> State agency funded Khir's Disney tours

Former Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo along with his family and other state officials spent almost RM1.6 million on two overseas trips which included a tour of Paris and Orlando Disneyland.

The expenditure list included a 2004 visit to the Disneyland Paris and a four-day transit stopover at Dubai.

This was revealed by an inquiry being conducted by the state's Special Select Committee on Competence, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) today.

Among the other revelations on the overseas trip which took place from Dec 17 to 24, 2004 were:

Joining the trip were Khir's wife Zaharah Kechik, their three children and a maid.

The official delegation spent a total of RM416,000 for the trip.

A 'reconnaissance team' which went to make arrangements for the trip spent RM366,000.

The four-day stopover in Dubai cost the state an additional RM10,000.

All the expenses were covered by state investment arm Perbadanan Nasional Selangor Berhad (PNSB) revealed its chief executive officer Khairiyah Abu Hassan at the inquiry today.

When asked by committee chairperson, Selangor state assembly speaker Teng Chang Kim on the objective of the trip to Morroco and Paris, Khairiyah said the trip to Morroco was an exposure visit to study the architecture in the country.

“We wanted to see the architecture there as they reflected the glory days of the Islamic empire and we had wanted to try and adopt it here in Selangor,” said the PNSB CEO.

No concrete outcome from the visit

However, when asked if there was any concrete outcome from the visit, Khairiyah conceded that nothing was done apart from initial “talks” of developing such buildings.

The committee also discovered some discrepancies for this trip in the likes of PNSB financing the air tickets and accommodation for Khir’s children.

Khairiyah when queried on whether or not there is a policy in PNSB to finance the expenses of its board members’ children for their official trip, reluctantly answered “no”, but did not elaborate further on why the GLC had done so.

As for the Disneyland Paris trip, Khairiyah said the trip was an official "technical visit" to study the concept of the world famous theme park as PNSB had wanted to develop its own theme park at the Sepang gold coast area in Bagan Lalang.

It is also revealed that for the same purpose, Khir’s entourage spent another RM648,841 of PNSB’s money for a nine-day trip to Honolulu, Hawaii and the Disneyland in Orlando, United States from Dec 23, 2007 to Jan 1, 2008.

Out of the total sum, about RM110,000 were spent on Khir’s lodging alone while RM171,000 were spent on six single supplementary rooms with some of them housing Khir’s children.

However it is not known whether the expenses of Khir’s children were financed by PNSB, Khairiyah said in response to queries on the matter.

The Disneyland trips, suggested one of the committee members PKR vice-president and Bukit Antarabangsa state rep Azmin Ali, were nothing but a leisure trip.

Delegation welcomed by a tour guide

Documents revealed that no serious technical meetings between the management of Disneyland and the so-called official delegation led by Khir took place.

“Instead, the delegation was welcomed by a mere tour guide from the Selangor tour agency company that had supplied the air tickets to the delegation.

“If it is really a technical visit. A serious meeting between Disneyland and the delegation should have took place but instead the delegation paid for the tickets (like ordinary visitors) and claim they can learn from just looking around,” Azmin said.

Azmin also backed his argument by saying that it was no coincidence that Khir had made both the Disneyland trips in December during the school holidays.

Khairiyah who was also part of the delegation however defended her boss’ action and said that the visit was significant in realising PNSB’s ambitions of developing a theme park at Bagan Lalang.

“We were there to study the concept and had to do a comparative study (with other Disneylands from other countries),” she said, and added that the development of the theme park was already underway and that it will be build on a 20 to 21-acre piece of land in Bagan Lalang

At this point, Teng backing Azmin said it was ridiculous for Khairiyah to imply that by merely visiting Disneyland, it was possible for PNSB to learn the technical aspects of developing and operating a theme park.

“You spend a lot of the people’s money, about RM1.8 million for trips to Disneyland in Paris, Orlando, Tokyo just to build a theme park on a 20-acre piece of land? Be honest, this idea is a failure,” said Teng.

