Leaders ‘tried to influence valuation’

THE STAR

Some PKR top brass wanted to set price of water assets, says Khalid

BY LOH FOON FONG

Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim

SHAH ALAM: Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim disclosed that there were party leaders from PKR who were trying to influence the valuation of the water assets in the state.

He said some party leaders had introduced him to a few people who were trying to make their case as to why the pricing of the water assets should be higher.

“I have been an investment banker for so long that I look at the principle of valuation before determining the price (of the assets). I stood by my principle of valuation and set the price at RM9.65bil.

“These people wanted to set the price and wanted the valuation to justify their price,” he said in an interview with The Star yesterday.

Khalid also explained why the mechanics of the deal could not have been revealed to all and sundry in and outside of the party before the agreement with the Federal Government was signed on Wednesday.

He pointed out that the information, if revealed, would have an impact on the price of the stocks related to the water assets.

“I was also concerned about possible abuse of information and insider dealing. These are reasons why PKR leaders were not informed ahead of the signing on the water deal between the Selangor state government and the Federal government,” he said.

Khalid said he did not inform his party leaders due to those reasons to ensure that the implementation of the transaction was right and adhered to proper corporate governance.

On Wednesday, the Federal Government and Selangor finally found common ground on terms that would facilitate the implementation of the Langat 2 water treatment plant project and the takeover of water assets in the state.

Shower of joy: Two-year-old Shazaril Aiman Salasi enjoying the bath given by his grandmother Fakiya Faruk, 47, after weeks without water at Taman Impian Ehsan in Balakong. -NORAFIFI EHSAN/The Star

Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili and Khalid signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that effectively broke a five-year impasse over the implementation of water projects in the country’s most industrialised state.

In the deal, the Federal Government agreed to the state’s acquisition of four water concessionaires, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Bhd (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (Abbas) and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holdings Bhd (Splash) for a RM9.65bil compensation.

Khalid said that there was also concern that if there was misuse of information, the whole transaction would be regarded as void.

He said he went ahead to sign the MoU as the PKR leaders already knew about the deal since 2012 and the parameters of the transaction had not been changed.

“It’s part of the 2013 election manifesto. The factors such as ensuring steady tariff hikes and that the interest of the people in Selangor not being compromised are all there,” he said, adding that the Federal Government had also requested that they guard the information to ensure that the transaction was done in a professional manner.

Khalid was told that the Cabinet had agreed to terms only on Wednesday morning.

“They said ‘come and sign’. It was all done within a few hours,’’ he said, adding that he would call for a meeting to inform PKR leaders today.

On whether Putrajaya would keep to its deal, he said: “I am sure the Federal Government would keep to its side of the deal.”

The MoU binded everyone to their responsibilities, he noted.

“It will be unthinkable for the state or federal governments to reverse the arrangement,” he said.

Asked what he thought about Kajang by-election contender Datuk Zaid Ibrahim saying that PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was out-manoeuvred by him on the water deal, Khalid said that based on his understanding, Anwar was not against the water consolidation exercise and the MoU.

Khalid attributed the success of the signing of the deal to Dr Ongkili whom he knew during their days at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS).

He said both shared a common ground of resolving the issue and held on to the principle of no rent seekers taking advantage of the dealings.

• For full interview and story see StarBizweek tomorrow

GST Bill to be tabled in Dewan Rakyat soon

THE STAR

Draft in final stages and expected to be put forward in March session

LOH FOON FONG

foonfong@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The Goods and Services Tax Bill is in the final stage of being drafted and expected to be tabled at the next Dewan Rakyat sitting from March 10.

The Bill would have to be tabled this year for it to be ready for GST implementation on April 1 next year, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan.

He said the draft was being reviewed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“We hope to table it in the coming Parliament meeting,’’ he told reporters at a national forum on the GST here yesterday.

On another matter, Ahmad said a special RM300 aid under the BR1M programme would be announced later this year for households earning RM4,000 and less to provide relief from the GST burden.

Added to the regular BR1M, if it is maintained at RM700, the total handout would be RM1,000, he said.

During the Budget 2014 announcement last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the GST would be imposed at the rate of 6% on selected goods and services.

The GST will replace the current consumption tax, which consists of a sales tax of 10% and 5% service tax.

