By Koon Yew Yin. Published by Free Malaysia Today on 29 April 2013.
I am not a politician but I know politics is very important because the elected politicians will make decisions which will affect you and your children. So, it is important to know who to vote for and who to vote against in the coming election.
About four years ago, I offered to donate RM30 million to build student hostels within the Universiti Tungku Abdul Rahman campus in Kampar so that students could get cheaper accommodation. I had no intention of personal gain. My only condition is that all the profit from the rent will go towards building more hostels and other facilities for the growing student population.
However, the MCA leaders who own the land and houses outside the university rejected my donation because they do not want me to spoil their very profitable rental business. Any UTAR student can tell you how much rent they are paying to their landlords simply because the university has refused to put any money into building student hostels.
This is in addition to the tuition fees they are paying to the MCA-connected university. UTAR’s account shows that it is very profitable. Every year, tens of millions of ringgit extra are paid out by the parents of UTAR students compared to those parents with students in the government-sponsored universities such as Universiti Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan.
It is important to point this out because the MCA is always crowing about the fantastic job it is doing for Chinese students. We must all remember that UTAR is not a charity organisation but a money making one. Since MCA did not want my money, I am now using my money to help poor students. I have given more than 100 scholarships.
If you know of any students with good academic results and whose parents are earning less than Rm 2,000 per month, please ask them to contact me by email: koonyewyin@gmail.com. They have to show me their parents pay vouchers and the University offer letters. I will definitely give them a reply within one or two days.
Perak water supply
About eight years ago, I wrote to the Perak Menteri Besar, Mohamad Tajol Rosli, that it was not necessary to build the dam in Sungei Kinta to supply water to Ipoh. He did not reply. Many people in Perak will know that I am an engineer with much experience. About 30 years ago my company built the water supply system to draw water from Sungei Perak in Parit.
As the river is a few hundred feet wide and never dry, we can never use up all the water. Why do we need another source of water? The Menteri Besar did not respond to my letter but went ahead with what I consider an irresponsible and wasteful project costing Perakians billions of ringgit.
That is why you – the voter – are paying higher water rates than the people in Penang.
Highway
Everyone knows that the BN government under whose rule our corruption standing has shot upwards gives out a lot of contracts without competitive tenders. A good example is the North-South highway. I was one of the founders of IJM Corporation which constructed a large portion of the highway but we were permitted to do work always only as a sub-contractor and never as the main one. It is not necessary for me to explain the reason for this.
Although IJM cannot win tenders in Malaysia for the N-S highway yet it can win five toll roads in India on open competitive tenders. So what happens when the BN government gives out the highway concessions to crony companies without competitive tendering.
Here again, the ordinary man in the street suffers. As a result, all road users are paying higher toll than necessary. Remember this every time you drive from Ipoh to Penang or Kuala Lumpur and have to pay through your nose for the toll.
Also it is necessary to ask why it is that we have to pay higher and higher tolls when the volume of traffic is continuously increasing. Surely, the logic of higher volume for any good or service is for the price to go down rather than go up.
Yet the BN government permits higher and higher tolls to the highway toll operators. Now whose side is the government on – the ordinary Malaysian or the major shareholders of the companies collecting the highway toll?
Electricity
The BN government also awards independent power generation contracts without open tender. As a result we are made to pay higher and higher electricity rates. Again it does not make any logical sense for us to pay higher and higher rates when the number of consumers is increasing continuously.
Any project will cost more if the contract is given out without open tender which is the method under the BN government. That is why the voters are paying higher water, electricity and toll rates.
Remember you are being cheated every time you drink water, switch on the lights or travel on the highway. Remember all these when you go to vote.
Koon Yew Yin is an investor and philantropist. He is the founder IJM Group, Gamuda and Mudajaya.
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