A bulb lights up...

And we consumers are wised up to the fact we have been suckered/sucked/*ucked! Again and again,
and certain Malaysians are already calling on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to make a come-back.

How MASOCHISTIC can Malaysians get?
Every four/five years they go to the polls, vote the Dacing, then complain, complain, cuntplan...

TENAGA NASIONAL BHD (TNB) raised tariff rates by 12% from June 1, 2006 and a certain minister says only about 40% of the populace would be affected. He meant that the power income holdholds who use less than RM40 a month of electricty bills would not be affected.

The minister DISCOUNTS completely that the business sector, especially transportation, manufacturing and all large and medium sized businesses would have to put up with higher power bills, so naturally this rise in expenditure is passed on to the customers -- finally the end-users like Avergae Joe/Jane will see a declining ringgit purchasing power and less money in the pocket before the end of the month is out, anxiously waiting for the next payday. Yet such minsiters are voted in GE after GE; and 90% mandate for the Barisan Nasional in March 2004. Dear consumers/voters, don't you think you bear a large portion of the blame/bill?

Okay, the bulb that lights up the dark room is ...
TAN SRI ANI AROPE, former TNB Executuive Chairman.

IN an exclusive interview with The Star June 6, 2006 on page B3, Ani said chiefly to the effect:

* The suckering came about from the time when the Government decided on the PRIVATISATION ("Piratisation" as some smaralecs say:( of the power geeneration sector to address the issue of stable power supply after the landmark 1992 BLACKOUT.


** In was during ANI's chairmanship of TNB from 1990 to 1996 when the KEY ISSUE of TNB buying the power generated by the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) had to be decided, and TNB literally was told it had no power -- yes, zilch! -- to have any input on the decision-making. The EPU will decide -- and TNB's head and all his staff can go fly a kite, that was what it amounted to.


*** The TNB management was over-ruled in decision-making by those powerful people at the ECONOMIC PLANNING UNIT (EPU) -- and if you don't know that the EPU is located at the Prime Minister's Department, now you know!
And you you still are in the dark who was then the PM, it's (now retitred) TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD; okay, now you know. And if you wish to stop reading from here, please do so, I won't blame you.
So if you still long for the halcyon days pre-2004 for two decades: Go get some Other Light!


Just some key extracts, and I would refer other Readers still interested to go spend RM1.20 on the paper-lah; if need to, read before twilight (about 7.00pm by my reckoning) before you have to switch on the living room lights!
"Change life-style-lah!", you masochistic Malaysians. If I offend thee with such a parting shot, IT'S NOT TARGETED AT ALL MY ER.
It holds true top those who "makan cili dis lah yang rasa pedas nya". Desi also does NOT hail from Pedas, Negri Sembilan. For the record, I come from Furong aka Seremban, NS.

From the horse's mouth~~~~~~~



"...THEN it surfaced that it wanted to privatise the power plants. I am not anti-IPPs per se. It is good to have other players but it has to be done fairly. It has to be fair to the consumers, not just TNB, which is a conduit. TNB, because of the electricity hike, has been treated as the whipping boy. The focus should be on the consumers.

When the generous terms were given to the IPPs, all my other peers around the world asked what was happening. They said they would like to have a share in the IPPs. They said (the contracts to IPPs) were “too darn generous.'' (The terms) were grossly one sided.



The Star: How was the Malaysian model of IPPs created?

Ani: Ask our previous Prime Minister.



The Star: How was the process of negotiations with IPPs conducted?


Ani: There was no negotiation. Absolutely none. Instead of talking directly with the IPPs, TNB was sitting down with the EPU. And we were harassed, humiliated and talked down every time we went there. After that, my team was disappointed. The EPU just gave us the terms and asked us to agree. I said no way I would.


The Star: What about the pricing and terms of the contracts?

Ani: It was all fixed up. (They said) this is the price, this is the capacity charge and this is the number of years. They said you just take it and I refused to sign the contracts. And then, I was put out to pasture.

DESIDERATA: One tall salute to TAN SRI ANI, who paid a heavy price for sticking to his PRINCIPLES. Does this ring some light on one MP, from JB, that this reminds me of one Sharir Samad?

So few goode men left in Malaysia;
but you VOTERS have better protect this declining species.

Before Desi switches off the bulb, here's some sobering words for Malaysians -- from one I deem a Towering Malaysian -- and I hope they raech especially those serving as CEO at listed, listing and de-listing companies of BURSA MALAYSIA (former Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange)~~~~~~~



The Star: How were you affected by the process of awarding the IPP contracts?

Ani:

I felt sick. It was morally wrong and not fair. If it is legal and not fair, I will not do it. If it is fair and illegal, I still won’t do it. It has to be legal and fair.

We work for the consumers, workers and shareholders. TNB is morally obligated to these three, but the consumers come first, otherwise we won’t be around. It is then the workers and the shareholders.

When I said that, they said ‘Dia ingat bapak dia-punya’ (He thinks this is his father’s company). This job is an amanah (trust). You are entrusted with this responsibility and you carry it out to the best of your ability. I do not want somebody to come and urinate on my grave. In the Malay culture, that is about the worst insult they can do to a man.

PS: An extract from KLSETRACKER.COM~~~~~~~


GOVERNMENT APPROVES TENAGA's NEW TARIFF HIKE OF 12%

TENAGA NASIONAL reported May 24, 2006 that the Government had approved its tariff hike of an average of 12% for monthly consumption in excess of the first 200kwh. Exemptions from the price hike are also provided for certain agro and farming-based primary production industries and for Government schools, universities and welfare institutions.

EDITOR's NOTES:

TENAGA is the Government-controlled electricity utility. The utility purchases a fair amount of its electricity from privatised concessionaires at relatively high prices. These privatised concessionaires were set up during the Mahathir Administration to overcome shortages and as political trade offs for certain vested segments.
The Government allowed for a tariff hike to overcome costs increases for the utility. The tariff hike is expected to give TENAGA a Revenue boost of RM1.5 bil. per year. In FY2005, TENAGA recorded Revenues of RM18.9 bil. The last tariff hike was in 1997.
TENAGA earned Net PAT over Revenue (ROR% - Return on Revenue %) range of 4.5% to 6.7% in the past 3 years up to FYE2005. Based on FY2005 ROR of 6.74%, TENAGA is likely to earn an additional Net PAT of RM100m. With NOSH (number of outstanding shares) of 3.23 bil shares as at Feb 28, 2006, the Net EPS is approximately 3.09 sen per share.
Based on noon closing price of a gain of 50 sen per share, the PE multiple of the projected gain translates into a PE multiple of 16.2 times.