YOURSAY | ‘His warning is akin to a fox telling others how to guard the chicken coop.’

Najib sees decades of profit for 'cronies' with RTS privatisation

VoteOfOne: Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak thinks that the proposed privatisation of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link will ensure the “cronies” of Pakatan Harapan will reap profits for decades.

I guess it takes a crook to know one. Najib is only vocal about it now because he just counted the monetary opportunities he will not be able to profit from.

Boeyks: Look at what the kleptomaniac is saying – that by privatising the RTS Link, it will ensure profits for cronies in the years that follow.

Like the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), which his administration negotiated directly with the contractor from China? Luckily, Harapan renegotiated the ECRL contact and saved up to 30 percent from the initial pricing.

So what is this bulls**t on how to get the best deal for the people who are paying for it? The only way is through open competitive bidding – that means without his cronies coming in to sabotage the exercise and reap profits for themselves.

Previously, the self-titled “great defenders of the people” lodged themselves in high places to grab the lion’s share of projects without any consideration for public good.

Wira: “Cronies”? If competitive open tender bidding is breeding cronies, what do you call those who signed contracts through direct negotiations and with no due diligence?

9th of May: Just because the kleptocrat steals doesn’t mean others will steal as well.

Lovemalaysia2: Najib is such a fool. He knows nothing other than corruption, and so has lost touch with the real world.

Open tenders, properly qualified contractors, professional transport companies are the norm elsewhere in the world without them being accused of being cronies making money.

He doesn’t even know who will put in a proposal for the project yet. This is ridiculous.

Rupert16: Najib’s warning is akin to a fox telling others how to guard the chicken coop.

Vgeorgemy: Under the watch of the accused in a public fund theft, the costs of various projects became inflated, such as the MRT3, the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail and the River of Life.

Now we can see why he is getting agitated by seeing so many projects get moving. For him, it means the loss of opportunities to enrich himself and cronies.

Anonymous Ocb0104a: The difference between Harapan and BN is that if there are any private companies interested, it would be from open tenders. Not direct appointments, as was previously the norm.

At least now we should get what we are paying for, instead of being exorbitantly charged for low-grade materials and services.

Brahman: It's quite interesting to note that people still actually read or care what this ‘bossku without malu’ has got to say. Whatever for? It beats me.

Kahlil Gibran: @Brahman, but what he is saying is true. Maybe people only think he was corrupt, but we lived through 23 years of the sly old fox Dr Mahathir Mohamad cheating and stealing and falsely imprisoning people who spilt the beans on him.

Who benefited from the great wave of privatisations, from IPPs (independent power producers) to tolls, Malaysia Airlines, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd, Pharmaniaga, Bernas, Proton, Formula 1, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Telekom Bhd and so on?

I do not know how to lie and pretend that Mahathir was clean as many seem to believe now.

Anonymous 26345292004: At least now, there is open tender for such projects when before it was directly negotiated tender. More transparency is better than none.

Hafidz Baharom: The RTS link should be managed by Prasarana. Why does the government want to privatise it? And it won’t get any cheaper with privatisation.

Annoymous_Gem49: Najib and his wife and cronies are accused of plundering Malaysia's coffers. And now the ex-premier and his followers talk of extracting profits for decades.

Wasn't Ummo doing that for 60 years leaving the country in debt? Why doesn't he ever shut up? He and his wife got caught. Now he perceives everyone else to be as crooked as he is.

Tembikai: People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Najib, you are such a big embarrassment to your late father.

Malaysia hoping to privatise Johor-S'pore RTS

Idiocracy: Here come more privatisation projects. It looks like even DAP leader and Transport Minister Anthony Loke has turned to the dark side.

Kleptocracy will continue with more ‘piratisation’, as his party elder Lim Kit Siang used to say during Mahathir’s first tenure as prime minister. Same country, different robbers.

Annonymous 080: When the teat is on the table for milking, you would be a fool to be moralistic – even DAP leaders are now calling for more ‘piratisation’.

One look and anyone can tell you that RM15 for a one-way ticket is stupid. And yet they are thinking of going ahead with this project.

Let the traffic worsen and the situation will sort itself out. Many people in Johor Bahru are getting less and less interested in working in Singapore, and have set up their own businesses here.

Jonah2: Privatise the RTS Link project, please.

Don’t let civil servants, KTMB or the Public Works Department anywhere near this project, unless Putrajaya wants the cost to be five times more, be completed in 20 years’ time, and sustaining losses year after year – and ultimately, a bailout from taxpayers.

Anonymous_1527925538: Yes, better to make it private from the off, rather than trying to make changes later, which will only incur more cost.

Also, as almost all the commuters using it are earning or spending in Singapore dollars, and with future maintenance involving outlay in the currency, the fare must thus reflect this to give a truer picture of its affordability.

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