Taken from
http://ecofrenboleh.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-on-tun-daim-zainuddin.html
Book on Tun Daim Zainuddin
"An excellent writer and a piece of Malaysian history . . .and its “politics” since “Independence”
and a great Biographie . . ."
University of Qatar
author's CV http://www.qu.edu.qa/doc/business/
DR. MOHAMED ZAIN MOHAMED.pdf
Contributed by Krishna Singh
Books
have been written about Tun Daim Zainuddin (pic above), but not many
people know who the real Daim is. He is famous for being taciturn.
Everyone knows that Daim is the silent type; so silent, in fact, that
the victims of his scheming and conniving have fallen like ten pins
without ever knowing what hit them. He has, on the quiet, made a career
of shooting poison darts, laying booby traps. and knifing friend or foe
in the back. His hand is never seen, but his mark is everywhere. Truth
to tell, he has been at the root of many national crises, but his name
has never been smudged, thanks to the wealth he wields and his bond of
friendship with Dr. Mahathir.
Most members of Umno's new
generation are aware that Daim is an acquisitive millionaire and a macho
man with a taste of young women, but they concede him these weaknesses
because they see in him a clean and competent Economic Adviser to the
Government. But the generation of Harun Idris, Musa Hitam and Manan
Othman to name just a few of the old hands - they are the ones to ask in
order to discover who the real Daim is. It was Datuk Harun who plucked
Daim up from the depths of failure in the salt business. Daim's wife,
Mahani and Harun's wife, Salmah were good friends and an influential
pair in the early 1970s. It was wife power that moved Harun to give Daim
160 acres of prime Kampung Pandan land. And thus Syarikat Maluri was
born.
There is no use speculating over how much Daim paid Harun.
After all, the two were fast friends. For the gory details, just ask Low
Kiok Bow or Thamby Chik. They can relate how Daim cheated a land broker
and greased Selangor state executive councillor and Mahathir's
brother-in-law, Ahmad Razali for that piece of land.
Of course,
Daim still had to pay for the land. In those days, it was not easy to
borrow from a bank. Hence, he was forced to corrupt Bank Bumiputra.
Lorraine Osman and Rais Saniman know how much he spent. Manan Othman can
no doubt confirm the figure, he was so close to Daim that they tried to
share a girl friend, with Manan often borrowing the bedroom at Daim's
office in Taman Maluri.
Daim's elevation as Senator and,
subsequently, Minister of Finance, was part of Mahathir's strategic
plan. Mahathir's choice should surprise no one, after all the two were
intimate friends from the same kampung in Seberang Perak, Alor Setar.
Upon becoming Prime Minister on 16 July, 1981, the first thing on
Mahathir's mind was how to sideline his archenemy, Tengku Razaleigh
Hamzah. Daim told everyone he had no interest in politics, but all the
while he was confident of getting the Finance Minister's job after a
stint with the Senate. A few months after joining the Senate, Daim
became Chairman of Fleet, which owned the New Straits Times. In 1984, he
finally got his dream job and became the third most important man in
the Federal Cabinet, after the Prime Minister and his deputy.
Musa
Hitam, the Deputy Prime Minister, was at first oblivious of the closet
ties between Mahathir and Daim. Innocently, he expressed to Mahathir his
disquiet over Daim's wheeling and dealing, particularly his award of
projects and contracts to his own associates and cronies. It must have
baffled him when his complaints fell on deaf ears although he was Deputy
Prime Minister, he has no say when it came to economic matters,
particularly privatisation and the assignment (to supporters) of
economic projects. How disappointed Musa must have been to find that
Daim could not care less about his effort to help his supporters secure
some projects or contracts. Daim succeeded in making millionaires of
such cronies of Wan Azmi, Halim Saad, Tajuddin Ramli,
Samsuddin
Hassan, Razali Rahman and Tan Sri Basir, but Musa in the end was cast
off as a poor ex-DPM. Musa once complained to Mahathir that Daim had
stolen a number of supporters' project proposals, but again Mahathir
ignored him. These were the first acts in the eventual breakup of the
Mahathir-Musa partnership. As the interests of Mahathir and Razaleigh
bloated, Musa got squeezed out.
