You cannot help but get very suspicious of the whole Grand Saga-Bandar Mahkota Cheras crisis. After the recent police brutality I thought it won’t happen again, well at least not so soon, but how wrong I was. It was just like those Bollywood movie whereby the tyranny of the rich crossed all the boundaries, the thugs or gangsters were bought with money and the worse thing was even the police was part of the team.
When I was young my mum always reminded me to get far away from any fight-scene and never be busy-body trying to find out what was the excitement about. Can’t blame her though as she is a living testimony of the May 13 incident. I guess that was exactly what happened to the innocent Chang Jiun Haur, 21, for allegedly running over FRU personnel (reported MalaysiaKini). The curiosity–seeker was at the wrong place at the wrong time when he was stopped and surrounded and then beaten till he was “soaked in his own blood” – by some 20 policemen (or thugs?). What the heck, you simply can’t differentiate gangsters from the policemen nowadays, can you? Luckily the policemen didn’t drag and gang-rape his sister who was inside the car at that time.
Police’s brutality continues
When I was young my mum always reminded me to get far away from any fight-scene and never be busy-body trying to find out what was the excitement about. Can’t blame her though as she is a living testimony of the May 13 incident. I guess that was exactly what happened to the innocent Chang Jiun Haur, 21, for allegedly running over FRU personnel (reported MalaysiaKini). The curiosity–seeker was at the wrong place at the wrong time when he was stopped and surrounded and then beaten till he was “soaked in his own blood” – by some 20 policemen (or thugs?). What the heck, you simply can’t differentiate gangsters from the policemen nowadays, can you? Luckily the policemen didn’t drag and gang-rape his sister who was inside the car at that time.
Police’s brutality continues
A high-ranking police officer at the scene claimed that Chang had run over a FRU personnel with his car.
“He asked for it. He ran over a policeman and he got what he deserved,” the officer told Malaysiakini a few minutes after the
incident.Asked to identify the person who was hit by the car, the officer had initial difficulty in persuading the individual to come forward.
When he did so, the man - who appeared unscathed - claimed: “He tried to run me over … look at my baton, it is broken. What more evidence do you want?”
I thought such brutality could only happen once in a blue moon in U.S. where the white policemen would beat the hell out of black guys. Not that I’m racists but that’s what I watched although I’m pretty sure those are isolated cases. But to have such brutality in Malaysia, the country which the PM screamed was the peaceful nation ever created on planet earth? Don’t you feel insecure and confuse of what is happening in this country when the PM, the Deputy PM and all the Ministers are damn quiet about the brutality as if it never happens?
What happened as reported?
According to theStar, a fracas ensued at about 7.15pm when a group of unidentified men armed with sticks and helmets attacked the residents. Several residents were taken to hospital. Also injured was a photographer from Utusan Malaysia, Roy Azis Abdul Aziz, who was beaten up when he tried to snap some photographs.
What happened as reported?
According to theStar, a fracas ensued at about 7.15pm when a group of unidentified men armed with sticks and helmets attacked the residents. Several residents were taken to hospital. Also injured was a photographer from Utusan Malaysia, Roy Azis Abdul Aziz, who was beaten up when he tried to snap some photographs.
The group of men sat on the blocks, not allowing the residents to remove them and threatened to attack those who tried to go near the barricade. However, the group disappeared when the police arrived later. Cool, you have a group of readily-armed thugs threaten to beat up residents and the police couldn’t catch even one of them until this hour. And what did the Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Shakaruddin Che Mood said when asked why police didn’t help? His men were busy diverting traffic because it was more important than to guard the lifes of innocent people. Shouldn’t this guy be rewarded with a medal?
Of course the Grand Saga spokeman responsed in lighting speed that the company has nothing to do with those thugs or gangsters. Sure, and we’re suppose to believe those thugs have nothing better to do than to guard the concreate slabs not belonging to them? How come I smell something fishy with this Grand Saga’s executive director who happened to be the former Dang Wangi Police Chief?Why the residents are so crazy to get rid of the barricades?
