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WHAT YOU KNOW OR WHO YOU KNOW

102 Comments
1. We hear a lot about how in Malaysia it is who you know rather than what you know that wins you contracts from the Government.

2. I must admit there is some truth in this. One has to know the background of the bidder before deciding to give the award. If awards are made entirely on the basis of the offer, mistakes can be made also. This is because the bidder can get professionals and others to make “cannot be refused” offer which in the end would prove impossible to carry out.

3. It is true that those tasked with evaluating bids would tend to favour known performers rather than totally unknown strangers. The more they know about the bidders the more would their decisions be influenced. It is indeed “whom” you know and not “what” you know.

4. Decision-makers cannot avoid being lobbied directly or indirectly. In any case no matter who succeeds, there will be unhappiness on the part of the others who fail. And of course the accusation would be made that they fail because they did not know the right people. However if they have a chance to pull strings and influence decision makers they would not hesitate to do so. That they don’t like it when others get does not mean they won’t like it if they get. As for the critical observers, given the opportunity they would do it too. That is why contracts given by a previous Government would be nullified by an opposition Government so the contractors they know would benefit.

5. People should know that in the private sector “whom you know” is even more decisive than in the Government sector. If we look at the private construction industry which is bigger than in the Government sector, if you don’t know the right people you will not get a contract not even a small supply contract. To succeed in the private sector you must not only know what but most certainly you must know whom.

6.I have been asked by foreign gentlemen why is this so common in Malaysia and other developing countries. Isn’t this wrong? Shouldn’t the best bid win? Whom you know should not influence decisions.

7. Today I am amused by a news report about Ex-Labour Ministers in the United Kingdom being suspended because they offered lobbying service for cash. They can offer this because they know whom to lobby. “Byers, a former Transport Minister, boasted to the undercover journalist he had made a secret deal with Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis over the termination of a rail franchise contract.” Everyone denied of course.

8. But in America, the greatest democracy in the history of mankind, Congressional and Senate lobbyists actually set up lobbying firms. Most of the firms’ owners had been holding high positions in the previous Governments and they know the staff and the members of the current Government well.

9. They openly offer lobbying service for a fee. If you don’t have the money, that is too bad. The moneyed ones can actually cause motions to be put before the congress which could be passed. In fact Government policies in America have been shaped by the rich in Wall Street. I will not say more.

10. Seems like those who take the moral high ground and criticise influence peddling in Malaysia and other developing countries should have a good look at themselves. Pots should not sneer at the blackness of the kettle.

102 thoughts on “WHAT YOU KNOW OR WHO YOU KNOW”

  1. Dear Tun,
    First of all,I really appreciated and thankful to all of the outstanding services that you manage for our country.
    For the issue of- what you know and who you know, i am really aware and understand the logic sense of it, but not all people are like you, truthfull or can be half of you. People can abuse power and that worries the public.
    These know who attitude is spreading for a long time and it becomes a trademark to govt and even the private sector and it is tiresome for the middle classes and poorer people who do not know who to complaint or seek help.
    Just from my point of view, these know whos attitude is not only at the level on awarding mega projects, it can be seen from all various perspective from getting jobs, getting permit, approval for certain thing, school application, getting help for KPKT scheme and so on and on…
    Just i agreed on the logic sense of it, and do not agreed on the people who abuse the power. And what worries the public and anger them is so much like the previous downfall election of the umno – leaders with no heart and respect for the public and making more money as much they can.
    Because of know who- people tend to be hypocrite, friendly and trustworthy all in the name of things the wants.
    Thank you for reading my comment.

  2. Dear Tun,
    1. You have not mentioned that this is rather common in the way how high ranking positions are given through the “old boys network” particularly within the government agencies and GLCs.
    2. How many times have we heard a statement that the best people will be appointed to lead these organisations?
    3. How many times have we discovered that jobs being advertised but in the end these were given to candidates through the “old boys network”?
    4. The “old boys network” works very well for those who feel insecure in their respective positions and those who have developed a phobia for change and new ideas.
    5. They fear threats.
    6. By engaging friends, the incumbents will avoid threats to their own “comfort zones”.
    7. The “old boys network” also allows certain people to demonstrate that they have the absolute power to decide.
    8. Some people crave for power.
    9. However, it deprives talented people to show their true capability on “what I know” principle.
    10.I recollect that a plan to introduce an Integrated Ticketing System for KL public transports was mooted in the early 90’s. Years later, it is still an agonising hot topic of “discussion” though other countries have “physically” moved on from strength to strength in this respect.
    11. How about the plan to build the recreational park in KL similar to Hyde Park in London? Until now, not even a single plant is in sight.
    12. Perhaps we are still waiting for the candidates from the “old boys network” to lead these projects?
    13. Tengku Razali Hamzah summed up his views very well by stating that (I quote)

  3. Salam YAB Tun,
    Orang yang mengetahui dan orang yang mengenal adalah dua istilah yang tidak sama. Orang yang berilmu digelar alim manakala yang kenal digelar arif. Kedua-duanya tidak sama kerana lawan bagi alim ialah jahil manakala dikatakan engkar bagi yang tidak kenal.
    Wassalam.

  4. Dear Sir,
    Just a short question to you. Is there anything which we as Malaysians could do to diminish these sort of bias behavior amongst the Government Servants?
    A youth with a burning desire
    to bring a small change to
    my beloved country, Malaysia.

  5. Salam kasih dan salam hormat Ayahanda Tun. Mohon di izinkan sedikit ruang disini. Terima kasih Tun.
    Dear Brother Waja Perak, as you can see, I am going to be literally taking up on Tun’s next posting topic which is “Ikan Yu”, and I am going out fishing =) and I won’t be touching any protected species of the deep I do assure you.
    My email is: [email protected]
    Keep in touch and have fun. Thank you 🙂
    P.S: To my friend Wok: Thanks for the mention. I generally agree with what you say, but maybe too we should keep in mind that our Tun is above all this CNN F1 issue. Besides, if Tun say’s its raining in Timbuktu now, then we say bring as many umbrella as you could. If Tun says it is for a reason, then we say go and cheer them on at the F1! See, Tun is above all of us here. Never forget that in any miles this journey may takes us. If it weren’t for Tun, would we even be here like this? Thank you my friend.

  6. Dear Tun Dr Mahathir,
    You have shed some light on the Tun Salleh Abbas issue. Would you kindly tell us your side of the story on Perwaja Steel issue ?
    Thank you so much.

  7. I have all along despised the west for their high-horse attitude towards third world nations, in almost all aspects.
    Being the best hippocrites they are, they practice the very same things they claim to abhor,in all aspects and more.
    Every so often I am proven right when all sorts of scandals are uncovered, from the American Blackwater scandal to the British Duck Pond fiasco.
    Talk about corruption, they are the biggest offerors in order to sell their machinery,technology,weapons,ect.
    .

  8. dear Tun,
    with all due respect… but, why justify a wrong?
    two wrongs will never make one right.

  9. Assallammualaikumwarahmatullahiwabarokatuh..
    Semoga diizinkan dan mendapat perkenan Tun..
    Bro Kamal Ahmad.
    I truly understand your frustation.Remember the term ‘amuk’?It is originated from Malay and the Malay community.Why? Because this is the only way they thought they can let steam their pent up anger, repressed,marginalized etc etc.They demonstrated bodly and brazenly without care and concerns of the loss of life and any colateral damage.
    Bro Kamal.True.Patient have it’s limitation.But is it truly that we have exhausted all our option? Have we consulted the imam,the hafiz so they can use their ultimate weapon for us?..The “DOA”?
    DOA itu senjata orang-orang mukmin.
    Hadith Rasullulah s.a.w
    I know you have been trying very hard in “righting the wrong”.But in this CNN issue,have we truly seen it holistically? Forgive me..But I would like you to remember this from Musa a.s learning the lesson from Nabi Khidir a.s.I am refreshing your memory.
    First issue.Nabi Musa a.s mistake in acknowledging that he is the utmost knowledgeable in that time.Bila di tanya oleh seorang pengikutnya..”Wahai Musa,siapakah orang yang paling alim di zaman ini?..Akulah orangnya”.
    Allah admonished him.”Pergilah engkau kepada seorang di antara hamba kami di pertemuan dua buah laut itu.Dia lebih berpengetahuan dari mu.
    So..Musa a.s set sailed with Yusak Bin Nun to the designated place.There,they met Khidir a.s and Musa asked him.
    Sudikah tuan mengajarkan ilmu kepada aku apa yang telah di anugerahkan oleh Allah kepada mu?
    Jawab Khidir..Engkau tidak akan sanggup bersabar kepadanya.
    Bagaimana engkau akan sanggup bersabar kepada sesuatu yang engkau tiada     pengetahuan kepadanya?
    InsyaAllah..engkau akan dapati aku sangup bersabar padanya.
    Jawab Khidir.Baiklah.Jika engkau mengikuti aku,janganlah engkau menanyakan sesuatu sehingga aku sendiri yang menerangkannya kepada mu.
    Second issue.The inability of Musa a.s to fulfill this promise.In his view,perception and comprehension, Khidir has erred when he damaged the boat,killed the young boy and erected the wall.
    After the explanation by Khidir a.s the issue came into light.
    Bukanlah aku melakukannya mengikut kehendak aku sendiri.Inilah takwilnya perbuatan aku yang kamu tidak sanggup bersabar kepadanya.
    Story excerpt from Surah Al Kahfi Verse 60 – Verse 82.
    Bro Kamal.You can see that most of the time story,narration,incidence and event in Al Quran can be related to our present moment.
    Regarding CNN,Malaysian political scenario and your frustation in regard of discarded baby,society     ethic cleansing
    is well noted and understood.But if I may,we always overlook the solution that Rasullulah s.a.w already offered us..
    DAKWAH..
    And true unconditional love towards Allah.Mari kita menghayati hadith yang amat jarang kita dengar dan baca ini..
    “Mereka memberatkan diri dengan mencintaiKu.Sebagaimana anak kecil memberatkan dirinya dengan sesuatu.Mereka duduk kepada mengingati Aku ( berzikir kepadaKu = Allah ),sebagaimana burung helang duduk di dalam sarangnya.Mereka marah bagi segala yang Aku haramkan,sebagaimana harimau marah apabila ia marah.Bahawa ia tidak peduli,sedikitnya manusia atau banyak”.
    Tersebut di dalam “ittihaf-syarah Ihya’.Jilid IX hal 6262.Bahawa demikianlah di terangkan oleh pengarang kitab “Al Qaut”.Kemudian di riwayatkan oleh Ath-Thabrani dari ‘Aisyah dari Rasullulah s.a.w,bahawa Nabi Musa a.s berdoa yang searti dengan yang di atas.
    Detail tentang anak kecil,burung helang dan harimau akan menyusul kemudian.InsyaAllah.
    Terima kasih Tun..