Many Umno members assume that
Razaleigh is Musa's number one enemy. In fact, the reason for the 1986
split in Umno must fall on Daim. It was he who drove Musa to the edge
until he had no choice but to resign. Again, Daim's man of few words
demeanour to his advantage. Few knew of his behind-the-scenes role in
that Umno rupture not many more know it today. One really should not
wonder why Musa called a truce Razaleigh and the two decided to
collaborate in the 1987 fight, the one that eventually caused Umno to be
outlawed. At that time, Daim was almost invincible, what support coming
from such strongmen as Sanusi Junid and Anwar Ibrahim. The comradeship
of the three was rock solid, and the Musa-Razaleigh camp could do
nothing except to make a joke of it by giving them the nicknames AIDS.
The
formation of the new Umno, Daim and Mahathir had first to get rid of
the Lord President, Tun Salleh Abas. Again, Daim was the chief plotter
in the sacking of the pious and respected Tun Salleh, and his
replacement with Tun Hamid Omar, a playboy and chronic gambler, but
Mahathir's and Daim's schoolmate. The appointment of Tun Hamid Omar
triggered the collapse of the integrity and the independence of the
judiciary.
Finance Minister, Daim persuaded Mahathir to give the
Economic Planning Unit and Treasury full power in implementing the
privatisation policy. Hence, it was no longer necessary to call for
tenders for government projects. Instead, the projects were awarded
directly to favoured companies. And so began the era of wealth
accumulation by him and his cohorts. The United Engineers Company,
bought for RM2, changed into a multi-million- ringgit corporation. As
Finance Minister, Daim practically ordered banks to lend to companies
that he himself owned. And no Daim crony every complained of difficulty
in securing bank credit. Indeed, bankers lived in fear of Daim. Having
appointed Wan Azmi and Basir to head Malayan Banking and Bank Bumiputra,
he would give any project to any of his cronies because funding was not
an issue.
If those physical projects were not enough, Daim also took
every opportunity to take wealth from the share market as well. Every
time the Treasury approved a company for listing on the stock exchange,
Daim cronies received their lion's shares. That was how Southern Bank,
Resort World, Sports Toto, Berjaya, Tanjong and scores of other blue
chip firms landed with Daim and Company. Once, when share values were
high, Daim boasted among friends that his visible wealth alone totalled
RM65 billion. To shut the mouth of Barisan Nasional leaders, Daim gave
lucrative projects to Samy Vellu and Ling Liong Sik so that their
children could be big-shots in batches.
Daim managed to fool Umno
members into believing that Mahathir would not let him go although he
had asked to be relieved of his Cabinet post on a number of occasions.
With Musa and Razaleigh out of the picture, Daim could grab as much
wealth as he wanted without even Mahathir stopping him. Besides, he was
Umno's treasurer and he could make it look as if the companies he
controlled were those in which the party had a stake.
Daim's
avarice damaged not only his own image as finance minister, but also
Mahathir's and Malaysia 's reputation with the international community.
It is said that he used to demand exorbitant fees for himself in
negotiating contracts involving foreign suppliers. The chairmen of Japan
's two biggest banks - the Bank of Tokyo and Sanwa Bank - once
complained to Mahathir that his Finance Minister demanded commissions
that were too high when negotiating yen loans. Margaret Thatcher, too,
has complained about Daim's role as a commissioned agent. He had - or
still has - accounts in Zurich , London , Hong Kong, Tokyo , Singapore ,
Caymen Island , Channel Island and Virgin Island . Indeed, instead of
keeping his billions in Malaysia , he has stashed them overseas.
With
his immense wealth and far-reaching influence, Daim eventually became a
burden that Mahathir could no longer bear. In every deal he made, there
was something in it for himself. It was not beneath him even to
conspire with Lee Kuan Yew to snatch KTM land in Singapore . The
Malaysian Cabinet had no knowledge of this. But this issue of Malaysia
being cheated by Lee Kuan Yew and Daim is far from over.
Mahathir eventually realised that he had to end Daim's lordship over the Finance Ministry. And so he told him to quit.