At the forum, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers’ Associa­tions (Fomca) expressed its concern on the lack of communication and engagement between the authorities and the people on the GST.

Fomca CEO Datuk Paul Selvaraj said consumers feared the GST would burden them as many of them were currently exempted from income tax and they wanted effective mechanisms to bring up their issues.

He said the Government needed to build confidence on the GST as consumers wanted the funds collected to be well-spent and their quality of life improved.

Giving the British view, HM Revenue and Customs senior VAT (Value-Added Tax) policy manager Andrew Webb said the government discussed with people from various industries and groups on the VAT system (similar to the GST) before it was introduced in Britain in 1973.

Webb said it spent a lot of time through various ways to communicate with individual taxpayers and taxpayers’ organisations to build trust and understanding.

He said they published the draft law for people to see and consult on it for a period of time before it was passed in Parliament.

Govt remains steadfast on tobacco

Commodity linked to health issues and should not be part of TPPA, says Subra

THE STAR

LOH FOON FONG

foonfong@thestar.com.my

Commodity linked to health issues and should not be part of TPPA, says Subra

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has reaffirmed Malaysia’s position that it wants tobacco to be excluded from trade liberalisation discussions under the United States-sponsored Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said that Malaysia had taken a strong stand on the matter, which has garnered foreign support.

“We were the only country that did that and had a lot of support from many other countries, but we did not get support from the United States because it said that tobacco should be part of trade,” he said at the opening of the inaugural World Cancer Day Conference and Expo 2014 here yesterday.

The TPPA discussions were targeted at removing tariffs and to allow countries to have freer access to all markets for products.

Dr Subramaniam said that some countries viewed tobacco as a trade item and felt that the tariffs linked to it should be removed, and thought Malaysia was trying to protect its own tobacco trade, which was not true.

“Our reason was that it was something negative, and therefore, should not be part of the liberalisation process,” said Dr Subramaniam, who added that it was not negotiable from the health perspective as smoking was a clear threat to health.

He said smoking was linked to 20% of all cancer-related deaths. In 2013, the incidence of cancer in Malaysia was 38,000, up from 32,000 in 2008, and this was predicted to increase to 57,000 in 2025.

There were 21,700 cancer deaths here in 2012, and on a global scale, cancer had overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death, he added.

National Cancer Society president Dr S. Saunthari said that Australia had a 60% cancer survival rate while Malaysia had 30%, and suggested that the rather low rate was due to Malaysians not seeking treatment early enough, with some having the misconception that cancer treatment would kill them.

Analysts: Ethnicity to influence boundaries

The star

BY LOH FOON FONG, RASHVINJEET S. BEDI, AND TASHNY SUKUMARAN

PETALING JAYA: Ethnic-based voting patterns are likely to influence how electoral boundaries will be redrawn, say political analysts.

Merdeka Centre co-founder Ibrahim Suffian said such a principle was likely to be adopted as it was the simplest and clearest way to redraw boundaries.

“The reality on the ground is that people live in rather ethnically homogenous neighbourhoods,” he said at a forum titled Towards a Fairer Electoral Systemorganised by the Bar Council and Tindak Malaysia here yesterday.

Ibrahim added that this was also due to the prevalence of race-based political parties as well as an increased racialisation of politics.

Within this context, he said there were 80 marginal seats that would be interesting to observe.

The areas include southern Kedah, central Perak, northern Selangor, southern Johor and the Kadazan heartland in Sabah.

Ibrahim said in the long run, delineation based on ethnic distribution would not be a positive move because people want to have a sense of fairness in the system, and currently, urban voters felt that their votes counted far less than those in rural areas.

“It should be based on population size because it relates to services provided by the representatives,” he said, adding that the capping of the difference in the number of voters up to 30% between seats would be a good start, with gradual reductions over time.

In GE13, Barisan Nasional won 60% of the seats with 47% of the overall vote, while Pakatan Rakyat won 40% of the seats although they obtained 51% of the vote.

Frontier International Electoral Consulting president Dr Lisa Handley said the tolerance limit varies dramatically around the world.

“For example, Canada has a 25% tolerance limit, and they can go beyond that under extraordinary circumstances,” she said, adding that the most common tolerance limit was 10%.

Bar Council chairman Christopher Leong remarked that the difference was too vast – for instance, the Kapar parliamentary constituency had 144,159 voters while Sabak Bernam had 37,318, a difference of nearly four times.