  10. Ideally, the awards of projects should be based on some objective criteria for performance, efficiency, and long term objectives/priorities, which include affirmative action to provide development opportunities to those who would otheriwse be constrained.
    If there is ia proper focus on objectives, I don’t see how lobbying can be a problem. We just have to listen and ignore what is irrelevant.
    I believe your projects were handled in this manner and don’t have a problem with it. Or, rather that the process of awards in your case were of the highest order of integrty, if one properly looks at it.
    If projects are awarded according to these long term and short term objectives, then there is no reason to cancel projects when another party comes to power, unless it’s seriosuly in conflict. Businesses enter into commitments based on contracts which takes time to undo and so changes in priorities should be phased in with due notice.

  11. Salam Tun..
    Tun something is fishy now days in ur blog..very less comments.
    maybe its been filtered too muchhh..
    Gooday Tun..

  12. salam tun,
    I just want to ask something which is not related to your post.
    How come there is Starbuck advertisement on your blog? I thought you encourage us to boycott those product. Hrm, I’m just wondering, not being offensive in any way.

  13. Saya bersetuju dengan Hamidon Amirul Hazarin yang berkata: “Langkah lebih agresif untuk menarik Pelaburan Asing (FDI) yang bakal diperkenalkan kerajaan kelak akan menyaksikan aliran masuk dana-dana asing yang akan juga membawa masuk agenda, kepentingan, amalan dan budaya koporat asing kedalam kancah ekonomi dan kepentingan negara.”
    Pemasukan pelaburan asing akan menurunkan peratusan kepentingan kaum Melayu dalam kek ekonomi Malaysia dan justera, akan menjejaskan dasar ekonomi negara. Oleh itu, saya berasa bahawa Malaysia perlu mengamalkan sistem ekonomi tertutup seperti yang pernah diamalkan di banyak negara demi melindungi dan mempertahankan hak kaum Melayu serta masa hadapan generasi-generasi Melayu yang akan datang. Tidak boleh dinafikan bahawa Malaysia, walaupun kecil, adalah sebuah negara yang kaya dengan sumber semula jadi dan oleh itu, adalah mampu diri dan berdikari.

  14. Salam buat Ayahanda,
    Apa nak hairan, nak menikah pun mesti kenal menantu dulu… (Ulangan)
    Barulah meyakinkan bila nak faraid harta pusaka nanti..
    Analoginya, dah kenal baik dengan penender, terjaminlah komisennya… Kalau pilih orang dari entah mana-mana, pasti gigit jarilah jawabnya..

  15. hmmm….just watch a documentary about you on history channel…thank you so much for all your good work…you are precious to us…and im thankful for having the opportunity to live in your era…..thanks tun

  16. Assalamualaikum YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir,
    1.Langkah lebih agresif untuk menarik Pelaburan Asing (FDI) yang bakal diperkenalkan kerajaan kelak akan menyaksikan aliran masuk dana-dana asing yang akan juga membawa masuk agenda, kepentingan, amalan dan budaya koporat asing kedalam kancah ekonomi dan kepentingan negara.
    2.Pada pendapat YAB Tun, boleh kah ada terdapat dengan sahih garisan pemisah yang jelas untuk diguna pakai oleh pakar ekonomi kerajaan ketika memilih dana FDI untuk dibawa masuk ke Malaysia: kejelasan diantara keikhlasan niat untuk hanya berniaga di Malaysia (bersama-sama mencari rezeki di Malaysia) dan juga agenda niat halusan membawa masuk kepentingan asing kedalam politik dan lanskap Malaysia?
    3.Pada 2002 Kerajaan India telah mengizinkan FDI yang berbentuk pelaburan sebanyak 26% milikan asing kedalam media cetak mereka. Hari ini mereka sedang menganalisis secara terperinci kesan-kesan negatif dan rosak-jahanam yang telah diakibatkan oleh FDI tersebut. Pada pendapat YAB Tun, sudahkah ada bibik permulaan penerokaan media asing kedalam agenda nasional Malaysia?
    4.Dipendekkan cerita, FDI secara rambang tanpa mekanisma pemantau yang menghadkan pendedahan kepentingan negara kepada agenda tuan punya milikan asing FDI hanya akan membawa kepada penyelesaian jangka pendek tetapi dengan cara melelong kepentingan jangka panjang sesebuah negara. Persoalan sekarang, adakah kerajaan yang diketuai UMNO sedar apa yang sedang berlaku kini?
    5.Di Malaysia kaum Melayu adalah 60% peratus majoritinya, akan tetapi adakah keseluruhan 60% ini bersifat ultra-Melayu ataupun sebaliknya? Pada pendapat YAB Tun,adakah UMNO kini sedang berusaha untuk menyeimbangkan semula cengkauan pengaruhnya bagi meliputi semula kumpulan Melayu

  17. Ybhg Tun,
    Slogan “Apa kamu tahu dan siapa kamu kenal” telah diketahui dan sudah “mangli” dengan rakyat 1Malaysia.
    Tiada slogan ini bermakna slogan “alibaba”. Yang berkemampuan untuk melaksanakan sesuatu projek tidak berpeluang mendapatkan projek. Rata-rata boleh dilihat banyak projek yang sudah menjadi projek “gajah putih” apabila “orang yang berkuasa” telah hilang kuasanya.
    Pihak yang menjadi mangsa adalah rakyat dan sub-kontrekter (orang yang berkemampuan).
    Rakyat rugi kerana wang cukai yang dipungut dari mereka tidak dibelanjakan sebaik mungkin oleh orang yang berkuasa untuk kesejahteraan dan kerharmonian kerana terdapat kebocoran wang yang boleh dilaksanakan projek prasarana yang lain. Umpama “yang dikendong tak siap dan yang dipegang lesap” kerana rakyat tidak dapat menikmati kemudahan “projek gajah putih”.
    Sub-kontrekter (orang yang berkemampuan) mengalami kerugian kerana tidak mendapat upah dari kontrekter utama (alibaba) atas alasan “bayaran dari kerajaan belum diterima”. Mereka tidak membayar kerana ingin mendapat “keuntungan mudah” setelah dibayar oleh kerajaan kerana kontrekter alibaba ini tidak lagi akan mendapat kontrek disebabkan orang yang mereka kenal telah “hilang kuasa”.
    Tidak perlu memberi contoh, kita menoleh kebelakang dan lihat apa yang berlaku sekarang berpunca dari peralihan kuasa beberapa tahun yang lalu.
    Semoga apa yang telah berlaku tidak akan terus berlaku, jika berlaku lagi jumlahnya akan berkurangan dari sebelum ini. Sistem jumpa bincang, setuju naik atas sain kontrek dan turun bawah bayar diharapkan akan pupus selama-lamanya jika kerajaan ingin terus berkuasa.

  18. memang dari dulu dah kat malaysia ni ada satu persepsi bahawa kita perlu kenal orang untuk berjaya(dalam apa2 bidang) bukan apa yang kita tahu…

  19. Well, I would say that this is just a normal trend that was passed on since the times people started to get into various positions, benefits, and etc just because the color of their hair and also the name list that were saved in their blood. Why does the occurance of these matters ignite any sort of questions and confusions?I wonder…
    isn’t it funny and ironic, that people tends to kick the ball around when they smell trouble? or when they are out of the picture? Come on, quit acting like you’re not part of this and just accept the fact that it has already being ‘blended’ into the lives and rules of many in this country because people who has the power and authority doesn’t care about all these as long as the green bucks is in their pocket safe and sound.
    Statements like these can only be of a laughing stock to outsiders and to the people who already realised that this is all a NORM to us Malaysians. Powerless people, poor people, and rightous people knows all these but they just can’t do anything because EQUAL chances were not given to them.
    It’s ok, it’s fine. We are happy right now because we are already used to this. Smile..

  21. The country’s Islamic recreational traditions may seem conservative when measured by Western Standards but once accustomed to the family-oriented way of life, it’s easy to appreciate the gentle, caring nature of people…..

  22. “WHAT YOU KNOW OR WHO YOU KNOW?”
    I agree with T who says: “The classic case of the know-who being more important than the know-how. Giving the contracts to those with the “know-who” is sometimes a necessary evil, provided those who get the contract can perform. However, in Malaysia, most of those who got the contracts through “know-who” instead of “know-how” cannot perform and are bailed out. And some of them don’t even try to perform – they straight away sub-contract it out to others with the know-how. These latter cases are really Ali-Baba rent seekers who do not add value at all.”
    WHO YOU KNOW does not necessarily translate into meritocracy or “WHAT YOU KNOW”, unless meritocracy is redefined to include “WHO YOU KNOW”. But putting WHO YOU KNOW on the pedestal widely opens the door for corruption.
    There is this classic story of a job-seeker without the requisite work experience who got the job simply by asking the interviewer: “If everyone doesn’t give me a chance, where do I get the requisite experience?”
    Lest we jump to the conclusion that we should award contracts to every Tom, Dick, and Harry… no, that’s not what I meant. Contractors are given licences based on Class, no? And if a Class A licence contractor is denied eligibility merely because he doesn’t know the people who is going to decide on the contract, well…. we can justify till the cows come home, but God knows that something’s cooking. And you can forget about becoming an industrialized nation by 2020 when you don’t develop a big supplier base… just a handful of “Friends of UMNO” cannot turn Malaysia into an industrialized nation.

  23. you may right the cause of lobbying, but you can’t right the fact that bad individuals are getting approval again and again to leech our money and balloon the mega projects.
    Why not let us set an example for others based on meritocracy? Instead of comparing with westerners where it really means nothing in terms of culture, let us compare among our region which is more relevant to us. Or maybe, comparing the past and present governments would be a good start.