Mahathir
worried that if Daim continued as Finance Minister, complaints would
come not only from Vincent Tan, Ananda Krishnan, Arumugam and other
members of the Malaysian business elite, but also from foreign leaders.
Signs of a Daim-related scandal were ominous and it could break anytime
in Japan or Britain , therefore, Daim had to go.
Daim's
resignation was planned such that it would not appear as if he had been
sacked. Indeed, it does not make sense why a powerful Finance Minister,
rich and in control of so many public companies, would suddenly quit
simply because he had lost interest in the job. The truth is that he was
ordered to resign. Observers will recall that Mahathir's first comment
on the so-called reaction was, 'He has asked several times for
permission to resign, and I have finally allowed it. I hope Daim would
not leave the country after resigning'. That statement was pregnant with
meaning. Mahathir knew Daim was sulking. So did Anwar and Sanusi.
Mahathir retained Daim as Umno Treasurer for a good reason, he wanted to
ensure the safety of Umno money, a lot of which was under Daim's
control.
But Daim who holds so many of Mahathir's secrets, is
only a sly one. After resigning, he ran off to live in his San Francisco
residence. He told the Malaysian public he wanted to study at Harvard,
but in fact he wanted to leave Malaysia . Mahathir, who was familiar
with Daim's antics, pleaded with him to come back, saying he need him to
advise on economic matters. Daim returned and announced that Mahathir
had named him Economic Adviser to the Government. Rafidah asked Mahathir
to confirm this, but all she got was silence. Daim was never formally
appointed as Economic Adviser, a post which Tun Raj a Mohar once held.
The appointment is the prerogative of the Public Services Department.
Daim gave himself the job. To keep Daim happy, Mahathir allowed him to
open an office at the Economic Planning Unit, and this strengthened the
public perception that he was still in control as far as economic
affairs were concerned.
When he was to told to resign as Finance
Minister, Daim asked Mahathir to appoint Anwar Ibrahim to the job.
Obviously, he thought this would help to ensure that his skeletons would
remain closeted. He warned Mahathir of the peril that Rafidah would be
to both of them: the secrets they shared would be uncovered. Daim also
persuaded Mahathir to appoint Mustapha Mohammad as Anwar's deputy
because these two could be depended on to fill up the holes he had left
gaping. Anwar is nobody's fool, but he sacrificed his idealism to
protect his towkay.
As far as we know, no Finance Minster in this
world has retired a billionaire, except Daim. In the book Daim yang
Diam: Sebuah Biographi (Daim the Silent: A Biography), Daim explains his
retirement: 'I am happy in retirement. It was too heavy a
responsibility. In truth, I love the business world. Business is in my
blood. I love to make money. I know how to do it. I can do it just by
sitting in this chair. On a lucky day, I can make millions.'
Friend of Soros
According
to an internal bank analysis, collaborated by the corporate community,
and from Daim crony Amin Shah, Daim's wealth, in ringgit and foreign
currencies kept overseas currently amounts to RM20 billion. With so much
money at his disposal, Daim can manipulate the Kuala Lumpur Stock
Exchange. He showed his hand in 1991, just to prove how much influence
he wielded. After selling off his stocks, he made a statement to the
effect that the market would crash. And crash it did. As we can all
recall, even Mahathir could not help but make a wry remark when Daim
boasted that he invested in KLSE only for pocket money. But to his good
friend, Daim said he could turn in profit on RM90 million a day when the
market was up. When the market plummeted in October 1991 Daim bought
back his share on the cheap. When the market turned bullish again 1995
and 1996, Daim made billions of ringgit from it. This, then, is what the
work of an economic adviser amounts to.
So it turns out that
Soros is not the only big time market manipulator and currency dealer.
Daim met Soros twice in London when the ringgit was being hotly traded.
Anyway, when the ringgit fell below RM4 to the US dollar, Mahathir asked
Daim for help and, according to a source in Singapore, he lost RM1
billion trying to prop up the Malaysian currency. To lose that much in
currency trading, imagine how much money he had at his disposal.
