YOURSAY ‘Everyone knows the difference between an investment and a bailout.’

'Rafizi clown for calling TH investment a bailout'

Ferdtan: I think the powers-that-be behind the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fiasco must be desperate enough to get Tabung Haji to buy the land at much higher price from what 1MDB had originally paid to the federal government.

Tabung's contributors are all Muslims, many are Umno supporters; either they think that these simple Muslim folks are easily won over with ambiguous explanations, or no other heavily-funded institutions wanted to get involved with the controversial 1MDB?

I had met with a friendly Malay couple, strangers, they were quite angry when they mentioned the using of the Tabung Haji fund to buy (read: bail out) 1MDB.

It is a no-no for anyone, even Umno top leaders, to dip into the till of the Muslim fund. It’s considered extremely non-halal.

The opinions of two may not be an accurate gauge of the real sentiments; but when strangers open up such frustration to a non-Muslim, it must have traction.

This may provide yet more ammunition for former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad to use in his public spat with PM Najib Razak.

Malaysia888: What an idiot Local Government and Housing Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan is - what is so strategic about 1MDB if all it is doing is buying cheap government land and selling on to a quasi-government body for 37 times that price?

Would not Tabung Haji benefit more if the government had just sold the land directly to them?

Anticonmen: 1MDB buying land at a very low price from the government means ripping off taxpayers.

Taking massive loans under 1MDB using the revalued land and stealing the borrowed funds means ripping off taxpayers again.

Selling the same land at more than 30 times its value to Tabung Haji means ripping off the pilgrim fund contributors and bailing out of 1MDB.

Shamu99: Buy so low and sell so high in such a short period - can this fall under the Anti-Profiteering Act?

Not Smart: Mr Minister, everyone knows the difference between an investment and a bailout. The problem is that there are few investors who have confidence in 1MDB.

Tabung Haji is loaded and its depositors are all nice, naïve and God-fearing people. Their staff are obedient servants of the government of the day. Why poor Muslims, who look forward to perform their religious obligation, are dragged into the 1MDB controversy?

Just Me: Did 1MDB actually make any money from its investment or it just made money from getting government land at a great discount and then selling them for profit. If so, it is a clear case of cheating. Even a clown can see it.

Discovery: Rahman Dahlan, who is the clown now? Your Umno Youth has now questioned the Tabung Haji's purchase of the land.

If 1MDB is deadwood, it’s better let it die and not pour good money over bad money. Does that sound logical to you?

Eagle: Instead of investigating whether there is wrongdoing in Tabung Haji's outlandish deal, the police want to investigate the how Tabung Haji papers were leaked.

In Malaysia, it’s wrong to point out that something is wrong.

Johari: The price Tabung Haji paid may well be the fair market price. But the big picture is 1MDB screwed the country's assets by paying a pittance and made big bucks out of it.

Now the rakyat are forced to pay for these ‘sins’ via the Goods and Services Tax (GST), and to offset the leakages highlighted in audits.

Question is, why should the rakyat be made to suffer for the sins of our ‘elected’ leader?

Eagle: Is there any mechanism to protect the nation from being robbed like this? Here we have government land sold cheap, and is resold at a higher price to other government institutions generating profits for the middleman.

This costs millions in losses to the government. The ministers ought to be jailed for this outright plunder. All government assets are now in danger.

Simply Best: Wow, more than 37 times the purchase value. Has the market value of land in Kuala Lumpur gone up that much?

I bought my house in Kajang, also in 2012, but has its price gone up by 10 times? Will Tabung Haji buy it from me at that price? For investment purposes, I mean.

Patriot1: What is the fair market value of the land? Any shortfall in the sale to 1MDB is at the expense of taxpayers. Any profit deemed to be made by Tabung Haji is at the expense of taxpayers. So either way, the taxpayers received a raw deal...

Shibboleth: Yes, Minister, the joke is on you. Definition of a clown: someone who says that GST is good for the rakyat and that buying land from 1MDB at RM2,800 psf is an investment.

1MDB deal - same clowns, different circus

1MDB’s cancer spreads to Tabung Haji

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