AS a Penangite, I feel so embarrassed for having such a gullible state leadership that can be easily duped by anyone by just waving the shadow of money before it.
Someone from Sabah sends a “surat laying”-type letter to the Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow offering a donation of two million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, and without batting an eyelid Chow falls head over heels over the offer.
That person says he is managing director of Xintai Development Enterprise Ltd based in Hong Kong, but the letter he sent to Chow, dated 1 February 2021, is on a plain sheet of A4 paper, not on his company letterhead.
Would a managing director not use his official letterhead for such an important letter?
It is amazing that receiving such a too-good-to-be-true offer was acted upon as if the person making the offer was someone well known to the state government and in whom the government had full confidence.
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However, after Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin exposed the [alleged] “scam”, Chow now wants the donor to come forward and clear him. So, Chow did not know the charitable donor’s identity? Yet he said he had done his due diligence!
Obviously, Chow does not even know what due diligence is and how it is done. He should have first asked: “Who is this donor?”
Then, he should have found out all about him and the company he said he ran, the more so if the person was a total stranger.
Chow’s reaction was like that of someone being conned by love or Macau scammers.
There is something very strange about this debacle, and I smell a rat.
Was it something planned behind the scenes to find an excuse to “blast” the government, in the manner of Lim Guan Eng?
The way Chow was throwing tantrums was as though the two million “free” doses of vaccine were on the way from somewhere, and the government did not allow the flight to land in Penang to deliver them.
If it wasn’t, then that explains something else – all the haphazard development in Penang that is based on blindly approving whatever projects and plans that developers wave before the eyes of the state government, regardless of the consequences on the environment and people of the state, eg the Penang South Reclamation in the bay of Teluk Kumbar.
Have leaders of the state no minds of their own, or minds to think critically of the plans and projects proposed by developers before jumping in excitement and proudly announcing them, like the 45,000-occupant workers’ hostel in Teluk Kumbar?
Considering all factors, Batu Kawan is a far better place to locate it. The interests of the developers must not be given priority. – The Malaysian Insight
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