Singapore Management Univer­sity’s political science associate professor, Dr Bridget Welsh, said ethnicity is a big factor in drawing electoral boundaries.

“However, history has shown that what works in one election will not necessarily work two elections down the road. In some cases, it (the earlier ethnic formulae thought to beneficial) can backfire,” she said.

The last redelineation exercise by the Election Commission was in March 2003.

In a statement, Tindak Malaysia said it would propose an electoral map that would help ease the pressure on the EC.

It said its effort would not only help ease EC’s workload, but also help deflect some of the unfair accusations and demands heaped upon the commission.

Current dengue spate due to normal major outbreak cycle

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: The current dengue situation is the result of a normal major outbreak cycle and dengue patients should use repellents to prevent mosquitoes from biting them and infecting others, said a professor of virology.

Universiti Malaya dengue expert Prof Dr Sazaly Abu Bakar said there was a major dengue outbreak once every three, seven or eight years.

The current outbreak was a result of this normal major outbreak cycle.

He added that from 2007 to 2010, there had been one major outbreak involving over 45,000 cases, while in 2011 and 2012, the number of infections decreased significantly to less than 25,000 cases.

“The infection rate started to go up at the end of last year,” he said when contacted.

The Health Ministry has stated that an outbreak occurs when there are two dengue cases within 14 days in an operational area such as a village or housing area.

Dr Sazaly advised people who were suffering from dengue fever to use mosquito nets or mosquito repellents.

“If people have dengue fever, they need to make sure that no mosquitoes bite them.

“Otherwise, the whole family can get infected when the mosquito that bites the infected person subsequently bites the rest of the family.

“That is the easiest way to stop the outbreak,” he said, adding that there had been many cases of whole families being infected when one family member was initially infected.

Asked if people should visit dengue patients in hospital, he said they could but that both patients and visitors should use mosquito repellent as protection.

Dr Sazaly also warned that those who had dengue fever were likely to develop a more severe form of the disease in future and they should take the necessary precautions.

“They should protect themselves from being bitten by mosquitoes by not going out at dusk or dawn. If they need to go out, then they should use a mosquito repellent.

“They should also avoid wearing dark clothes as mosquitoes are more attracted to those colours.

“Bathing after running up a good sweat is also another prevention because mosquitoes are attracted to sweaty odour,” he said.

Change in dengue virus variation behind outbreak

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG, AUDREY EDWARDS, WANI MUTHIAH, HEMANANTHANI SIVANANDAM, AND A. RUBAN

PETALING JAYA: The current surge of dengue cases is the result of a change in variation of the dengue virus, the Health Ministry said.

Deputy Health director-general Datuk S. Jeyaindran said there was usually an outbreak whenever there was a change in the dengue virus serotype as fewer people would be immune to the serotype after the change.

Moreover, the current serotype, DEN-2, was more virulent, he said, adding: “That is why we are seeing more deaths.”

It was reported that 10,712 cases and 19 deaths were reported this year up to Feb 6 compared to 2,836 cases and eight deaths over the same period last year.

Based on previous reports, Malaysia experienced its worst dengue outbreak in 2008 with 49,335 cases, while the highest death toll was in 2010 with 134 fatalities from 45,901 reported dengue cases.

The numbers dropped the following year until last year when it began to increase again.

Dr Jeyaindran said that the DEN-2 serotype was discovered sometime mid-last year.

“Before that, it was the DEN-4 serotype,” he said.

“The DEN-2 serotype cases appeared to have started in Singapore and then were found in Johor at the end of last year and subsequently reached Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Selangor,” he said.

Dengue infections are caused by four closely related viruses, namely serotypes DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4.

Each has different interactions with the antibodies in human blood serum.

The change in serotype is one reason a major dengue outbreak could occur as individuals are protected from infections with the remaining three serotypes for only two to three months after the first dengue infection.

When two or more dengue cases are detected in a village or a residential area, it is considered an outbreak.

Patients left feeling impatient after long wait

BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: Overcrowding at hospitals in the Klang Valley due to the high numbers of dengue cases has resulted in many patients having to wait for hours before being treated or warded.

One of them, Muhd Shafik Tajuddin recalls waiting for 16 hours before he was admitted.