  24. My Dearest Tun Always,
    It is fact of the matter that “who you know and not what you know” matters and this is the trend anywhere, everywhere and always and does not cover just the Government or the private sector but it is in EVERYTHING.
    I for one faces it day in day out since my quest to forward my concept which is accepted by almost everyone that views it or read it or understand it and the END result is “who do you know” that can take you to the next level of negotiations, even after going through that level the question will come directly for you to “KNOW” that you need to “KNOW” the PM to forward such a massive and comprehensive proposal.
    In politics its even worse and you need to have connections to “who you know rather than what you know” and I believe that when you “know” someone higher in politics than you “know” where you are heading.
    Lobbying is always the “thing” since it is born in AMERICA and anything from that country is considered LEGAL AND MORALLY right and its a fact that yo can meet “lobbyist” of this type anywhere in KL and its not “what he knows” that matters its “who he knows”.
    DSAI seems to have this “FRONT” and it works for him and everybody believe that because of “who he knows” that makes him better than anyone else that can be the PM of the country and NOT “what he knows”.
    Somebody just told him he “knows the Sultan of Brunei” and he can lobby directly and to engage him he must be paid a “fee” and what he dose not “know” is yet to be “known”.

  25. Salam hormat Tun berdua dan pembaca semua.
    1. It has been quite a while yes, and I am glad that I could still find some time to add my two-cents worth here.
    2. Tun and all, we can go on debating whether it is what we know or who we know that really matters. Some I see are quite bitter here and saying that situations in other countries are not this bad. I say, which country????
    3. It always other countries are better than us. To me, that’s a lot of bull****. Anywhere and everywhere this thing happens. As long as man is man, greed, favours, cronies and all that is similar, will exist.
    4. The only difference would be the extend of damage or sickness within the system.
    5. No system is made or formulated to intentionally breed graft, but those graft takers and givers will always find ways to sideline the rules.
    6. Hence, it is us ourselves that should really take the blame.Whether we are in the system or outside the system. Of course, if those within the system have enough integrity not to abuse the system, then this debate would not have existed in the first place. And if those outside the system believes that a cake should be shared and shared equally and not simply want a piece all the time, then the world really would be a better place to live in, wouldn’t it?
    7. Some may say, dream on…. But I say, the journey to the mountain starts with the first step.
    8. I pledge to do my part to make the system which I am in, one that works for those that I serve, and that my clients be satisfied with my services.
    9. Do you pledge the same? For Malaysia? For the future generation?
    Lets have good thinking, positive thinking, collective work, regardless of our political ideologies for a start. God knows, we need a better Malaysia to leave to out kids so that they don’t curse us when we are all in our graves.
    Jaga diri, Jaga solat Tun and all. In the end, we will all stand in front of Allh SWT, answerable to all our deeds. Will we be able to save our skins then?
    sikenit.
    7. And if the contracts or

  26. Good morning Dr.M,
    As a engineer, this practise has serious consequences to whoever is practising. It is not only monetory loses but also life threatening.
    The know who practise not only corrupted the businesses but unfortunately the engineering practise. My previous involvement with the dubious contractors teaches me the following:
    1. It does not matter if I cannot finish on schedule, blow the budget or make mistakes. The only rule is to obey the master than I will be spared.
    2. In the offcie we talked about “kan tow”. Nobody care about the technicality of the work. There are always opportunity like supplying to the master or getting kickback for introducing sub contractors.
    3. The work ethic is to assist the master to squeeze as much juice as possible from the public fund.
    Now you can see the engineering community has been corrupted. This corruption is not to be interpreted as accepting bribe but rather than corruption of the work ethic and system like a computer operating system corrupted by virus. There are clear evidents like stadium roof collapsed, operating theatres in one state of Malaysia is none operational, poor quality of building, port built on shallow shore, new hospital build non operational, fly over structural failure, buiding collapsed, etc. There are also cases of dubious contractor claim payment for work not carried out.
    Beside having a economy lost, the concept of who you know also lead to serious public safety and defective work.
    In one Chinese proverb, learn bad in three days and learn good in three years. Reconsider your thought again if you disagree with me.

  27. SALAM KASIH DAN SAYANG
    AYAHANDA RAKYAT TUN
    IZINKAN,
    By S..Tan on March 26, 2010 1:25 AM
    Dear YAB Tun, salam mesra harap sihat. Kiriman saya pada pandangan yg dilontar di sini. Dgn izin…
    ………SALAH ORANG SAJA?
    …
    SDR. S..TAN,
    22 TAHUN MEMBINA DAN MEMBANGUNKAN NEGARA DENGAN KERINGAT DAN AIRMATA UNTUK ANAKANDA RAKYAT…
    KONGSI RAYA, KEKAYAAN, KEAMANAN, KESEJAHTERAAN, KEMAKMURAN, KEHORMATAN…MASIH DIKATAKAN KEGAGALAN?
    BAGAIKAN MELEPAS ANJING TERSEPIT…
    BAGAIKAN RAMBUT LURUS, HATI BERKUDIS…
    BAGAIKAN PESAKIT ‘ABI’ DAN ‘DUMB’…
    DENDAM TAK SUDAH…SIKAP SETAN… PEMUSNAH WAWASAN.
    WAWASAN 2020 LANDASAN BAGI JENERASI MENDATANG YANG TAK PERLU BERHARAP KEPADA ‘ WHAT YOU KNOW OR WHO YOU KNOW’ TETAPI ‘ WHO WE ARE’…KAMI ANAK MALAYSIA MAJU!
    HENTIKAN PERBALAHAN, HENTIKAN MENUNDING..MASA KINI MASA MEMPERKASAKAN NEGARA TERCINTA… TANAH LAHIR DAN TUMPAH NYA DARAH ANAK CUCU KITA SEKELIAN..
    ALFATIHAH, AMIN.
    Ps. Fyi, Samuraimelayu once had submitted a concept development proposal called ‘ K.I.P.P’ (Kawasan Ibu Pejabat Polis) armed with the ‘technical’ know who and what but never got a reply from the Ministry concerned. Later, we found out the concept was implemented in Bandar Perda ( the similarity was uncanny) and the abbreviations K.I.P.P is now Petronas adoption… Tiada sumpah dan dendam..kami hanya berserah kepada yang MAHA PENCIPTA mengadili Penciplak yang menganiaya…

  28. Assalamualaikum Tun,
    Last week I went home to my kampung in N9. My neighbour who is an orang kuat pemuda umno (who also works as a contractor kecil-kecilan) gets govt tenders and then look for non-malay contractors to do the job. He takes home a measly 5%. Five percent Tun…
    Our mistake – my family hired him to build a workshop beside our house. After he finished, my mum was not satisfied with his work and hired a non malay contractor to make an additional room with an attached bathroom to our main house. And you know what?? The drain made by the Malay contractor is already CRUMBLING!! The one made by the non malay contractor is still standing proud…
    Inilah dia jenis contractor yg dapat kontrak kerajaan… it’s not your capability but it’s who you know that is important. Contracts should be given to people who can do the job and not to sub-con it. Hope the present ruling party will wake up and not let this to go on, esp those who got tenders to do the rumah rakyat and rumah murah. Please look into this. Thank you for listening Tun..

  29. I work in an engineering design firm the United States and I can certainly say that it is true in my work culture that (while both are important) the WHO trumps the WHAT.
    I think it is a positive message. We are encouraged to be personable and friendly to our clients and subcontractors etc. We take pride in that.
    My boss would often say:
    People don’t hire companies. People hire people.
    It certainly does not matter if you’re the most qualified person but who is a jackass, nobody is going to work with you.

  30. Dear Tun,
    To me it does not matter whom you know as long as you know your job and you can finish it on time within budget without too many viament.

  31. Dear Tun,
    1. When I was little, I used to make mistakes all the time, and my mother would give me a lecture. I would point out that someone else made the same mistake, and my mother would say this:
    “I’m scolding you because you are my son, not them!”
    2. In this case, the sad thing about it is that instead of trying to correct and learn from our mistakes, we justify ourselves by pointing out the mistake of others!
    3. How are we to improve if we keep on doing this? Mistakes are acceptable as long as we learn from it! That is the natural process of acquiring knowledge and growing up.
    4. I am sure a good number of people do not care about how contracts are given. The only reason that is an issue is because we have bridges on the verge of falling down!
    5. And don

  32. Dearest YAB dan DiKasihi Tun,
    I believe WHAT YOU KNOW is more important to win government contracts.
    WHO YOU KNOW is just a BONUS.
    If I were to evaluate (if I were the person in charge) two bidders/applications, and both had about the same skills and experience, then I would definitely go for the one I know better.
    On a different note, UMNO must contest at Hulu Selangor. We must learn from mistakes and past history.
    ** May Allah SWT bless Tun & family **

  34. Salam kasih dan salam hormat Ayahanda Tun. Please if I may be allowed some small room here. Thank you Tun.
    Bro Waja Perak, yes indeed there is something that is bothering me. At times I feel that we are all a nation of hypocrite. For ages we have admonished, rebuked, spit at CNN for them being an ultra Zionist-American propaganda machine. Then we saw 1Malaysia F1 team and then now we are seeing Lotus CNN F1 team, the principal being the one and same Tony Fernandez of the famed Air Asia group with links to Kallimullah, and then Kallimullah to Khairy and off course Khairy to father in law Abdullah and off course Abdullah to long time UMNO. See, that is why I am distress. We are not taking good care of UMNO, of this country of ourselves. Why don

  35. Ayahanda Tun,
    The Star Online……,
    //Published: Friday March 26, 2010 MYT 7:01:00 PM
    Updated: Friday March 26, 2010 MYT 7:03:39 PM
    NEM emphasises more equitable opportunities for all: PM
    KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the New Economic Model (NEM) would emphasise on more equitable opportunities so that each and every Malaysian would be able to realise their maximum potential.
    The Prime Minister said the Government would also identify new sources of growth, both in terms of where the growth was going to come from, plus looking at new markets.
    He said under the NEM, to be unveiled at the end of this month, there would be great emphasis on creativity and innovation.

  36. Assalamualaikum YABhg. Tun and all….
    Memang tepat …… the pot will call the kettle black…..when they failed,, everyones around will be blamed as incompetent just like they are very very competent lah…….
    Everytime they tried hard taking US as the model of everything, sometimes i just laugh myself alone not very loud,….

  37. Salam Tun,
    Hari ini Jumaat(26/3/10) rasa bangga dan teruja dapat jumpa Tun di Masjid Negara. Saya tengok secara luaran Tun masih lagi sihat dan segar walaupun berusia.
    Mengenai topik ini, saya sendiri ada pengalaman berurusan dengan pihak Kerajaan.Belum bahagian melobi kontrak lagi, halnya baru berkaitan dengan permohonan dana usahawan. Sampai sekarang belum ada hasilnya.Mungkin pihak kerajaan nak menguji peniaga/kontraktor/usahawan terutamanya bumiputera betul-betul lasak/berdaya tahan ataupun tidak.
    Kadang-kadang rasanya tak salah kita perlu mengenal seseorang bagi urusan seperti ini jika ianya sangat2 diperlukan, tapi kadang-kadang orang yang kita nak kenal tu tak nak berkenalan dengan kita.Mungkin dia seorang kerja kerajaan kot?

