by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, April 14, 1993:
Anwar Ibrahim reminded to present White Paper in Parliament on Bank Negara’s RM$9.3 billion foreign exchange losses in 1992
I welcome the statement by Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, that he had instructed Bank Negara to explain the RM$9.3 billion reserve lossess last year as reported in the 1992 Bank Negaraannual report, although I would have expected him to have asked for and received a full explanation from Bank Negara very much earlier.
The 1992 Bank Negara Annual Report and its RM$9.3 billion foreign exchange losses was made public on 30th March 1993, but the Finance Minister should have been informed of the colossal foreign exchange losses very much earlier – as Bank Negara officials should have known of them by early January.
If Anwar Ibrahim did not know of Bank Negara’s RM$9.3 billion foreign exchange losses in 1992 until the Bank Negara had publicly released its 1992 annual report on march 30 ,then something is very wrong with the Finance Ministry!
I note that Anwar Ibrahim has agreed with me that Bank Negara has failed to give a full, adequate, satisfactory and acceptable explanation for the RM$9.3 billion foreign exchanges losses and I would remind him that he should present a White Paper to Parliament when it meets on April 26 on it.
When the Bank Negara first made public its 1992 Annual Report on March 30, it had tried to gloss over the RM$9.3 billion foreign exchanges losses, and it did not issue a statement to explain the colossal losses until two days later.
Bank Negara attributes the RM$9.3 billion foreign exchange losses last year to the appreciation of the ringgit, revaluation of foreign currency holdings and costs incurred in mopping up liquidity .
Private economists and money market analysts had expected a RM$3 billion to $4 billion drop, based largely on RM$650 million used up to mop up excess liquidity and an estimated RM$3billion appreciation of the Malaysian ringgit against the foreign exchange held and accumulated by Bank Negara during the year.
This is why Bank Negara needs to give a full, adequate, satisfactory and acceptable explanation for the RM$9.3 billion foreign exchange losses last year – which should be presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister in the form of a White Paper.
Lim Kit Siang
Press statement (2)
by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, April 14, 1993:
DAP calls for the establishment of a Parliament Committee on Corruption and Malpractices which would have power to inquire into tender irregularities like the RM$200 million Mobikom tender exercise
DAP calls for the establishment of a Parliamentary Committee on Corruption and Malpractices which would have power to inquire into tender irregularities like the RM$200 million Mobikom tender exercise
It has been reported that the Finance Ministry has ordered the third cellular-phone operator, Mobikim Sdn. Bhd. To withdraw a RM$200 million supply contract awarded to Sweden’s Telefon AB LM Erison and its local partner – Perwira Ericsson, and to re-open the tender to the six original bidders because of irregularities.
The Finance Ministry’s nominees on the boards of two of the four consortium members of Mobikom – Telekom Malaysia and Edaran Otomobil Nasional – had been instructed to demand a fresh tender call at the Mobikom board meeting on Friday.
Mobikom is a consortium comprising Permodolan Nasional Bhd (PNB) (with 30 per cent), Telekom Malaysia Bhd. (30 per cent), Edaran Otomobli Nasional Bhd. (EON) (30 percent) and Sapura Holdings Bhd. (10 per cent).
It was given approval last October to establish the country’s third cellular-phone system based on the US-developed advance mobile phone system, which will use the 800-megahertz frequency.
The six international telecommunications companies, through their local partner, which had originally submitted their bids for the RM$200 million Mobikom contract on the closing of the tender last December 28, were: Ericsson, US-based AT&T, Motorola and Hughes, Britain’s Northern Telecom and Japan’s NEC.
It has been alleged that after the shortlisting of three of the six bids, changes were made to the specifications of the supply contract. Although the RM$200 million Mobikom tender is not a government tender, public funds are involved because the people, through the Finance Ministry, are the majority shareholders in three of the Mobikom consortium companies owning 90 percent of the shareholdings.
For this reason , Parliament has a duty to ensure that such tender exercise are above-board and conform to the principles of public accountability and transparency.
The Cabinet Committee on Corruption and Malpractices headed by the Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, appears to have gone into hibernation, and this is why the Dewan Rakyat should form a standing Parliamentary Committee on Corruption and Malpractices and irregularities in the awarded of tenders and contracts where public funds are involved, whether directly as in government contracts, or indirectly, because of involvement of companies whose majority shareholdings derive from public funds.
I hope Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, can support the proposal for the establishment of a Parliamentary Committee on Corruption and Malpractices and raise this matter in the Cabinet.