by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Monday, 5th September 1994:
DAP calls on Datuk Rafidah Aziz to give a full and detailed explanation on government policy on allocation of special bumiputera shares to individuals.
DAP calls on the Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Rafidah Aziz to give a full and detailed explanation on the government policy on the allocation of special bumiputera shares to individuals.
Arising from a recent court case, the country has learnt that the Ministry of International Trade and Industry allocated 1.5 million shares of Leader Universal Holdings Berhad to Rafidah’s son-in-law, Fazrin Azwar, although this conflicted with the Ministry’s guidelines that the Bumiputera special shares allocation, committee, headed by Rafidah, cannot consider, applications by individual burmiputeras.
Subsequently, a former deputy director of the Ministry claimed that the allocation was in accordance with the Ministry’s guidelines and that Rafidah ‘abstained’ from the discussion on Fazrin’s share application.
The revelation that Rafidah’s son-in-law has been allocated 1.5 million special bumiputra when everybody is under the impression that such special bumiputera allocations, cannot be given to individuals has raised many questions about the propriety of such allocations.
For this reason, a full, explanation of government policy on the allocation should be given, to ensure that there is no abuses of power or other forms of deviations.
When did MITI adopt the policy allowing individuals to be allocated the special bumiputra shares and what was the rationale for such a policy change? Why wasn’t such a policy change made generally known to the public and conducted with greater accountability and transparency?
Such a full explanation should not only state how many times the MITI had given approval for individuals to be allocated special bumiputra shares, but full details such as the identity of the individuals but also the shares, date, volume and price of allocation.
Even if Rafidah had ‘abstained’ from the discussion on the allocation on her son-in-law’s share application, she was present at the meeting, and who would expect the decision to be any different? This has therefore put Rafidah in a most invidious position.
Public interest demands greater accountability and transparency in the allocation of the special bumiputra shares not only to individuals but also to companies – and DAP calls on the Cabinet to take a policy decision to make public all the individuals and companies which had been allocated these special bumiputera shares.