  38. Salams Tun,
    dan saudara2 sekelian..
    Tajuk berapi dari Tun MM.
    La ni Who you know laa.. Nanti what you didn’t know..
    Mcm kena hisab kat sana nanti.. Ishk3.. Dok kira kontrak saja..
    Satu Msia.. Satu Dunia.. Satu saja laa…
    Saya dah bertahun lobby tak pernah dapat pun.. dapat kena tipu lagi ada.. hilang kawan.. hilang harta.. hilang masa.. nasib baik x hilang nyawa.. WAHhahahah…
    Sure kita bising kalo tak dapat.. semua hilang nih…semangat dan harta pusaka.. heheheh
    Walau pemerintahan tukar namun org nya tetap sama.. (hero hindustan lama juga) Selagi ada orang2 ni sure la tak jalan kerja.. Ada pula yang sanggup punahkan hak negeri sendiri semata- mata negeri dah jadi milik lawan.. dah jadi seteru..
    Melayu bukan Mudah Lupa Tun..
    Melayu Sudah Lupa..
    Mimpi ngeri abad ke 21. Pi mai pi mai yang rugi negeri kita…
    Negara kita…
    Bangsa kita..
    1 Msia kita..
    Al maklum Amerika sekutu Yahudi.. Jadi dah memang perangai depa mcm tu.. Jangan la pula kita jadi manusia zaman jahiliyah moden. Semua bole beli.. Anak bini serta isteri2. hehehe..
    Salam sayang kat Tun.. Dah lama chek tak mai sini.. Masih membloging hero saya nih.. Alhamdullilah.AmpOn lah sekiranya nukilan ni menyinggung sesiapa.. Bowing dengan keadaan semasa..
    Perjuangan belum selesai nooo…
    Kuthe.

  39. salam…
    munafik….fasik…..doing fasad on this earth….bersekongkol dgn musyrikin instead of our fakir brothernt need us…we all waiting Allah to judge us…and somehow it tickles me that kita ni tengah seronok dan sibuk dok tuduh menuduh who is the more pious..what is right(kononnya) and yet cakap sja berdegar2(sepatutnya dgn tindakan) and the sickness continue..masyaAllah…semoga Allah taala sentiasa memberi rahmat di bumi Malaysia ini ..amin..

  40. salam…
    munafik….fasik…..doing fasad on this earth….bersekongkol dgn musyrikin instead of our fakir brothernt need us…we all waiting Allah to judge us…and somehow it tickles me that kita ni tengah seronok dan sibuk dok tuduh menuduh who is the more pious..what is right(kononnya) and yet cakap sja berdegar2(sepatutnya dgn tindakan) and the sickness continue..masyaAllah…semoga Allah taala sentiasa memberi rahmat di bumi Malaysia ini ..amin..

  41. Assalamu Alaikum Tun,
    To AJ,
    If you are Malaysian, you should be proud to this country national language, the Bahasa Melayu..don’t belittled it. If you cannot appreciate the national language, why spend you time in this country..you are really unappreciative person..

  42. Assalamualaikum YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir,
    1- Berikutan dengan langkah-langkah meliberalisasikan ekonomi negara yang telah diambil oleh kerajaan pada pertengahan tahun 2009, sebuah syarikat

  43. Dear Tun,
    From my point of view the main point Tun is making with this blog entry is – How the high and mighty white Rajahs who used to rule over us by force are now trying to subjugate us with their high and mighty “better than thou” concepts – That they are not any better than us mere mortals.
    These WHITE Rajahs would have us believe that we are corrupt, uncivilised, immoral, biased, etc…whereas they are the most civilised, clean, trusting, uncorrupted, democratic, good countries, people, culture and what not….
    Well everybody…it is a wake up call to ALL of us that these white “democratic” Rajahs are NO DIFFERENT from us mere mortals.
    They are as corrupt, biased, greedy, uncivilised as anyone else.
    Lets us see them for what they are; NOT what they want to portray themselves to be.
    Worst still are those mere mortals amongst us who think these White Rajah are the best and want to model themselves against these White Rajahs.
    Dumb dumb dumb…..how dumb can we be.
    They can fool all of us some of the time. They can fool some of us all of the time. BUT they can never fool all of us all of the time.
    So we, the so called THIRD WORLD, do we still want to be fooled and our honour, dignity, pride and resources stolen from under our noses by these White Rajahs.
    Do we still want to be DUMB and FOOLS?
    Wake up men…Do not let these stupid White Rajahs Fool us into killing our selves, subjugating ourselves, and worst putting their big dirty feet on our heads.
    I am not against the white people per se, but the ones who still think they rule the world as in the colonial era of Empire Building.
    Beware the covert and hidden arms of the propaganda machinary who will stoop to any means to gain their goals….CIA, MI5, Mossad, etc…
    For those emotional Muslims who think they are fighting Allah’s wars with terroism and so forth…don’t be surprise that YOU are being made use of by these hidden arms…
    Please fight your wars with a clear mind…not with unbridled emotions…when you are emotional…it is VERY easy for anyone to fool you and use you to kill you brothers, you neighabours, your friends, even your family.
    God Bless Malaysia and the TRUELY FREE WORLD (not free as defined by the rich white nations, please!

  44. everyone is ware that you as to know some one “who you know”, you must be able to show your record “What you know/ Who you are”, this is just part of the business. BUT our concern is this usually bring to “Bribe” “Rasuah” “Corruption”. So, the one who grant the contract must be responsible and accoutable when things turn bad or does not materialize as it should! i.e a white elephant building, unsafe bridge and etc. Again transparentcy is the key word !

  45. Dear beloved Tun
    I am always amased by how you inteprete issue to your favor.
    What the world condemn about Malaysia is, we have ali that get a contract without any back ground but simply a buddy to menteri besar. he then pass the contract to baba. Not that kind of western “know who” that you claim.
    I know a person who is holding a IT contract from a state goverment going around looking for consulting firm to execute for him.
    Isnt the state should award to the consulting firm directly ?
    Why a minister’s first level middlemen ( there are so many level of middlement and their job is just to pass the letter to or get letter from minister ) can affort to drive a S class Mecs. Why , Why.
    This is what you call “know who” in Malaysia, Malaysia Boleh
    Thank you
    sam

  46. Tun,
    I’ve been struggling on this inside my chest and hope you or any well intended blogger could help.
    Getting and winning contacts thru “who you know” (and thru paying a fee, commission, gratitude money or whatever you want to call or rationle it, in black & white or verbal pact)- is this an accepted way of doing business in Malaysia ?
    Is this not corruption ?
    The famous saying “its not corruption unless you are caught” keeps ringing in my head. Is this the standard operating procedure?

  47. Good morning Ayahanda Tun,
    May I…..,
    //By S..Tan on March 26, 2010 1:25 AM
    ……….BAHASA SALAH SIAPA……….BAHASA SALAH SIAPA
    While others were forced to learn BM, you were basking in supremacy. Your own policy failed you (limiting your language capability), yet others get blamed. I wont vehemently object if govt force everybody to study Arabic language (with good intention). There is no harm learning if it proves useful.
    I think if govt did not make BM compulsory, Malays stand a better chance in employment market cos the others will be short of one language also. Malays will corner the interpreter market cos BM is official language. You will corner jobs in businesses in Malay segment as other races have no access. They definitely wont blame Malays are racist for putting up job ads with Malay language requirement! Their fault for not learning.
    Apa nak jadi bangsa yg asyik menuduh saja, sampai tergamak tuduh saudara bangsa sendiri yg membuat dia mengemis.//
    I beg your pardon, S..Tan? Who made Kebangsaan Schools converted to BM? You should ask your 1/2 brother, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim why he suggested this policy? BN Cabinet approved the policy because the whole world was doing this during that time.
    Today, because People’s Republic of China, had opened her economy, the Singapore made it compulsory that all Singaporeans need to study Mandarin. Singapore banned Casino in the past, today it allowed Casino to be build on Singapore land to tap the Asia’s non-muslim market. In order to survive this new world, Singapore can change its government policies anytime without debate (since no parliament) to adapt to the world trend because they do not have natural resources.
    You are indeed ‘sneering’ at the blackness of the kettle because you assumed what you know about Malaysia. If you are not happy with our government policies, use all your know how to make sure you are elected in the Cabinet Minister post. If you can’t, it would be better off for you to ask yourself ‘who are you’ and ‘what are you made of’ since you are very very pisang who knows only your race. Yes, my money is mine, your money is not mine because You are nobody to me, is it wrong?
    Have a pleasant day, Ayahanda Tun.

  48. Assallammualaikumwarahmatullahiwabarokatuh.
    Bro Kamal.
    I did not know what is it that truly bothering you.Maybe you should share those pent up emotion..
    [[You won Hanan. Yours sincerely – seorang Me-layu]]
    I beg to differ and would like you to see from this angle of view.
    Once when British ‘controlled’ the education department,the Malay youngster’s just being contented in Islamic education in pondok-pondok.
    When some malay’s who adventured in Egypt and Turkey came home,they brought new’s of that surrounding with them.The local have started to open their eye’s toward’s the world event and it shocked them to knew that Arab lost to Israel in those war just in 6 day’s!!
    Information,new’s and data.What would we do about them? Some youngster’s believe it is time to shape up local political event.They started in “Golongan Muda” and “Golongan Tua”.Later we have API,AWAS and PKMM and other’s.
    That is the start’s of Malay political evolution.The new’s that some Malay adventurer brought from the middle east have altered the Malay Peninsular local political scene.
    Under British,some Malay’s want’s to maintain their easy going life.
    Merdeka? Nak buat apa? Buat sebatang jarum pun tak reti.Merdeka nak buat apa?
    The other’s.Fuelled by the new’s about independence in all over the world’s want’s to make and impact in the local political scene then..
    It’s all started with new’s British does not “telling” the local.
    And Now..
    Why are we shouting at the wall that enclosing on us in the name of media? They suffocate’s us with “half truth” and only “kills of softly with his song’s”.
    Read.Infotainment.
    Why are we blaming them on our own ineffeciency and incompetence??
    Who cares who owns them and what they do?
    They deserves that and we deserves our’s!!
    Simply put..we don’t like their media so we establish our own!!
    Now the question is are we sincere enough in incorporating our own media?Can BERNAMA spread’s it wing’s to Europe?Do we have what it take’s?Or should we just lay down and die out of frustation?
    What is clear from beginning we lacked the muscle.What I know? Who I know? Surely self defeating excercise’s..My pertinent question is just this..
    ISLAMIC MEDIA ANYONE?
    A TRUE ISLAMIC MEDIA..
    Terima Kasih Tun..