The
falls in currency and share values put Mahathir in a feverish panic. He
knew his policies and his own belligerent attitude were partly to
blame. Seeing Mahathir in such a frenzied state, Daim recommended that
he declare a state of emergency to enable him to restore the economy and
at the same time, bury the corpses that were beginning to stink. We
hail the Chief Secretary to the Government and the Solicitor-General for
opposing the move.. If Daim's plan had been followed, Mahathir would
turn dictator and the Malaysian economy would be utterly ruined. Having
failed to declare an emergency, Mahathir set up the National Economic
Action Council, headed by Daim, with the Economic Planning Unit as its
Secretariat. The original plan was to give the NEAC complete autonomy,
but the Cabinet ministers opposed this for fear that they would lose any
vestige of power they had left. Eventually, the council became merely
an advisory body, with the Cabinet having final say on its
recommendations.
The establishment of the council was a wedge
between Anwar and Daim. Thus, two old friends who had together stood
behind Mahathir against Musa were now turned against each other. All of
the council's recommendations were rejected by the Cabinet and Bank
Negara. Daim openly assailed Bank Negara for dismissing his proposals,
such as those relating to interest rates and credit control. We salute
the Bank Negara Governor for maintaining a prudent monetary policy in
the face of Daim's bullying and insults. Unlike Daim and his cohorts,
Bank Negara's officials are not self-serving. Daim's appointment to the
NEAC was a major national mistake.
Going by press reports of its
deliberations so far, the NEAC's sole preoccupation is with saving mega
corporations from bankruptcy. No doubt, these are Daim-related
companies. Daim has yet to show any concern over the rise in the price
of chillies, or the leaps in fish prices or how the price of rice has
boiled over. Neither has he talked about small businesses in their death
throes. Class F contractors going bankrupt or kampung road projects
being abandoned. In his dictionary, there are no entries for the small
man's worries, nothing about low-cost houses, water cuts or study funds
for the children of poor Malays. In fact, it contains only billion size
figures. While the Malaysian economy is close to ruin, Daim remains a
billionaire, living a life of glamour, jet setting with his new wife
Naimah and the attractive Josephine , an Indian lass who helps him run
one of his firms, the International Malaysian Bank.
We have
merely given a sketch of who the real Daim is. A thorough account will
soon be available in book form. We recommend the book to Umno members,
especially those with big ambitions, because they will learn much from
its fantastic but true tales of economic and political intrigues. We
denounce the likes of Vincent Tan and Tan Phek Khiing for land-grabbing,
but perhaps we should ask the Menteri Besar of Johor and the Menteri
Besar of Kedah how much land Daim has taken. Ask Sanusi how much Daim
paid to the Kedah government for 12,000 acres in Sungai Petani and how
much profit he made from them. For 12,000 acres, Osman Arof had to be
sacrificed. The true story of the Daim-Sanusi conspiracy in Kedah will
be exposed in the book.
Umno is at a crossroads and has to decide
wisely where it is going. One road heads to glory, where stability and
democratic practice will abide. The other leads to division, autocracy
and ultimately, utter destruction. The call for reform, which used to be
made only in whispers at small, secretive gatherings, is becoming
louder. Umno members, showing that they can no longer contain their
restiveness and frustration, have begun to openly debate the need for
change, even at party conventions. Can there be a clearer indication
that they have reached their tether's end, that they can no longer
stomach the leadership's undemocratic attitude and the prevalence -
whether in the party or the government - of favouritism, cronyism,
nepotism, graft and other misdeeds? Malay nationalism is dead and
materialism and egoism are running amok.
We cannot depend on the
Umno Supreme Council to initiate reform because few of the members have
the guts to speak up. In fact, the council has lately been transformed
into a monologue theatre. But of course even a monologue can flop
without good supporting players - fools, clowns, jesters, attendants and
the oh-so- important flatterers. As far as these bit players are
concerned, Umno's ideals and principles are not as important as their
jobs. This keep-your-mouth- shut syndrome serves only to embolden the
party leadership in its conceit, arrogance and haughtiness. A president
has become a dictator. Woe are the Malays and Umno. What is to become of
them? That is a question only Umno members can answer.
Professor Mohamed Zain
Professor of Technology & Strategic Management
College of Business & Economics
University of Qatar
Source:
http://margeemar.blogspot.com/