The whole crisis is quite simple. The toll concessionaire Grand Saga is simply too greedy to suck the money out of motorists and the residents of Bandar Mahkota Cheras are furious that they are being forced to travel another 6.7 km (one way) just to pay the RM0.90 toll to go to Kuala Lumpur. Despite an access road connecting Mahkota Cheras town-ship to the Cheras-Kajang highway built by Lion Diversified Holdings Berhad, Grand Saga decided that the only way to collect more money from tolls was to block the road, forcing the residents to make a huge merry go-round.
There are two tolls on the 11.5km Cheras-Kajang highway, RM1.00 at the 9th-mile toll plaza and RM0.90 at the 11th-mile toll plaza. The short-cut (shorter 1.5km route) have great impact on Grand Plaza's toll collection at the 11th mile but not on the first toll located at the 9th mile of the highway hence the crisis. Can you see the tyranny at works here?Grand Saga and Taliworks, a cash-rich company
Isn’t it strange that a toll concessionaire such as Grand Saga could be so powerful? What’s the relationship between Grand Saga and Taliworks and who’re the bosses? Taliworks Corporation Berhad (KLSE: TALIWRK, stock-code 8524), the water specialist, currently operates and maintains the Sungai Selangor Water Treatment Works Phase 1 in Ijok, Selangor, and a water concession in Langkawi. The company manages six water treatment plants with a combined design capacity of 1,039 million liters per day that serve approximately two million people in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Langkawi, Kedah. The ambitious company is looking to expand overseas when its Chief Executive Officer Abdul Rahman Siraj said the company was seriously looking at four more water and waste management projects worth RM400 million in China.
Taliworks has also expanded its operations to include toll highway operations via the acquisition of a 55% (for RM55.5 million) interest in Cerah Sama Sdn Bhd (CSSB) from Bunga Abadi. Interestingly both Taliworks and Bunga Abadi have a mutual substantial shareholder - the family of the late Datuk Lim Ah Bak (The son, Lim Chee Meng, is Taliworks executive Director) who was the business partner of Abdul Hamid Pawanteh, the former Perlis Menteri Besar (Chief Minister).The company is cash-rich after it has successfully raised RM225 million of convertible bonds for business expansion purposes. Locally the company is banging on the Pahang-Selangor inter-state raw water transfer project, which it hopes to secure. So, Mr Chief Minister of Selangor, you have your trump cards to play here.There’s another big-gun who’s the majority shareholder in Grand Saga, National Front’s (Barisan Nasional) Syed Sobri Syed Hashim, the State Assemblyman for Kuala Nerang. Hey, isn't that a conflict of interest?
Selangor government plays dumb?
Analysts think Taliworks stands a good chance of grabbing some jobs since Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd (KPS), a subsidiary of the Selangor government's investment unit, Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd owns about 20 percent in Taliworks. Gosh! Doesn’t this means the Selangor government is equally tainted in this Grand-Saga Bandar Mahkota Cheras clashes? Is Khalid Ibrahim, the Chief Minister of Selangor from PKR, plays dumb or simply that stupid to not realize this fact? What a way to go to milk motorists for another 20 years.
For the financial year (FY) ended Dec 31, 2007, Taliworks registered an increase of 33.6% in revenue to RM191 million from RM142.9 million in the previous year. Net profit, however, fell to RM33.1 million from RM35.6 million the year before. Could this justifiable enough to suck 60,000 residents of their money, never mind risking the lifes of innocent people? However, don’t expect the federal government to do anything because it was their intention to play-up the tension – the dirtier the crisis blows, the better.Grand Saga Big Bosses
Management Team:
- Ahmad Ishak Haron - Managing Director
- Chee Lean Thong - Executive Director, Operation & Administration
- Zainal Abidin Ali (former Dang Wangi Police Chief) - Executive Director, Business Development & Corporate Affairs
- Datin Lee Li-May - Director, Tender & Purchasing
- A. Rajasolan - General Manager
- Patrick Wong - Assistant General Manager, Business Development & Corporate Affairs
- Paramjeet Singh Nahar Singh - Finance Manager
- Nurashid Noordin - Human Resource & Administration Manager
Board of Director:
- Ahmad Ishak Haron
- Chee Lean Thong
- Zainal Abidin Ali
- Datin Lee Li-May
- Dato' Wan Puteh Wan Mohd Saman
- Minhat Mion
- Lim Yew Boon