  49. Assalammualaikum wbt
    Dear Tun,
    What you know and who you know are equally important for a good businessman. You need to have both criteria in order to succeed. If you want to help those businessman who lack of any one of the criteria, please open up a ballot box for any tenders. Just ask them to pick up the job and they will not make up noises. Practically it was seen has the best ever way to avoid corrupt and giving fairness to those qualified contractors.

  50. Askm wbrt,
    Dear Tun,
    Indeed there is a lot of truth in your saying and the “whom” you know and not “what” you know policy is all the time practised not only prevalent in our country but also in most of the countries around the world.They claimed that they are impartial but yet unnoticieably they did it too.
    The most glaring reasons for such a practices are for the owner of contracts to avoid :
    1. Feeling uncomfortable giving to a first-timer whom integrity,capability,reliability and deliveribility is questionable.
    2. Assignment given is not up to the expectation of company satisfaction whilst dealing with old-timers ease up their pre and post award required works.
    These are norms of the coglomerates and are infact not only the normal practices in the public sectors but are infact equally rampant practices in the private sectors too which eventually corrupt the line of authorities right from the lowest ranking men to the top of the helm (Board of Directors).Cronyism is human nature and it does not happen to us the colors but are also done by the white too but it is just that they are good in concealing it.Otherwise,we will not be able to see a capitalist world.
    Nonetheless,the only ultimatum we had in hand is to think of ways that can ease over-staying of people in one position and I believe strongly that it will help to minimise corruption if not alleviating it permanently.
    Thank tou Tun and have a nice day.

  51. Salam kasih dan salam hormat Ayahanda Tun.
    Consumerism/consumers rights have almost nil existence in Malaysia. For the longest of time I have said that the way these GLCs are run, it is best if you just sell them out to foreign owned companies like DiGi or even Sing Tel and forget everything else. They are too fat and it is consumers who are bank rolling their black fiscal survivals each time. This is the case when monopoly has failed all of us. TM must not talk about fair practices when their mid-month billing system and delayed services takes definitions off the context totally. I have learned to read all fine prints, ask all questions I could, then read the fine prints some more before signing up with any of TM services. FOMCA and all other consumers groups at times appears to be nothing more than mere political platforms for some aspirants. Quite useless at defending the consumers that it had claimed to represent. The situation is utterly and grossly disappointing.
    I hope DSN, TSM and Rais Yatim reads the news papers still these days.
    http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/26/nation/5940663&sec=nation
    PETALING JAYA: After the excitement of Telekom Malaysia unveiling UniFi, its high-speed broadband service that offers Internet speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps), the bubble burst for many consumers here.
    Some are disappointed over what they feel are expensive charges for the packages for home users: RM149 for 5Mbps, RM199 for 10Mbps, and RM249 for 20Mbps.
    In Singapore, a 1Gbps (gigabit per second) service

  52. Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr.,
    I can definitely say that in this world, for an individual to have it one

  53. 1. For as long the human and development exist, the scenario which Tun pointed out will definitely co-exist. No doubt about that.
    2. It does not matter in which country, it seems that it is like a “taboo” to be discussed openly but people knew it for a fact that it exists.
    3. If a person disagrees with it, then he/she is too naive..
    4. I am in early 30s been doing business since 2003. It has been a wonderful and terrible experience for me but still it was a decision which I will never regret for it sharpen my mind and determination.
    5. 100% of my clients are from private sector. I still have not registered MOF yet. For this part of not registering MOF, I regret it for I should done earlier. I am going to register this year,Insyallah.
    6. I agree with you on having to know the so-called right person/ppl whether in private sector or government.
    7. I agree also with your point that evaluators need to know the bidders.
    8. As a human, we tend to blame people even when the mistakes are done by us. So, it will always be like that.
    9. I believe and experienced too – if a businessman persist and improve him/herself then it is just a matter of time he/she will succeed.Insyallah
    —————OUT-of-TOPIC—————
    Since, there is a potential that this post could be read by right people, I wish that banks are more really ‘human’ towards businessman and people who are in need of loans.
    An experience of which I can share is whenever I know that I will be paying late for my car or etc, I will call the bank and inform them that I can’t pay at the agreed date. The officer will tell me “we can’t do anything because the system will auto-update and once updated, a notice will be sent to the ‘tukang tarik kereta'”.
    The problem is if a person has shown his sincerity to pay but will be able only to do so in a delayed date, why the system has to come in picture?
    This sort of problems happen regularly in the banking industry which really needed to be fixed.
    In my case, fortunately, I am stubborn and managed to get what I wanted.
    What if it happens to those people who can’t negotiate like me?
    If I have jumped out of the topic, forgive me for doing so.
    Thanks Tun and I am lucky to be a Malaysian.

  54. Dear YAB Tun, salam mesra harap sihat. Kiriman saya pada pandangan yg dilontar di sini. Dgn izin…
    ………SALAH ORANG SAJA?
    Is there no end to blaming others for your failure. If cannot blame other races, they even blame their own race as traitors. Cannot get contract or job, blame govt servant, Malay heads of GLC, PLC or language requirement.
    If I have to pay the same salary for someone who knows only BM and English vs another who knows English, BM and Mandarin I will definitely pick the other for my organisation. Better still I will pick the one who even knows the Indian language. Not just local but foreign employers will do the same. Ask yourself who handicapped you!
    ……….BAHASA SALAH SIAPA
    While others were forced to learn BM, you were basking in supremacy. Your own policy failed you (limiting your language capability), yet others get blamed. I wont vehemently object if govt force everybody to study Arabic language (with good intention). There is no harm learning if it proves useful.
    I think if govt did not make BM compulsory, Malays stand a better chance in employment market cos the others will be short of one language also. Malays will corner the interpreter market cos BM is official language. You will corner jobs in businesses in Malay segment as other races have no access. They definitely wont blame Malays are racist for putting up job ads with Malay language requirement! Their fault for not learning.
    Apa nak jadi bangsa yg asyik menuduh saja, sampai tergamak tuduh saudara bangsa sendiri yg membuat dia mengemis.
    ………WHAT IS YOURS IS MINE, WHAT IS MINE IS MINE
    All wives have this thought. Do husbands then treat their wives with suspicion? Do you divorce your wife, or build the relationship and trust to the point it is all irrelevant. Living as a nation is not far from this.
    At the start, nobody should entrench their privileges, rights and superiority to dominate. That in the end is God’s will.

  55. “It is true that those tasked with evaluating bids would tend to favour known performers rather than totally unknown strangers. The more they know about the bidders the more would their decisions be influenced. It is indeed “whom” you know and not “what” you know.”
    In China, they called it quanxi (connections) or something like that. And so the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer. I wonder how the Singapore government and the top 10 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index do it. With thinking like Tun, is it any wonder why Malaysia never reach the top 10?

  56. Asalamualaikum….
    setuju 110% ngan bapak…
    saya sokong 1010% ngan muhd saffah….tak terucap….

  57. tak tahu nak tulis apa……cuma pandangan saya…..org yg baru meniaga perlu berbaik dgn org yg sudah lama meniaga…..kalau tidak…takde projek lah jawapanya…..mcm hidup segan mati tak mahu jadinya….dah dpt projek….masalah lain pulak timbul…byk sgt nak kena jaga …dah byk juga yg nak kena tanggung….hehe….last-last duit habis kena tanggung org jelah….bukan habis kat projek….dikira-kira…untungnya tak balik modal….hehe

  58. tun,
    what are you mentioning about this topic, it’s true.
    BUT IT IS Still TRUE WHEN:
    1. new RM2 paid up company rewarded million ringgit of contract?
    2. lot of makmal komputer sekolah roboh? or
    3. lot of hospital construction delayed more than 3 years at johor or kedah, or
    4. REASONABLE OF cost of ex prime minister abdullah house constructted?
    5. cost of build PLUS reasonable?
    6. mrr2 have multiple of default & crack
    7. palace of justice bocor
    8. matrade BUILDING cannot be occupied or surrender to jkr
    9. and much much more, if we want to list here.
    OR THE PROBLEM HAPPEN WHEN A CONTRACT GIVEN TO ULC (UMNO LINK COMPANY). MAY BE ITS TRUE BECAUSE ALL CASE MENTION ABOVE DO NOT HAPPEN OR HARDLY HAPPEN AT PRIVATE SECTOR.
    KNOW WHAT FAULT, OR KNOW WHO FAULT, OR POLITICIAN INTERFEAR FAULT. GUESS WHAT? IT FAULT OF CORRUPT POLITICIAN.
    HADAFI

  59. Tun
    Whats your take on conflict of interest?
    Whats your take on return on investment?
    Whats your take on fairness and transparency?
    Whats your take on business justification?
    Whats your take on non-compliance and penalties?
    Reasons for the questions above –
    during your administration, weren’t there Government contracts that
    – were signed without due dilligence of resolving conflict of interest between the party offering the service and party requesting service
    – were signed without proper forecast or projections of what the true return of investments of Government projects
    – were signed with minimal fair and transparent conditions
    – were signed without adequate business justification
    – were signed with limited controls that penalised non-compliance of delivery
    Can you tell with all sincerity that your Government conducted all it’s business dealings openly and honestly, without fear or favour and with true public interests at heart?
    (Ravi)

  60. Salam Tun
    The Malaysian Government has not been truly fair. To be totally fair, you must evaluate based on the tender information only and the bidder’s background should not influence the decision. I understand that for open tenders, the Financial part and the Techical part are separated and also name of biddees are kept secret. If this method is practised properly, then I think this process is fair.
    But what I’m worried is about the “direct nego” contracts. I don’t know whether the M’sian Govt has been truly fair on this. As you say, if BN rules, they may give it to their cronies. If BA rules, they may give it to theirs. This is not correct in Islam. One should be truly fair to become a leader and should not even be influenced by one’s relatives. Otherwise face the consequence or do not become a leader.

