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No. 4688 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Friday
January 30, 2009 1.8mil-year-old tools
TELLING IT AS IT IS www.sun2surf.com unearthed – Pg8

» There will be no publication of theSun on Monday in view of FT Day News without

From pg20
the heart
World gets its first gay head of state
REYKJAVIK: The first government collapse of
the global economic crisis is about to yield the
world’s first openly-gay leader. Johanna Sigurd-
ardottir (pix), a former air hostess, is expected to
be sworn in as Iceland’s prime minister by the
end of the week.
Her moment in the international spotlight
comes at the most horrendous moment in her
nation’s recent history. As the global meltdown
began, the collapse of Iceland’s grossly over-
leveraged economy was followed smartly by the
implosion of its banks and currency.
Now its government has gone the same way,
the first to succumb to the backwash from the
crisis.
Sigurdardottir’s party, the Social Democrat
Alliance, was asked to form a new government
but its leader is taking a leave of absence to
recover from treatment for a benign tumour.
And so, “Saint Johanna”, as she has come to
be known, has been propelled from the social
affairs ministry – which she has presided over
for a decade – to take centre stage in a choice
hailed as “unexpected but brilliant”.
borders
The 66-year-old politician lives with her part- her first minis-
ner, Jonina Leosdottir, a journalist and playwright. terial office in
The couple were joined in a civil ceremony in 1987. She will
2002. Don’t expect them to show up together be prime minister
for photocalls, however – that’s not the Icelandic of a minority care-
way. Though she is famous across the island, taker government
having been a top politician for years, her lesbian composed of her So-
union was no big deal in this calmly progressive cial Democratic Alliance
nation of only 300,000 people. and the Left-Greens, with outside support.
Sigurdardottir has two grown-up sons. She It is only expected to hold office for two or
entered politics via the labour movement, was three months, until fresh elections are called.
first elected to parliament in 1978 and was given – The Independent

Syabas breaches contract

STATE GOVT WANTS more than RM325 million in dis-

BERNAMAPIX
crepancy between the summary of
contracts awarded in 2005, 2006 and
WATER CONCESSION 2007 and Syabas’s review document
(referring to general accounts).
AGREEMENT The audit was a requirement be-
fore the company could be allowed
to implement a tariff hike scheduled
TERMINATED for Jan 1 this year. That has since
been deferred as the Pakatan Rakyat
by Maria J. Dass state government is still in negotia-
newsdesk@thesundaily.com tions with the federal government on
management of water assets and

P
ETALING JAYA: An audit of
Selangor’s water concessionaire
operations has revealed that the
company had breached several
important terms of the 30-year con-
cession agreement, and the state gov-
ernment is using this to press for the
lucrative contract to be terminated.
It is learnt Syarikat Bekalan
Air Selangor (Syabas) – owned by
Puncak Niaga (70% share) and state
investment arm Kumpulan Darul
Ehsan Bhd (30%) – had failed to
comply fully with the requirement
for contracts to be awarded on an
open tender basis.
Sources said the audit showed
that more than 72% of contracts
worth a total of RM600 million were
awarded to selected companies via
direct negotiations and only 25%
via competitive open tender, which
clearly violates the agreement.
In addition, the audit also found
related issues.
Syabas’s concession agreement
was signed between the federal
and state governments and Puncak
Niaga.
theSun learnt the state has writ-
ten a letter to the ministry asking
for the concession agreement to be
terminated.
This is not the first time the ques-
tion of breaches in the contract was
brought up.
In June 2005, then energy, water
and communications minister Datuk
Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik announced
that Syabas had breached the water
privatisation concession by using
imported pipes from Indonesia for
its RM375 million pipe replacement
project in the Klang Valley instead of
sourcing them locally.
He had produced several photo-
graphs as proof that Syabas had used
pipes manufactured by an Indone-
sian company, PT Growth.
Lim himself had then demanded for
transparency.
“This breach of contract is grounds
for termination,” a state official pointed
out.
Lim had at that time questioned
Syabas’s move in appointing a local
Man in
the news ...
Perak Umno liaison chairman
and state Barisan Nasional
chief Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli
Ghazali yesterday broke his
three-day silence on news
reports that he had tendered
his resignation from both posts
to party deputy president
Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak
on Monday. The former mentri
besar said the reports were
“not true”. However, after a
company to procure the pipes when a marathon meeting last night,
special committee comprising officials Umno Supreme Council said
from his ministry and the Finance it accepted Tajol’s decision to
Ministry had yet to approve the tender. quit the posts with immediate
It is not known what came out of Lim’s effect, and that Najib would
public statement. take over the two positions
until the party polls in March.
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