Khir had brought his wife and family throughout all the trips alongside Khairiyah on her capacity as the CEO of PNSB. She also admitted to bringing her own children on the trips but claimed that their expenses were paid by herself.

Last week, Khairiyah also revealed that she had close ties with Khir's wife Zaharah.

She added that there was no PNSB committee to scrutinise any "request" for funds or how the money was used. According to her, all requests were approved by the PNSB board collectively.

Police report may be lodged against Khir’s wife

The inquiry is being held to investigate the source and legitimacy of the more than RM1 million in sponsorship received by the Wives of Selangor State Assemblymen and MPs' Charity and Welfare Organisation (Balkis) from state-owned and private companies.

Zaharah was Balkis chairperson during Khir's tenure as menteri besar.

Later in a press conference, Teng (photo, right) said that various apparent discrepancies have been discovered during the hearing and that the committee will be holding a meeting soon to discuss further action.

“Besides the two witnesses who had refused to attend the hearing, I am satisfied with the cooperation showed by other witnesses. We will scrutinise the documents we have received and will prepare a report before the next sitting of the state assembly,” he said.

When asked about Khir’s fate, Teng said it was most likely the former menteri besar will be referred to the state assembly’s privilege committee though he did not want to comment on what the decision of the committee would be.

As for Zaharah, Teng said Khir's wife had committed an offence under the Contempt of House Act 2008 by not attending the hearing.

“As she is not a state representative, the possible action for the committee to take is to lodge a police report and leave it to the attorney-general to decide on whether to prosecute her or not,” he said, adding that he will have to consult with the committee first before deciding on this.

The seven-member inquiry was boycotted by two BN representatives.

Khir has refused to comment on the matter saying that he would leave it to his lawyer to handle the matter.

The public hearing, the first-ever inquiry conducted by a state legislative assembly in the country, began on March 23 - Malaysiakini.

> Anwar's Ceramah

The picture that tells the story:    Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim addressing the crowd and the media at Bukit Selambau, his first stop in the triple by-election campaign. He reminded his audience that only Pakatan Rakyat leaders spoke up when A. Kugan died in police custody last January. – Pic by Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider. 

> AirAsia for 50 flights out of Singapore

After a shaky start here, Malaysian budget airline AirAsia now aims to more than double the number of daily flights out of Changi Airport to 50 by 2011. This will make it bigger than Singapore-based low-cost carriers

Tiger and Jetstar, said AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes. Last week, AirAsia launched flights to four Indonesian destinations — Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali.

It is now eyeing at least three new routes this year, to destinations such as Penang and Langkawi in Malaysia, and Medan and Surabaya in Indonesia.

At the official launch of flights to the four Indonesian spots yesterday, Datuk Fernandes said that by the end of the year, it would have more flights from Singapore than rivals Tiger and Jetstar.

Tiger operates an average of 24 flights out of Singapore per day, while Jetstar does 20.

“I applied for a licence here and I didn't get it, but we are still the largest low-cost carrier in Singapore,” said Mr Fernandes, referring to his failed efforts in 2003 to set up an airline here.

By the end of next year, AirAsia will also take delivery of 24 new Airbus A-320s, with financing already secured for 22 of the aircraft.

This means the low-cost carrier will eventually have a fleet of 100 aircraft, putting it on a par with bigger players like Singapore Airlines (SIA), which currently has 102 planes in its fleet.

All this translates to more options for travellers downgrading from full-cost carriers amid the economic slowdown.

Changi Airport's low-cost carrier traffic grew by 21 per cent in February, compared with the same month last year.

In January, business increased by 48 per cent.

With the likes of SIA and Cathay Pacific reducing flights to avoid flying half-empty planes, budget carriers are stepping in with deals like free seats, where passengers pay only taxes and other surcharges.