  61. Think of a glass of milk with a drop of poison.
    If a salesman offers it to you and asks you to drink saying that the milk is as fresh, that salesman is not wrong.
    If the salesman claims that drinking fresh milk is the best way to preserve ones health, that salesman is not lying.
    If you drink the milk because you agreed with the salesman’s pitch, i supposed it can be said that the salesman is not to be blamed for causing you a tummy ache.
    He didn’t lie afterall.
    He may not have told you the truth as sincerely as he knows it, but the point is, he did not lie.
    One shouldnt be too rash in accusing the salesman of holding ill intentions towards oneself just because one ended up sick after believing the salesman’s pitch.
    In all likelyhood the salesman probably did not hold ill intentions towards you personally.
    In all likely hood, like all salesman, he probably just wanted to sell you some milk and make some money for him and his family.
    If he told you he was doing it for your own good because he cared for you, it is perhaps something they thought him at salesman school.
    Had you believed that he loved you although you know for a fact that he does not know you, maybe it is appropriate that you suffer.

  63. Salam Tun.
    Topik ini amat menarik untuk direnungi. Apapun melihatkan komen-komen terdahulu, saya dapati ramai di antara mereka sama ada tidak terlibat langsung dalam bisnes atau semata-mata bersikap hipokrit.
    Saya sudah lama terlibat dalam bisnes. Hal-hal berkaitan tender, kertas cadangan ataupun sebut harga dah umpama makanan harian. Tak kira sektor swasta atau kerajaan, dalam atau luar negara, yang penting adalah, siapa yang kita kenal.
    Di Malaysia, dalam sektor swasta (termasuk GLC), mereka lebih mengutamakan syarikat bukan melayu atau antarabangsa. Bagi mereka, syarikat tersebut lebih “berwibawa”. Ini termasuklah lawatan kerja ke luar negara untuk “melawat projek-projek” sebagai rujukan.
    Pemain-pemain dalam GLC juga biasanya lebih “bijak” memilih kontraktor sehingga terlupa matlamat penubuhan GLC itu sendiri. Lihat sahaja apa yang sedang berlaku dengan penswastaan sisa pepejal di kawasan utara. Bak kera di hutan disusukan, anak di rumah mati kelaparan.
    Di sektor kerajaan, peluang untuk kontraktor melayu lebih cerah sedikit memandangkan kadangkala nilai kontrakpun tidak berapa besar. Jadi, seredak-seredak ini akan direbuti dan dikutip oleh puluhan ribu kontraktor yang sedia ada. Itupun sentiasa “dijaki” oleh syarikat bukan melayu @ syarikat 1Malaysia.
    Namun, bagi kontrak-kontrak besar, kaedah rundingan terus (projek wahyu)tetap menjadi pilihan dan biasanya mempunyai kecenderungan ke arah keputusan politik. Ianya lebih bersifat terbuka sepertimana projek tebatan banjir dan sebagainya di mana hal sub-mengsub kerja menjadi kebiasaan.
    Kini, segala-galanya berkisar perkataan wang. Kontrak dan projek adalah kaedah untuk mendapatkan dana. Ianya berlaku di mana-mana “cheruk” dunia. Jadi tak payahlah orang politik mempersoalkan “siapa kenal siapa dapat apa” kerana kita akan dilihat sebagai hipokrit. Yang penting kontraktor melayu atau kontraktor 1Malaysia masing-masing memperolehi hak yang sewajarnya.
    Apapun Tun, bagi saya selagi politik diterajui golongan kontraktor dan begitu juga selagi dewan perniagaan diterajui orang politik, selagi itulah hal-hal berkaitan “siapa kita kenal” tidak berkesudahan. Cuba kita kenang kembali semasa zaman guru, posmen, kerani dll aktif berpolitik, rasanya istilah politik wangpun belum wujud.

  64. Salam,
    *******1. Komen Tentang Blog Chedet***************
    Pada pandangan saya blog Tun harus mempunyai dwibahasa.Blog Tun harus mempunyai terjemahan Bahasa Malaysia untuk kebanyakan rakyat Malaysia. Cara ini Tun dapat lebih banyak peminat. Kalau tidak blog Tun lama kelamaan akan hilang tarikan dari golongan kaum Melayu. Malaysian Insider dan Malaysia kini la ni semakin mempertingkatkan kualiti penyampaian dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Tapi sayang Malaysian Insider la ni dah semakin berat sebelah kepada Pakatan Rakyat. Kenapa ye?
    apa guna maklumat jika tak sampai kepaada sasaran. La ni saya duk nampak sasaran blog Tun lebih kepada golongan yang boleh berbahasa Inggeris dan juga golongan luar negara(wargasing). Orang Melayu baca blog Tun kerana depa bukan saja nak tahu komen atau pandangan Tun tetapi juga nak dengar pandangan peminat Tun. Ada peminat yang lebih selsa tulis dalam Bahasa melayu.
    *******2.What you know or who you know**************
    Amalan “kenal siapa” ada baik dan ada buruknya. Yang penting ialah mesti berlaku adil. Pakatan Rakyat yang kononya mengamalkan keadilan cakap tak serupa bikin. Saya harap rakyat Malaysia khususnya orang melayu sedar bahawa Pakatan Rakyat adalah satu Pakatan “Palsu” memecah belah rakyat Malaysia. negara kita Malaysia aman makmur kerana pemimpin2 dahulu dari UMNO, MCA, MIC dan lain2 memberi keutamaan kepada kemajuan rakyat daripada kepentingan peribadi. Dato Najib kalau nak menang besar PRU balik semula kepada asas2 perjuangan Perikatan . gugurkan pemimpin yang “corrupt”, gantikan dengan yang boleh dihormati oleh rakyat.
    BN harus ingat dua perkara penting jika hendak menang PRU:
    1. semua perut2 rakyat Malaysia harus dijaga. Turunkan harga barang seberapa yang boleh. jangan naik harga barang, kalau tidak BN habis jadi arang.
    2. pemimpin yang buat masalah, gugurkan sebelum kalah.Wujudkan pelapis baru yang serba kebolehan dan akhlak terpuji.
    3. jangan ada berita sensasi, nanti BN jadi basi.
    4. buktikan dan banyakkan kempen rakyat supaya sayang kat BN, tak boleh paksa rakyat tetapi boleh usik hati dan jiwa. Pakar2 propaganda UMNO banyak dah ketinggalan zaman ,masih cara kuno tak peredaran zaman. Minta tolong pakar2 psikologi. ada banyak di Universiti tetapi jangan ambil pakar psikoloji dari Tanjung Rambutan.
    Ingat kempen PRU nanti paling penting dan mudah dingat ialah :
    Bukan Melayu dunia! dunia!dunia!
    Orang melayu dan orang Islam yg lain dunia&akhirat!
    Satu lagi, Pakatan Rakyat tak payah kempen susah payah pun boleh menang PRU dulu tetapi BN dapat tahi kucing saja PRU dulu. Kesimpulan ,jangan takut suara UMNO cawangan atau Bahagian tapi bimbangkan suara keramat, suara rakyat!!

  65. i think it is wrong … the situation of “WHO YOU KNOW” in foreign countries is totally not the same as here …
    in foreign country … “WHO YOU KNOW” might work as the beneficiary usually are parties that can perform and produce results … unfortunately in here … the beneficiary are NOT parties that can perform … that’s the reason you have situation where a project is not done by main contractor, but by sub-contractor or sub-sub-sub-sub-contractors … which make the cost of a project goes high … and in many cases, the beneficiary is known that their expertise is not compatible with the project that they get …
    i think this article will make the public have an imagination as the following:
    (a) Lowest Priority -> Strangers regardless of the capability since you don’t know their background
    (b) High Priority -> People you know since you can evaluate their background easily
    (c) Top Priority -> Family member (eg: son or in-law), since they are so close and we know everything about their background
    As a summary, it is encourage that either private / public sectors should always award projects to family member (eg: son or in law) as top priority … as this will benefits everyone, with the only reason we can evaluate their background easily (as stated on this article) ….
    ok … i think i got the point from what i see from my personal opinion … good lesson, i should practice it …

  66. Dear Tun Dr M,
    I do understand the difficulty in convincing all in the choosing a particular contractor for the award of government tender. It also seems practical and safe to choose a

  68. Semoga mndapat izin dan perkenan Tun..
    [[gunse007]]
    1)Yang melakukan dosa2 yang sungguh keji seperti merogol budak bawah umur, membunuh dengan C4, berkhalwat dengan ZZ di NS, merembat berjuta2 duit, harap pergi ke neraka nanti dan merana tanpa henti
    2)yang kaki komen semua kurangkan bodek kat sini………….]]
    Item no 1.Jangan takut.Moral guardian memang perlu.Tetapi
    Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
    2)And ‘bodek’ mean ? Something I found from ‘our” archive..
    Express Empathy
    Best defined as acceptance. Through reflective listening (being able to repeat back what the patient has expressed), you come to understand where your patient is coming from without judging, criticizing or blaming.
    Acceptance is NOT the same thing as approval!
    Terima kasih Tun..

  69. Tun,
    Your article suggested justification in awarding Government contracts basing on whom you know rather than what you know. In my opinion, this is flawed.
    1. Awards of contracts must necessarily based on whether the party concerned is in a position to do the job and I believe that there are prequalification exercises in place to vet the technical capabilities of the tenderers. Examples of contract gone awry – awarded basing on whom you know, peppered our tattered image.
    2. This subjectivity in the evaluation that is probably difficult to be quantified, could (and would) be manipulated for gains beyond the scope and intentions of the contract. One just have to take notice of the number of contracts being awarded to politically linked companies in order to apprise the probability that the awards were more than just awards.
    3. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong to lobby if that does not get the party lobbying into an unfair position of gain. Lobbying to be heard is ok. In the end if fair assessment is made and awards for contracts are being made through proper vetting of the most important determinants, what is wrong ? Do we see this difference in countries allowing for official lobbying against countries that allow awarding of contracts through a discretionary criteria ?
    4. Was the nullifying of contracts issued by previous governments also a common practice in more developed economies where there is more transparency ? If the previous awarded contracts that have big discretionary reasons that could not be quantified and therefore questionable, then it is incumbent to the incoming government to right possible wrongs.
    5. Adopting a whom-you-know way in awarding contracts helps foment corruption, cronyism and has vast and longterm ramifications in social behavior programming.
    6. It is different when it comes to the private sector. Due to the imperfection of communication, privateers will have to resort to knowing whom they are dealing with and the reason for this it because of TRUST. If a private company were to communicate its project tenders openly, I am sure that the criteria for award would be based on the main determinants of price, technical capability, financial capability and track records. It is inconceivable that a private company will award on any basis other than a properly quantified criteria(s) that would provide maximum returns.
    7. Whom you know should only work when everything is ceteris paribus. When there are no more quantifiable reasons to tell the difference.

