Mahathir unveils crony list in counterattack

Mahathir unveils crony list in counterattack

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad's party, trying to bury damaging allegations of cronyism,
on Saturday released a list of big government projects it said
were awarded to family and friends of his former deputy.

The list of 27 projects valued at 34 billion ringgit ($9
billion) was posted at the annual general assembly of Mahathir's
United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

It was the second year in a row that UMNO sought to counter
allegations of cronyism and corruption made by supporters of
jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim by trying to link
him and his associates to lucrative government projects.

Pasted on boards outside the UMNO meeting hall, the list
contained the names of privatized projects which were awarded
from 1993 to June this year in the rail, road and power sectors.

The list was entitled "Award of privatized projects to
supporters of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim through the Economic
Planning Unit" -- another reminder that Anwar remained uppermost
in UMNO members' minds despite his being behind bars.

Other lists showed hundreds of Bumiputra, or ethnic Malay,
individuals and companies given special share allocations between
1993 and 1998 under a government affirmative-action plan. Anwar
was finance minister during the period.

Since his sacking in September, Anwar has repeatedly accused
Mahathir of nepotism and cronyism, and called for overhauling
business ties between the private and public sectors.

Anwar, once a step from the premiership, is serving a six-year
jail term after being convicted in April on four corruption
charges. He is now on trial on one count of sodomy.

Anwar's sacking split UMNO ranks and provoked unprecedented
street protests against Mahathir, who must call elections before
June 2000.

"The purpose of the release is to show what is going on. There
has been so much accusation of cronyism, so much talk of giving
favors, so take a look and decide for yourself," Deputy Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said at the UMNO meeting.

Abdullah did not know if the list was the surprise
announcement which Mahathir had said he would make at the annual
assembly, the most closely watched annual political event.

Mahathir's pledge to announce a surprise drove up the stock
market in recent days. When he failed to deliver a surprise in
his keynote speech on Friday, the stock market fell back.

Ibrahim Ali, minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said
the lists originated from the Economic Planning Unit and the
Finance Ministry.

The government is mulling releasing another list to show the
benefactors from the listing of four large government-controlled
companies on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, Ibrahim said.

He said the naming of alleged Anwar backers was to show that
if Mahathir's associates had received big projects and share
allocations, so had those close to Anwar.

"We are saying that nepotism, cronyism is not an issue. We are
not blaming the friends of Anwar, his father, his brothers, for
getting the projects. We just want to tell the public that
everybody got something," Ibrahim told reporters.