Muhd Shafik, 25, a factory worker living in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya, said he had fever for three days and then vomited blood on Tuesday at around 3am.

His father sent him to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC). They arrived at 7am.

The hospital was already crowded with patients then. By the time all the tests were done, it was 3pm.

Muhd Shafik was finally admitted at about 11pm.

“Yes, it was a long wait and I felt exhausted,” he said at the newly opened Ward 9SB for dengue patients at UMMC.

Muhd Shafik said that his younger brother Muhd Izhan, 23, was the first in the family to suffer from dengue fever and was sent by ambulance to Hospital Kuala Lumpur but has since been discharged.

Their mother Anisah Kuhni, 45, was also warded at the same hospital for dengue.

Despite the long wait, Muhd Shafik said that he was satisfied with the service at the hospital as the staff had taken care very good care of him.

On Thursday, UMMC director Prof Datuk Dr Ikram Shah Ismail said that the hospital was overwhelmed with dengue patients and appealed to patients with minor ailments not related to dengue to seek treatment at other government clinics or other hospitals.

He said that the hospital had 1,084 beds with a bed occupancy rate of almost 99%.

To cater to the surge in dengue cases, a new ward, Ward 9SB with 18 beds was opened at Menara Selatan.

MMA seeks exemption for doctors to register as data users

The star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is seeking an exemption for doctors to register with the Commissioner of the Personal Data Protection as users of patients’ data.

MMA president Datuk Dr NKS Tharmaseelan said that doctors had been given until Saturday to register themselves or be slapped with a fine of up to RM500, 000 or up to three years’ jail as spelled out in the Personal Data Protection Act 2010, which came into force on Nov 15. 

In a letter dated Feb 12, MMA requested that doctors be exempted from the exercise as they were already governed by the Medical Act that provides for patients’ data to be protected and that the Malaysian Medical Council could take action against them for violating patient confidentiality. 

“We did not receive any notice regarding this exercise,” he said. 

He said the Personal Data Protection Act required all doctors to register as data users with an annual fee of RM200. 

Dr Tharmaseelan said all doctors had to register themselves as a data users if they were licensed under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 for a private clinic or chain clinics or dental clinic, he said. 

The Act has been gazetted and the health sector was among the 11 sectors mandated by law to register as data users. 

MMA has also requested for an extension of date by three months from Feb 15 so that it could inform all doctors regarding the exercise and give time for them to comply with the Act. 

He said that MMA would also approach the Health Ministry to assist in getting the exemption. 

There are 37,000 doctors in the country and 14,000 of them are MMA members.

UMMC overwhelmed by dengue patients

The star

BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) is now overwhelmed with dengue patients and the hospital management has made an appeal that patients with minor ailments not related to dengue to seek treatment in other government clinics or hospitals nearest to them.

UMMC director Prof Datuk Dr Ikram Shah Ismail said the hospital had 1,084 beds with bed occupancy rate of almost 99% of the figures.

"We appeal to the public to cooperate with us and not to come here if they have minor ailments but to go to government clinics or government hospitals nearest to them instead," he said in a press conference Thursday.

Dr Ikram said the public's cooperation could ease the waiting time for dengue patients who had to wait for seven to eight hours before they could be admitted.

He said that there was a surge in the number of dengue cases in UMMC.

In October last year, there were 86 patients admitted and in November, 93, and December, 154. The figures went up to 261 in January and there are 96 cases in February to date.

There have been no dengue deaths reported in UMMC, he said.

Pensioners face woes at UMMC

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: Universiti Malaya Medical Centre’s (UMMC) private pharmacy Pharm UMMC is no longer dispensing certain medicine to pensioners, causing inconvenience to thousands.

The hospital with one of the highest number of pensioners in the country suspended Oratis Services Sdn Bhd, the company that the Public Services Department (PSD) appointed to supply medication and medical devices not in hospitals’ formulary list (standard list) within its network of pharmacies. It was over non-payment issues.

UMMC took the drastic measure as it could not sustain the accumulated debt, which had hit RM4mil.

UMMC director Prof Datuk Dr Ikram Shah Ismail said UMMC had suspended Oratis Services over the debt, noting that the medical centre needed funds to pay drug suppliers.

“Presently, we absorb this debt using our internal funds but we cannot go on (like this).