  70. Salam kasih dan salam hormat Ayahanda Tun.
    If you give me 1000 land lubbling idiots and then you tell me to sail a ship for new land, chances are we would all die of starvation at sea. Even if I may be the best sea faring man for you, but if you give me idiots then you can forget anything past that self complimentary line. But even if you give me 10 hard working crew members, who would risk their lives in search of new frontiers and new civilizations, well then I tell you that we would give you the world if god wills us for such. But I honestly think that even god would want to put his favor down on the expert 10 rather than the lost and confused 1000. My point is, before I can even criticize the leader, before I can even assail his character, before I can even smear him down for good, I have to be totally 100% sure he has expires his worthiness on the cause at hand. In politic that is easy to really, what ever I am uncertain of then I just rest that on my ruthlessness and greed and it

  71. now we know who anwar really are,satu persatu tembelang nya di bongkar oleh sahabat baik dia sendiri…tapi pelik sikit sbb masih ada org2 kita yg masih percaya segala temberang dia.

  72. Assalamu’alaikum Tun,
    “Who you know” is equally as important as “what you know” to conduct businesses.we should know very well not to be trapped by quick profit yet in the end losses everything in the long run.
    in Arab countries,it is normal for Arab business-leaders to talk long hours with potential business partner about personal or private life,and doesnt touch at all the real business discussion.people there are more interested in knowing whether you are a friend or not or whether you just an oppurtunist trying to make profit without friendly obligation or long-term friendship.
    in multi-races Malaysia,i think we should follow the Arab footstep.because if you only make your decision based on(always short-term) profitable business decision,you may end-up losing everything to your enemy.you make some money,your future generation lost their country.
    businesses is actually end-up with political domination.and political struggles is always to uphold ideology-religion,especially so for us Muslim.enriched thee neighbor is not an option anymore(we’ve done that and we have seen the bitter result).especially when it is widely known that neighbor is an enemy who despised us so much and the only niceties they showed to us is only to plunder our wealth..we have to choose well our business partner.we have to know them well for the benefit of our future generation rather than making quick-profit for ourselves.
    untung sikit,tapi tahan lama.jgn terpedaya dgn umpan untung banyak tapi hilang masadepan
    thank Tun..

  73. Assalamu’alaikum Tun,
    “Who you know” is equally as important as “what you know” to conduct businesses.we should know very well not to be trapped by quick profit yet in the end losses everything in the long run.
    in Arab countries,it is normal for Arab business-leaders to talk long hours with potential business partner about personal or private life,and doesnt touch at all the real business discussion.people there are more interested in knowing whether you are a friend or not or whether you just an oppurtunist trying to make profit without friendly obligation or long-term friendship.
    in multi-races Malaysia,i think we should follow the Arab footstep.because if you only make your decision based on(always short-term) profitable business decision,you may end-up losing everything to your enemy.you make some money,your future generation lost their country.
    businesses is actually end-up with political domination.and political struggles is always to uphold ideology-religion,especially so for us Muslim.enriched thee neighbor is not an option anymore(we’ve done that and we have seen the bitter result).especially when it is widely known that neighbor is an enemy who despised us so much and the only niceties they showed to us is only to plunder our wealth..we have to choose well our business partner.we have to know them well for the benefit of our future generation rather than making quick-profit for ourselves.
    untung sikit,tapi tahan lama.jgn terpedaya dgn umpan untung banyak tapi hilang masadepan
    thank Tun..

  75. Assalamualaikum Tun.
    What you know or who you know
    Walaupun anda kenal siapa.Tapi buah takkan datang bergolek.Anda juga kena tahu apa.
    Macam cerita saudara kita Zul Noordin dan Mr Zahrain sejak kebelakangan ni.Maka dengan itu sorang dua manusia baru boleh kenal siapa sedara Anwar Ibrahim kita tu.
    Some people takut mati.Tapi nyawa itu hanya pinjaman dari tuhan.Kena bayar loan jugak.Kena buat amal jariah.
    Untuk mendapat bidaan tertinggi,sepatutnya some people tersebut patut membuat cagaran dengan nyawa.Then,you’ll get biggest contracts.
    Bukan caranya dengan sentiasa menentang kerana ingin menyelesakan diri.Macam takut kena jail ke,takut takde kuasa ke…atau apa-apa je.Pepatah orang-orang tua kata takut kerana salah,berani kerana benar dah tak berapa betul sekarang kot.Bukan tak betul langsung tapi disalahguna perkataan bidalannya.
    Some people ini berani menentang kerana menyangkakan bahawa keadaan putaran politik Malaysia akan berubah mengikut Jepun atau negara yang seangkatannya.
    Betul,lanskap politik (hal mengurus negara termasuk kaitan agama dengan duniawi) Malaysia berubah kepada 1Malaysia dan bakal MEB.Tapi ini tidak bermaksud kerajaan akan bertukar.
    Apa yang bertukar adalah Amerika tidak akan kembali menjadi kuasa dunia.Dan sistem kewangan dunia akan berubah ke arah lebih Islamik.
    Ini adalah tanda kedatangan era kebangkitan Islam.Adakah anda percaya?
    Allah s.w.t tidak menjadikan sesuatu kejadian tanpa tujuan.Buah tidak datang bergolek.
    You should know Allah s.w.t
    Terima kasih Tun.

  77. Yang mana lebih utama, belanga jangan kata belakang kuali hitam atau dengar apa yang dikata (dikritik), bukan siapa yang mengata (mengkritik).

  78. Dear Tun,
    Asalamualaikum.
    Many thanks for your insight on “what you know or who you know?”. I can’t deny, there’s at least some truth in it.
    But, allow me to add some more, in the construction industry (typically in Malaysia), it’s not just the element of “what you know, who you know?” affect decision making.
    It’s “How Much I’ll get if I award that project to you?”.
    Thank you for reading.

  79. Good morning Ayahanda Tun,
    I sure hope they can differentiate ‘who you know’ and ‘what you know’ whether they are in government or private sector.
    For those who take the moral high ground and criticise influence peddling in Malaysia and other developing countries should have a good look at themselves.
    If they don’t, they are indeed ‘sneering’ at the blackness of the kettle because they assumed whom they know, not what they know about M’sia.
    Is pakbelalang from N9, the only self-elected monarchy system in Tanah Melayu, the ‘ketua’ to 9 daerah in the ‘Negeri’, Malaysia?
    Ah, now I see, what is whom you know, and not what you know…..!
    Because of what you know, not whom you know, BN lost 5 States in PRU12.
    Have a pleasant day, Ayahanda Tun.

  80. I suppose what you mean to say in the arrangement of how things work,a contract tends to be awarded to the kind of people that the contract givers most clearly identify with.
    I suppose that there is nothing wrong with this.
    Afterall, if there was, surely western nations in faraway lands would not entertain such a practise.
    Why shouldnt malaysians be denied the freedom to practise such an arrangement when white people did amazing things by following the precepts of such a practise.( look at london and look at new york, did not the white fellas accomplish much with such a wonderful arrangement)
    There is no problem with the way things are, everything is fine.
    If anyone sees something that kind looks wrong, the problem may lie with their eyesight and not the view.
    The view is fine.
    Things are going great and expected to become better with time.

  81. If you have a daughter, and there are two guys who wanted to marry her. The first guy is not quite handsome but you know his family background. The second guy is handsome but you don’t know his background. Which guy would you accept as your son-in-law? I guess the thinking process is the same with the public sector when selecting contractor!!!

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  82. Dear YAB Tun, salam mesra harap sihat. Kiriman saya untuk tajuk ini dgn izin…
    ………TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
    Only an incompetent govt cannot detect the impossible offer. Anyway impossible offers result in loss to the bidder not govt. Inflated offers (corruption) not impossible offers should be our concern. Impossible offers cause delays not losses
    ………TAK KENAL TAK CINTA?
    In a transparent bidding, known performers are those known to public or market at large. Known to only evaluators is called crony! Mischeavous hoodwink to link proven performers with known performers.
    ……….HOW IT STARTED
    Who introduced negotiated tenders, fast track tenders, concessions. Who abandoned public tenders, transparent tenders and bidding?
    ………..PRIVATE SECTOR KNOW WHO
    Don

  83. Assalamualaikum Tun,
    good topic, life is never fair.. but at least if u are government or leaders, please provide “welfare” and “security” to everyone, thats all matter to everyone in process of living the life.

  86. Pots should not sneer at the blackness of the kettle.
    That means we cannot have more integrity than the Americans, can we? I’m impressed that we only subscribe to ‘duduk sama rendah, berdiri sama tinggi’ concept when it comes to corrupt practices. We are conveniently forgetting it when it comes to noble deeds.

  88. Salams Tun.
    US President Bush is an ardent practitioner of this “You know Who” business practice – But I think this may be an extreme definition of such practice!
    Many of the contractors who won the so called Iraq rebuilding contracts were donors to his political campaign. A major winner was the oil firm Halliburton, a firm formerly run by US Vice President Dick Cheney. But of course, to some this is blatant corruption.
    Closer to home, below is an example of how one was being put in practice:
    Prior to the 1970’s, it was the practice of banks to recruit their employees from amongst the people who are known to them (banks) be they relatives of the owners, employees and customers. It was then considered, perhaps rightfully so, that such practice would ensure the safety and integrity of banks as a whole.

  89. HI Tun
    Bosan Lah! Just explain the following actions that were tolerated in Your 22 years as PM the name of “Proper Justification both in Public and Private business ” and simply explained connection and know who as Proximity and familiarity
    1) Open Tender – why was nothing considered
    2) How come Many Ministers had share options and other abiding business intrest – Many sources from barry wain , daim’s boys and i have worked for PSC I Bhd and have seen how it all “works” , though i am proud of being part of the First Malaysian Patrol Vessel Project
    Very clear about oppurtunties for real honest workers and failures
    3) How did Thamby Chick, the 2 Mohd man get away from prosequition due to Rape and Unexplainable wealth incidents and no proper investigation
    4) Khir Toyo and Mohd Derus were product from your times and no action were taken
    5) You have lamented many times about money politics etc but no clinical action taken. Every Father, that i knew, who was serious about his son shaping up never spared the ROD and i came down hard on corruption
    6) you have not blogged about various level of corruption in the country and corrupting practises from Education to Public Service going on in all around whereas spent a lot of Mettle and Brian work in the last blog merely Justifying Malaysian Way or Your Way if i may boldly quote
    Tun Tell me about your sons and in top 20 Frobes category ,whereas i remembers MISC being stripped and sold off and one xTreasurer of UMNO Resining and declared Bankcrupt. Only Mirzan had seasond skills to speak off and it is public knowledge
    How Much action have you taken.
    Taubat lah TUN.

