On Dec 2, India's visiting minister of state for commerce and industry Satyabrata Mokherjee told reporters he had been informed that the Malaysian cabinet was still considering the deal, which also originally involved China.

The visit of the Indian minister to Malaysia is a positive sign of the efforts of both nations to mend the differences arising from the sudden award of the North-South double track project to MMC-Gamuda consortium without termination notices being issued.

On the same day, StarBiz quoted Works Minister S Samy Vellu as saying that state-owned Ircon has submitted a fresh bid for 70 percent of the work for the northern grid (Ipoh-Padang Besar), which was initially promised to it.

Earlier, The Edge reported that Gamuda's business development general manager Wong Mun Keong had confirmed that MMC-Gamuda had only submitted the "outline drawing".

In a similar occasion, Gamuda's corporate development manager KC Goh stated, "We shall submit further project drawings and plan to the government when the project moved forward."

Pak Lah has to prove to Malaysians that he really means business in fighting graft and cronyism if he is to win back public confidence in the ballot box between now and Nov, 2004.

The MMC-Gamuda project award would mean the continuation of the Mahathir dynasty. Especially given that the whiz kids in Gamuda are still toying with the 'project outline' with minimal commitment as they are not even prepare to appoint consultants to do the designing job.

The Mahathir administration had successfully created a crony regime that went burst during the 1998 financial crisis. There is still time for Pak Lah to revoke the MMC-Gamuda contract and honour the international trade agreement.