Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
PM's ex-aide Farhash is the new political crony By P Gunasegaram
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Malaysiakini : Last year, Farhash claimed to have given up politics. At 41 and
without much going by the way of relevant experience, not only has he
become executive chairperson of two listed companies, he is the
chairperson of another and a substantial shareholder of listed tech
provider HeiTech Padu, which recently secured an RM190 million contract
and is tipped to secure a further RM1 billion one.
What is
significant is that Farhash was Anwar’s political secretary before he
ostensibly quit politics in favour of business. But quitting politics
seems to have opened wide other doors for him.
Anwar
Ibrahim speaking at a press conference during the 15th general
election’s campaign period on Oct 27, 2022, accompanied by his then
political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak (left).
Connecting the dots
He
has charted an unbelievably meteoric rise in his corporate career in a
short few months, coinciding remarkably with Anwar’s ascension to the
post of prime minister in November 2022. It is interesting to track his
rapid ascent up the corporate ladder.
On
Dec 27, 2022, he became the executive chairperson of Apex Equity
Holdings Bhd, a troubled previously family-owned stock-broking company
where there is a shareholder feud going on. Read about the problems here.
That
should have legitimately raised eyebrows - what was a 41-year-old doing
as executive chairperson of this group? This is what Apex had to say about him:
“Farhash
brings with him more than a decade’s worth of experience in the field
of business, consultancy, and advisory. On the business front, his
illustrious career spans a broad range of sectors which includes
construction, technology, hotel, food & beverage.
“Farhash is
or has been a director and/or shareholder in at least ten private
companies which include Swag Technologies Sdn Bhd, Salvador & Sons
Sdn Bhd, and Pacific Samudera Sdn Bhd. He was also an independent
non-executive director of Blumont Group Limited (now known as Southern
Archipelago Limited) from 2014 to 2016, a public-listed company listed
on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange (SGX).”
There is no
mention of any executive position anywhere that would justify
parachuting him to the top executive position in Apex Equity.
Incidentally, Blumont shares were pushed up in 2013 as part of a massive
share manipulation exercise in 2013. Read about it here.
And
then, days later on Jan 3, 2023, he was appointed non-independent,
non-executive chairperson of convenience stores operator 7-Eleven
Malaysia Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of B-Retail. The Berjaya group
is controlled by businessperson Vincent Tan.
Vincent Tan
According
to news reports, Berjaya founder Vincent filed a lawsuit in July last
year against the Finance Ministry and Spanco Sdn Bhd regarding the
termination of a letter of intent, alleging that the contract was
awarded to Spanco despite their higher bid. Tan questioned why the
government had agreed to pay RM700 million more to Spanco.
On
April 3 this year, Spanco executive director Robert Tan Hua Soon was
charged with cheating the government over a contract worth over RM3.9
billion by convincing the Finance Ministry that Spanco had at least 30
percent bumiputera shareholding.
Robert,
a close associate of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, pleaded
not guilty. Daim headed the powerful Council of Eminent Persons formed
by Dr Mahathir Mohamad during his second term as prime minister from
2018 to 2020 when the new contract was awarded to Spanco.
Anwar
has said that those in previous positions of power would be investigated
for corruption. Daim had been charged in court on Jan 29 this year with
failing to comply with a MACC notice to declare his assets.
Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin
The
sequence of events has led observers to believe that there is closeness
between Anwar and Vincent, reflected through Farhash’s appointment at
7-Eleven.
On May 9 last year, Farhash became executive chairperson
of Excel Force MSC Bhd, another listed company. He was now in the
unusual position of being executive chairperson of two separate unlinked
companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. That could be a first. How was he
going to manage his time?
Contracts galore
On
March 11, HeiTech Padu announced that it had obtained an extension of a
contract with the Immigration Department for a year from Feb 18 for
RM13.1 million.
On the same day, listed MyEG Services Bhd acquired a 14.4 percent interest in HeiTech Padu through a subsidiary.
On
March 14, three days later, Farhash became a major shareholder of
HeiTech Padu with a 15.91 percent stake. He later clarified that he
shared ownership of the shareholding in the company, held via private
vehicle Rosetta Partners Sdn Bhd, with Kelantan’s Sultan Muhammad V.
The
big announcement came on April 15 - HeiTech Padu had obtained an RM190
million contract from the Road Transport Department (RTD) for three
years from May.
The
contract is for the maintenance and technical support for ICT
Infrastructure including the vehicle and driver information system at
the data centre and RTD offices.
HeiTech Padu is now said to be the frontrunner for a new Immigration Department contract which could be valued at RM1 billion.
On
April 16, a day after the announcement of the RM190 million contract,
HeiTech Padu announced a teaming agreement with MyEG “to form an interim
collaboration to explore services in relation to the information
technology industry in Malaysia.”
The three companies mentioned in
this article - HeiTech Padu, Excel Force, and MyEG - are linked by a
complicated web of shareholdings and directors. They are in similar
businesses and appear involved in getting government contracts and
splitting them among themselves.
What’s clear from all this is
that a new political crony - Farhash - is on the scene. The disturbing
question: Is this new unity government led by PKR operating no
differently from Umno and Bersatu in the award of contracts?