  90. Dear Tun,
    “What you know” is not as easy as we thought in implementation… “What you
    know” means you have the knowledge, dive deep and look closely into something…
    For example, in civil engineering that deals with the design, construction
    and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including
    works such as bridges, roads, canals, dams and buildings… The civil
    engineers must know about environmental, geotechnical, structural engineering
    and even water resources (hidrology)… As I said, it is not as simple as we
    thought…
    Most of the people that play “who you know” in Malaysia are dirty that always
    bring their dirts to other contract bidders… They will offer their dirts and
    even threatening with their dirts, which I can say most of them are PEMUDA
    and might be high-rank politicians, who knows… They will make Malaysia as a
    country which increasing the cost of public services, lowering their quality
    and often all together restricting poor people’s access to such essential
    services as water, health and education… Better prevent now than later…
    – Mohammad Shafiq, ex-University of Malaya, Department of Electrical Engineering –
    Salam and Hye to: ekompute, masaklomak, Tahir Jumat, mthago, pakbelalang,
    rarunasalam, bobo, Wenger J Khairy, HBT, krish, checker, Jamal and kamal ahmad…
    The meanings of verse 7: 138
    And Allah brought the Children of Israel across the sea, and they came
    unto a people (who were given up to idols which they had) who worshipped
    idols. They said:
    O Moses! Make for us a god, show us a god to worship, an idol for us to
    worship, just as they have gods

  91. Assalamualaikum warahmatullah dan Salam sejahtera,
    Salam hormat kepada Ayahanda Tun Mahathir,
    Ayahanda Tun said:
    ‘WHAT YOU KNOW OR WHO YOU KNOW’
    By Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on March 24, 2010 2:08 PM
    ada lagi Ayahanda Tun, yang TERKINI dan telah di praktikkan, lama dah…:
    it’s:
    ‘WHO KNOWS YOU’
    Terma yang sebegininya lagi bijak Ayahanda Tun.
    This is smarter, this is ‘The power of choosing the choices’
    Fuhhh!!! Our powerful 2 cents. 🙂
    Your cucu has grown up BIG and TALL Ayahanda Tun! Yes! Yes! Yes!
    and, we like this:
    ‘Pots should not sneer at the blackness of the kettle’-Tun Mahathir.
    Thanks Ayahanda Tun.

  92. A’kum Tun & family.
    Westerners will always question about our integrity, honesty, transparency, etc. Twenty years ago I still remember this particular teacher asking me of which country is the most corrupted in the world. And my answer was either India or Indonesia!
    Today when i think back of my given answer, how silly I was back then.
    What I really and truly think, actually the country that is called the US of A is the MOST corrupted country on this planet earth! Of course the media that are controlled by the so-called ‘god chosen people’ will not exposed those corruptions (that are mostly done by ‘god chosen people’ as well), unless for character assassination of certain individual.
    How could they claimed that they are the ‘god chosen people’ when they themselves do not believe in god.
    Cut the craps people!

  93. Salam Tun & fellow CheDet’s Bloggers,
    Well said Tun. Actually this peculiarity is happening everywhere in the world but the unacceptable part of it in Malaysia, it was taken too much advantage by certain groups, purely for personal gain at the expenses of the community/nation interest. No win-win situation.
    Of course, we cannot prevent people speculating the issues because it is natural that certain parties, especially the losers, will be unhappy about it.
    In true sense, the term “Lobbying” has been interpreted as “marketing”. So it is legal. Actually it can also be interpreted as ” corruption” but is acceptable by “international standard”. Just need to play with words. At the end, what matters is the real intention, “nawaitu”? Then, only Allah knows.
    May Allah bless us all.

  94. then why some says must follow the western? implement GST, do that, do this…..when the economy collapse, then the western says its your fault!

  95. Dear Tun,
    “3. It is true that those tasked with evaluating bids would tend to favour known performers rather than totally unknown strangers. The more they know about the bidders the more would their decisions be influenced. It is indeed “whom” you know and not “what” you know.”
    Interesting you should say so. But need us be reminded that those who usually win bids in Malaysia may be known to the government but are not ‘performers’? They are more like ‘underperformers’.
    You know what is rotten about our system, and why people complain? If we have agreed that something should be done a certain way and laid down the protocol in a book, then we should do it by the book. This way, everyone adheres to the ‘rules of the game’, so to speak. At least then there’s a sense of fairness. Our problem is, for the last 50 years, we have been writing this book about how the game should be played, but at the same time, completely ignored the rules when it comes to playing the game. This is foul play.
    And we continue to pretend we are serious about writing the book and abiding by it. This is hypocrisy.
    Simply put, there is no need to defend cronism. We need to respect what’s in the book and start doing things the proper way. Don’t bend the rules. And this applies to the policymakers and the law enforcement agencies (especially), as well as the rakyat.

  97. everybody will die soon.
    Yang melakukan dosa2 yang sungguh keji seperti merogol budak bawah umur, membunuh dengan C4, berkhalwat dengan ZZ di NS, merembat berjuta2 duit, harap pergi ke neraka nanti dan merana tanpa henti.
    Masih tak terlambat untuk bertaubat. Taubatlah. Dan buat baik pada semua sementara nyawa dibadan.
    yang kaki komen semua kurangkan bodek kat sini………….

  98. SALAM BUAT TUN BERDUA MOGA DIRAHMATI ALLAH S.W.T
    1) DIKATAKAN 9/10 DARIPADA REZEKI ADALAH DARI PADA PERNIAGAAN.MALAH TELAH DIADAKAN DALAM BENTUK HADIS SATU JALAN BOLEH MASUK SYURGA.HATI KITA MASIH RAGU KALAU HADIS ITU TIDAK DI SYARATKAN SEORANG YANG MESTI MENGIKUT PERATURAN DIDALAM AL-QURAN BUKAN KATA KITAB KARANGAN MANUSIA.
    2) DI BANDING CARA BERNIAGA ZAMAN NABI MUHAMMAD S.A.W DAN RAKAN-RAKANNYA SEPERTI ABU BAKAR AS-SIDDIQ DAN YANG LAIN-LAIN TELAH PUN DIJAMIN OLEH BAGINDA RASULLULAH S.A.W AKAN SYURGA.
    3) KEBANYAKAN CONTOH YANG TERJAMIN ADALAH UNTUK AGAMA ISLAM.JADI SAYUGIANYA PADA ZAMAN KITA SEKARANG INI TIDAK DAPAT DINILAI LAGI SEPERTI ITU SEMUANYA TERSERAH KEPADA ALLAH S.W.T.TERUTAMA YANG DIDALAM BATIN YANG BERMAIN DENGAN HATI.
    4) ADALAH AWAL-AWAL LAGI APA YANG KITA TAHU ATAU SIAPA YANG KITA TAHU HANYALAH SECARA ZAHIRNYA SAHAJA SEPERTI NAMANYA ,AGAMANYA,RUPANYA TETAPI YANG TERJAMIN KEDALAM BATIN YANG KITA MAHUKAN IALAH SAMAADA ORANG INI AMANAH SIFAT RASULLULLAH S.A.W ATAU SIDDIQ SEPERTI ABU BAKAR DAN SIFAT-SIFAT KEHENDAK ALLAH S.W.T SEPERTI DIDALAM AL-QURAN.
    5) DALAM JUAL-BELI ADA PERJANJIAN JELAS OLEH PANDUAN AL-QURAN SUDAH TENTU DISAKSIKAN OLEH ALLAH S.W.T AKAN MEMENANGKAN KEADILAN AKHIRNYA.PERJANJIAN INI ADA JAMINAN DUNIA DAN AKHIRAT.
    6) TEPUK DADA TANYA IMAN SEMUA URUSAN BERGANTUNG KEPADA JENIS PERJANJIAN YANG DI GUNA PAKAI UMPAMA DOA KITA TERUS KEPADA ALLAH S.W.T TIDAK PERLU KEPADA ORANG TENGAH KERANA KITA SEAKAN-AKAN MENAMBAH NAFSU YANG MUNGKIN MEROSAKKAN JALAN YANG LURUS.
    7) BETUL KITA KENA TENGOK REKOD TETAPI MASYRAKAT YANG BERBILANG AGAMA MEMBUAT PILIHAN SENDIRI YANG MENYEBABKAN PERJANJIAN CARA ISLAM HANYA DILAMBATKAN SETIAP DETIK MENINGGALKAN MASA YANG DITAKUTI KESUNTUKAN.DEMI MASA INI ADALAH SATU KERUGIAN.
    WALLAHU’ALAM

  99. Hello Dr,
    My experience is that project costing hundred millions ringgit was awarded to a new company which was set up by nominee of minister. The main contractor has got neithier experience nor capital to handle project of this size. The project was supposed to complete on July 2006 but still not handover to the government until now. This was a state government project but had transferred to the federal government and the federal government has to inject another hundred millions into it. For your knowledge I am the engineer engaged by the dubious contractor. I lost faith to the government and has make the decision to leave the country on July 2006.
    This process is unsustainable and will keep increase the government deficit. How to held the government accountability in managing public fund? Is Malaysia keep borrowing or issue new bonds to raise the fund? How this debt is to be repaid? This is ust one projects and there are tons of this type of dubious projects all over the country. It is scary to thick about the government account book. Is the future generation going to repay the debt?

  100. Well said, “I must admit there is some truth in this.”
    For your information, my company always deal with many “strangers turned resellers” whom they have good relations with buyers.
    I must admit that most of them do not have technical knowledge about our products but they have purchase orders in hands.
    However, we never let them down, we support them all the way.
    They are nice people !. We are happy to have them as our resellers.
    Regards,
    http://www.leading.com.my

  101. The classic case of the know-who being more important than the know-how. Giving the contracts to those with the “know-who” is sometimes a necessary evil, provided those who get the contract can perform. However, in Malaysia, most of those who got the contracts through “know-who” instead of “know-how” cannot perform and are bailed out. And some of them don’t even try to perform – they straight away sub-contract it out to others with the know-how. These latter cases are really Ali-Baba rent seekers who do not add value at all.

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