item is for a politician to come out and admit that the percentage I had cited is also correct," he said.

However, Sivarasa added that the state is not be involved, but the party division leaders could submit names to Alam Flora.

"That is quite normal (and) not a problem for us," said Sivarasa.

"At the most, this is a guideline but this is in no way binding on Alam Flora. The decision maker is Alam Flora because some people are trying to give the impression that it is the party and Pakatan that are deciding, and that is not true," he said.

"I mean, we see nothing wrong in different parties recommending names, individuals recommending names or the parties themselves recommending names. But the fact that all the three parties recommend names, shows the work will be spread out.

Sivarasa said that Alam Flora would be the one who is going to evaluate every company and ensures that it has the capacity to do the job," said Sivarasa.

On Thiruvenggadam's complaint that such a pact denies the Indian community equal opportunity to participate in getting the contracts through an open tender, Sivarasa said:

"The person who made this allegation clearly does not understand... perhaps he may not be provided with the information that this is an arrangement between local authorities and Alam Flora... every local authority has a written contract which is sometimes a year or two in length.

"If the contract was made with the previous government, then we are bound by it because there are some arrangements that we cannot break," said Sivarasa.

Moreover, according to Sivarasa (right) the contract conditions state that contracts must be awarded to bumiputera companies.

"So if you are asking the contracts be given to companies wholly owned to non-bumiputeras, that will tantamount to local authorities breaking that contract. So that is not possible," he stressed.

'Arrangement tantamount to corruption'

Meanwhile, Gerakan Youth secretary-general Dr Dominic Lau in a statement lashed out at Pakatan government of committing an act that is tantamount to political corruption.

"Giving out the contracts to the three component parties of Pakatan Rakyat is like sharing out whatever rewards... since the coalition took over the Selangor government," said Lau.

He said that the Pakatan government's action also reflected "patronage and cronyism".

"When they were in the opposition, they criticised BN and made all sorts of allegations... but now they are doing it at their own backyard," he said adding that such an agreement contradicted Pakatan coalition partner DAP's slogan of competency, accountability and transparency (CAT).

On the same matter, Selangor's Umno Youth had also lodged a report at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the claim that solid waste contracts have been distributed to the opposition's coalition.

Bernama had also reported that the state's Umno Youth chief Suhaimi Mohd Ghazali had also said that the distribution was not transparent and "serves a certain interest".