Ganesh Sahathevan

As Minister For Climate Change,and Industry and Innovation Combet continues to display the same disregard for financial management that he did at Defense (see story below). Combet was recently queried about a three year  contract  his   Department of Industry and Innovation  awarded late last year for the cleaning of the  National Measurement Institute and Australian Astronomical  Organisation's  new  offices and laboratories in  Ryde. The NMI's labs are highly secure given its responsibility for legal metrology. As well, it provides testing services to the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA). Regardless of the highly technical nature of the work involved, the contract was awarded a company with no prior experience   in the cleaning of laboratories.  Within a month of the contract commencing Combet's Department requested a variation of that contract which resulted in a  reduct...

On 7 May 2008 the then newly appointed    Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement  The Hon. Greg Combet MP  a nnounced  " a review of Defence procurement and sustainment", to  be conducted by Mr David Mortimer AO. In making that announcement Combet said that he "  would like the review to examine how DMO can continue to develop its commercial orientation and become more business-like in its operations." On 2  July 2008 the   Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Warren Snowdon MP, witnessed the signing of the new Australian Defence Force (ADF) Recruiting Services Contract with the ASX listed Chandler Macleod. The contract was  valued at up to $405 million over a period of five years. Mr Snowdon said that Chandler Macleod was selected by Defence following an extensive and competitive tender process conducted in accordance with Government Procurement Guidelines.   Chandler replaced the much larger and better established ...

First, there was Fetch TV, into which AK's Astro and other companies are investing:  Scott  Lorson  was appointed in September 2009 as the chief executive officer of FetchTV Pty Ltd, a start-up wholesaler that has designed a pay TV platform business for Internet service providers to deliver free and pay TV channels, movies on demand, and other interactive content to their broadband customers. FetchTV is 55 percent owned by management including the executive director, Simon Cathcart, one of the two Australian founders, and 45 percent by Astro Holdings, a Malaysian media and communications investment company. Freelance communications journalist, Liz Fell, interviewed  Lorson  for the Telecommunications Journal of Australia(  TJA)  in mid-October (2011)  at the FetchTV offices in Milsons Point, NSW. TJA : And at the top of UT is Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan, known as TAK these days I believe? Lorson : Yes, he’s often referred to as TAK. TJA : I...

THE STAR has announced that AirAsia CEO and major shareholder Tony Fernandes has been appointed a director of its publisher, Star Publications (M) Bhd. The Star has been a prominent publicist  for AirAsia, publishing commentaries usually in favour of AirAsia. Given the appointment Fernandes becomes part of the mind that directs the company and the paper. This is THE STAR, a Malaysian paper, owned by the MCA ,a prominent  member of the ruling Barisan Nasional, so arguments of editorial independence can be safely put aside. Consequently, it does appear that  each and every journalist at THE STAR , managing editor Wong Chun Wai downwards, would need, in accordance with the law as stipulated in the Securities Industry Act 1980, tto enter into the "register in the prescribed form ... the securities in which he/she  has an interest" . The  relevant provisions  are reproduced below: PART V RECORDS 29. Application of this Part. (1) This Part applies to a pers...

First , Tony Fernandes aka Choirboy, CEO of AirAsia and  owner Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in his own words: "If worse comes to worse, I'm sure I can persuade Air Asia or Malaysian Airlines to come on board and sponsor us (QPR)." http://www.marketingmagazine. co.uk/news/1085695/Fernandes- use-Air-Asia-fallback-shirt- sponsor/ Now according to Malaysia's Companies Act 1965 Section 131A of the Companies Act 1965- Interested director not to participate or vote S131A(1) provides that:   ‘Subject to Section 131, a director of a company who is in any way, whether directly or indirectly, interested in a contract entered into or proposed to be entered into by the company… shall be counted only to make a quorum at the board meeting but shall not participate in any discussion while the contract or proposed contract is being considered at the board meeting and shall not vote on the contract or proposed contract  ‘Shall not participate’ has been defined in  PP v Dato Haji Mohamed ...

No one paid me to say this, and no one asked me to say it. However, it now all seems so simple. Malaysia is facing a battle of the women, or at least led by the women. UMNO , and the BN , if they are to survive as a force in Malaysian politics, may have to come up with their own champion, a  cross between Corrie Acquino  and  Megawati Sukarnoputri, if they are to remain relevant to Malaysian politics.  In the Pakatan corner we have Nurul Izzah, who is able to draw the crowds and is spoken of by some (or is that many?) as the logical replacement for her scandal tainted father, Anwar Ibrahim.Her age counts against her, but she is Malay and satisfies the convention that the prime minister be bumiputera. Anwar himself must realise that he longer draws the crowds,and in any case carries too much baggage ,not the least from his UMNO antecedents.  Bersih 2, and now 3, has proven that it is no longer Anwar that draws the crowds ; larger each time , and always summoned...

None other than a former chief justice, Tun Mohd Dzaiddin Abdullah, recently denounced Malaysia's judges as being "subservient to politicians in the executive arm of government". His reasons I will leave readers to determine for themselves. What is of interest to this writer though is the comment by the current president of the Malaysian Bar Council, Lim Chee Wee , who is reported to have said "for commercial cases, Malaysia’s judiciary system was credible enough to handle cases from the region." “But the ultimate test is of course when it comes to politically sensitive cases or religious cases and how our appellate courts deal with it. “On that score, I still give them a minus because so far as religious cases go, the conversion cases, there is a fear by our appellate courts in having to make a decision. They keep postponing, the controversial cases just being postponed, then there is of course the Perak crisis,” he said. Lim's area of practice is -commerc...