Terengganus' Monsoon Cup; Whats With the RM250 Million?

This is my 4th post in English. I find it really interesting to write in English. Not saying that I prefer English than Malay, but sometimes, English is simpler in its own way (But Bahasa Melayu is still my number 1 language! Don't get me wrong). I try writing in English so that more people can read about the truth. After all, English is an international languange. (Well, Bahasa Melayu used to be the Lingua France once upon a time ago).

I hope the issue I'm writing this time is not too outdated. I tried to write about this issue earlier, but it just came to me that I don't have enough facts to be presented. And I don't like to write crapt that have no basis. This issue that I'm writing about have a lot of basis. That is if you are willing to open yourself for the truth.

I'm not thinking to explain bla bla bla. But I just want to share some links regarding misuse of the wang ehsan for Terengganu. If some of you are aware, after BN won the election in 2004, they introduce a new competition called monsoon cup, which is a high prestige event. It can be considered an international-waste-money-event though...

On 26 June 2005, they set up an events management company called Premium Project Management Sdn Bhd (company number 692728-M). Then, on 9 September 2005, the name was changed to T-Best Events Sdn Bhd. The company’s paid-up capital is only RM2.00.

The company is supposed to be a Terengganu based company but its registered address is at no. 23A, Jalan SS 21/60, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

The two shareholders of the company who hold one share each of RM1.00 are Saharuddin bin Abdullah and Suhami binti Kiman. The directors of the company are Wan Hisham bin Wan Sallehspan> (Terengganu), Mohamed bin Awang Tera (Terengganu), Chew Kok Foo (Petaling Jaya), Peter William Gilmour (Australia), Chua Hooi Sian (Petaling Jaya) and Lim Poh Tiang (Petaling Jaya).

The name to note here is Wan Hisham bin Wan Salleh, a (EXCO) member of the Terengganu State Government, and the man behind the entire operation. Wan Hisham’s brother, Wan Mohd Farid, is the political secretary to the Minister of Home Affairs, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,pan> who, coincidentally, is also the Prime Minister of Malaysia. But Wan Hisham is only there to give the company political weight. The man running the company is Patrick Lim.pan> And Patrick Lim’s job is to conjure up events that the state can embark upon -- which, of course, would require a couple of hundred million Ringgit to finance.

One very ingenious project they came up with was to hold a sailboat race from 29 November to 4 December 2005 called the Monsoon Cup. Instead of everyone running for the hills in fear of a Tsunami hitting this country like it did around Christmas of 2004, they would congregate on the beach to watch sailboats race against each other in the monsoon winds.

And the Monsoon Cup was given a budget of RM250 million, more than enough money to go around. Only in Loony Malaysia can a RM2 company, hardly a couple months in operation, get its hands on a RM250 million government job.

The plan was to invite sailboat champions from all over the world to participate in the race. This would give the Monsoon Cup credibility and prestige that would rival the Langkawi powerboat race. But these world champions would need to be given suitable accommodations and the only five-star hotel in Kuala Terengganu was certainly not suitable enough.

So they built 50 new houses on Mermaid Island, known locally as Pulau Duyung. n style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Each house was priced at RM1 million, so RM50 million would be needed to build these houses. Of course, you and I can build these same houses for around RM250,000 each. But that is not the issue here. The issue is: the foreigners need to be made to believe that they are living in a million dollar house (though it would only be for a few days). Pricing the houses at four times what they actually cost to build was not for purposes of siphoning out any money. (And if you believe this then you will believe that pigs can fly).

Everything was plain sailing -- pun intended -- until race day arrived. Then, on race day, the monsoon winds suddenly died down and the sailboats ended up dead in the water.

Full article from Malaysia-Today!

I'm sure you guys are a bit shocked, of even impressed by how 'intelligent' (read STUPID) these culprits are. This is reality I'm talking about. Facts that are TRUE! Well, so far, there are still true since Pak Lah haven't mention 'I don't know anything about it', which I hope will be the last words that comes to his mind.

Dato' Husam Musa did some nice comments in his blog, Cetusan-Hati-Blogspot. His post was titled, Wang Minyak Terengganu dihumban ke laut?. I really recommend all of to visit his blog and read this post. If possible, all the post there. He did take the same 'quote' that I took from Malaysia-Today.

I leave it to all of you to read, evaluate and take action; take action by sharing this infomation and spreading it so that all Malaysian can know the hidden truth. Its all up to you. Do it, or leave it!

Wassalam...