“Otherwise, we may not have money to pay our staff their salary. That’s how bad it has become,” he said in an interview.

Dr Ikram said UMMC had not closed its doors totally to Oratis Services but the debt must be settled.

About 9,000 pensioners seek outpatient treatment at the hospital monthly, a big portion of its total of more than 40,000 patients. Out of the average 4,000 to 5,000 patients, some 400 to 500 seek inpatient treatment.

PSD had appointed Oratis Services since Feb 12, 2012 to manage the Electronic Medical Automation Supply System (e-MASS) for pensioners to collect non-formulary medication and medical devices at e-MASS registered pharmacies without needing to make payment.

Previously, pensioners had to pay for them at a private pharmacy and then apply for a reimbursement from the PSD.

Oratis Services managing director Rahimah Rais said they were in the midst of finding a solution, adding: “We are in discussion with UMMC’s private wing Universiti Malaya Specialist Centre to see if the drugs and medical devices could be supplied through the pharmacy there.”

Oratis Services CEO Azrita Abdul Samat said pensioners’ complaints were confined to UMMC as other teaching hospitals had only one standard list or that non-formulary prescriptions were within the confine of online order.

Non-formulary medicine were usually prescribed by lecturers at teaching hospitals and were usually newer drugs or more expensive ones.

She said pensioners need only go to the Oratis Services officers at Pharm UMMC to get the list of pharmacies near them, or fill up a form to request for the medicine to be couriered to them.

Azrita said the problem arose when Pharm UMMC, one of the 500 pharmacies in its list, suspended Oratis Services’ service on Nov 15 last year for non-payment in October and November.

She explained that the reason was they had not received funds from PSD then.

PSD’s post-service (pensions) division director Datuk Yeow Chin Kiong (pic) said there was no outstanding sum owed to Oratis as of 2013.

He said the delay was due to the increase in the volume of pensioners getting the drugs from the e-Mass system as it had made it easy for them to collect the drugs without needing to make any payment.

The number of such transactions increased from 18,183 in 2012 to 55,668 last year, while the number of new pensioners seeking medical treatment increased from 9,530 in 2012 to 12,399 last year (an increase of 30%), he said.

Pensioners can call 03-8885 4873 or 1-800-88-6627 for details.

Senior citizens given runaround for medication

BY LOH FOON FONG, P. ARUNA, AND LOSHANA K SHAGAR

PETALING JAYA: The last thing pensioner Amar Tan needed was to drive around Shah Alam looking for a pharmacy that would sell him the prescribed supplement for his knee condition.

Tan, 66, said that in recent months, he had been unable to obtain the free supply of glucosamine from a pharmacy at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).

He called Oratis Services Sdn Bhd, a company appointed by the Public Services Department (PSD) to supply drugs not in public hospitals’ formulary list (standard list), to ask where he could get the supplement but his calls went unanswered.

Tan, who comes from Subang Jaya, then drove to a few pharmacies in Shah Alam looking for the supplement but they did not have it.

“We are pensioners, and not many of us are in conditions healthy enough to travel far,” he said.

Non-formulary medications were usually newer drugs or more expensive and prescribed by doctors in teaching hospitals.

Tan said he finally found one place that did stock up the supplement but he had to wait for five days before he could get it.

He said he had been taking glucosamine for over three years to manage the pain in his knee after he declined an offer by the hospital to carry out a RM16,000 knee replacement surgery.

Another pensioner, Lim Ah Tee, 74, said that when he called Oratis Services to ask where he could get his medication for lowering blood platelet count, they said they did not have it in stock.

“Although my condition is not life-threatening, my doctor has advised me to take the medicine at regular intervals.

“Having to go through this hassle to get my medicine is not good for my health,” he said.

The Malaysian Government Pensioners Association president Tan Sri Wan Mahmood Pawan Teh, however, said they had not received any formal complaints from its members and urged those facing such problems to report to the association directly.

The association represents 45,000 of the 600,000 government pensioners in the country,

Fomca secretary-general Datuk Paul Selvaraj urged the Govern-ment to look into the matter urgently so as not to burden senior citizens.

Malaysian Medical Association president Datuk Dr N.K.S. Tharma­seelan asked why a third party had to dispense the medication.

“Prices go up whenever third parties are involved,” he said.