Dr M poser on Scomi-RapidKL bus deal

Is government-linked public transport operator RapidKL profiting so much as to be able to afford leaving 1,000 of its buses to rust and become scrap metal?

Posing this question today, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad asked whether the answer had anything to do with the fact that Scomi Coach Sdn Bhd - a company controlled by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s son Kamaluddin. - also supplies buses to RapidKL.

"I wish to know who the supplier of these buses (to RapidKL) is," Mahathir asked on his Chedet blogsite.

"I believe the supplier of these buses is raking in large profits because of the number of purchases by RapidKL. Is it possible that the disposal of so many old buses (by RapidKL) is so that new buses can be purchased from a certain supplier?" he queried further.

Mahathir had also posted on his blog photos (above) which showed the abandoned RapidKL buses parked at a ‘bus graveyard’ in Sungi Choh, Rawang.

A signboard in one of the pictures purportedly shows the owner of the ‘graveyard’ to be Scomi Coach Sdn and Scomi Rail Bhd. The latter supplies coaches for RapidKL’s light rail transit services.

Mahathir’s was the latest voice to have raised the issue. Late last month, BN member of parliament Bung Moktar Radin had asked in parliament why RapidKL had left so many its buses to rot, becoming a source of complaints to residents in the area.

Given Rapid KL had bought new buses using taxpayers’ money - Bung estimated the total cost of the buses to be RM500 million - he asked whether there was anything not right.

"If there is nothing wrong, why have these buses, which can still be used, been left to languish and cause environmental pollution?" asked the Kinabatangan MP.

Echoing Bung’s questions, Mahathir said RapidKL being a government-linked-company, should table its accounts for the public to see.

"It has been said that RapidKL has ordered so many new buses that Scomi has been unable to build (the required numbers). Because of this, Scomi has been allowed to import buses from China.

"What is the price of these imported (buses) and their total sales to RapidKL? Are other companies allowed to import new buses from abroad? What are the import duties that have been paid?" Mahathir added.

The combative ex-premier also noted talk of Scomi being contracted to supply train coaches for a proposed monorail project in Penang.

Mahathir has been on the offensive against his hand-picked successor Abdullah as he perceives the latter as unraveling the policies he had put in place during his 22-year tenure as prime minister.

Accusing Abdullah of allowing corruption to run rampant and of nepotism, Mahathir upped the ante following Barisan Nasional’s near disastrous performance at the March 8 general election.

A lifetime member of Umno, Mahathir quit the party May 19 in a dramatic attempt to pressure Abdullah to step down.

In another blog entry posted yesterday, Mahathir revived his criticisms of the government’s scrapping of plans to build the curved bridge as a replacement for the Johor Causeway.

According to him, Abdullah had ordered the cancellation of the plans to spite Johoreans as certain parties in Johor were said to have objected to the government’s offer to sell sand to Singapore for reclamation works and use of Johor’s airspace by Singapore military aircrafts.

Instead of merely cancelling the bridge project which was to have been the trade-off for Johor’s sand and airspace, Abdullah out of frustration ‘punished’ Johor by cancelling the bridge project altogether, claimed Mahathir.

"No straight bridge, no curved bridge either," he said.

"The result is that more than RM1 billion has been wasted building the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex (left), foundation works for a new railway station, pilings and preliminary works on the road linking the CIQ to the bridge plus compensation to the contractors because of the cancellation of the projects.

"The CIQ building is now a white elephant, unused and yet has to be maintained costing hundreds of thousands of ringgit a month.

"Clearly Abdullah has wasted public money. All because he was angry with the Johor people for not enabling one billion cubic metres of sand to be sold to Singapore and the profits thereof," he said.