Aviation analyst Shukor Yusof of Standard and Poor's said AirAsia is “leading the pack' among the low-cost carriers.” Its forward bookings are looking good, and it is certainly ahead of the pack in terms of expansion plans and new routes. It has the size to aggressively grow its business.”  - The Straits Times.

> Phantom voters

Preliminary surveys by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) show a possible 62.5% prevalence of phantom voters in the Taman Bandar Baru housing area in Bukit Selambau.

"For example, we found 63 registered voters in one residential address, and they consisted of Malay [Malaysians], Chinese [Malaysians] and Indian [Malaysians]," said PKR Youth's elections director Fariz Musa today.

Speaking at a press conference, he PKR was using a special software — the Elections Victory System (Sistem Menang Pilihanraya, Sismep) — to arrive at its estimates.

Fariz said that Taman Bandar Baru has 3,544 registered voters, according to the updated electoral roll.

He noted that this would mean that there were a possible 2,215 phantom voters in the area.

"And this is only the first housing area we have chosen to survey," said Fariz, adding that another household apparently had 49 multiracial registered voters.

He said PKR would continue to investigate other housing areas in Bukit Selambau, for example Taman Peruda, where there could potentially be phantom voters.

Sophisticated detection

Fariz said that PKR has been using Sismep to monitor the prevalence of phantom voters since the 8 March 2008 general election.

He said that the software was very sophisticated and could even tabulate registered voters according to political party membership.

"For example, in one of the houses in Taman Bandar Baru, we detected 21 Umno members registered as voters," he said.

Fariz said that PKR would now try to visit each of the addresses which displayed unusual or doubtful numbers of registered voters, beginning today.

He said that there were potentially 76 other dubious addresses in Taman Bandar Baru.

He said that PKR would also try to invite the Election Commission to go on this field trip.

"The appearance of so many phantom voters this time is really too much," Fariz said - The Malaysian Insider.

> Selangor gears for water battle

Selangor is gearing up for a battle against water tariff hikes if the federal government returns water operations in the state back to concessionnaire Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas).

For now, the state is asking for arbitration of the matter with all parties concerned and if all else fails, it is prepared to take the matter to court.

On a report that the Cabinet will discuss today (Wed) whether a scheduled tariff hike should be allowed, Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said there should not be any unilateral increase of tariffs.

“If the Energy, Water and Telecommunications Ministry wants to allow the tariff increase, they should meet the state through arbitration as provided for in the concession agreement,” he said, adding that discussions should include the state and Federal governments and the water concessionnaire. 

“From this, we can decide if a water tariff hike is justified.”

The scheduled tariff hike of 31% (brought down from the original 37%) was supposed to kick in on Jan 1 but was postponed to April 1 to allow the state to initiate a takeover of the water concessionnaire's equities. However, the negotiations seem to have stalemated. 

Abdul Khalid hoped the Federal government will take on the state government's suggestion to restructure the industry so that water tariffs can be brought down instead of the scheduled hikes, if the concession companies take over.

Earlier, the state had found that the concession companies failed to adhere to the terms in the contract and that it had failed to follow guidelines stipulated in the concession agreement, like conducting direct negotiations instead of via open tender.

“Syabas has also failed to keep to its end of its deal to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) in the state,” he added.

He said the state had already requested that the Federal government terminate the contract but there has been no response so far. “We are ready to initiate legal action as a last resort.”

Selangor had made an offer of RM5.71 billion to the four water concession companies Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd, Syabas, Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (Abbas) and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) to take over the water concession on Feb 13. 

However, on Feb 18, two days before the deadline for the concession companies to respond to the state’s offer, the Energy Water and Communications Ministry via Span CEO Datuk Teo Yen Hua announced that the Federal Government would negotiate directly with Selangor water concessionaires via the Finance Ministry-owned Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB). 

PAAB offered RM6 billion to take over just the assets of the company. Under the asset light model, companies which migrate to the water licensing regime under the restructuring, need not worry about loans for assets as these will be undertaken by PAAB - the Sun.