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TJ MGG: Vincent Tan Dan Pekasamnya Di Sydney By Marhain Tua 23/10/2000 11:30 pm Mon |
MGG102 Vincent Tan Dan Pekasamnya Di Sydney
(Tan Sri Vincent Tan Is The Biter Bit In A Sydney Pickle)
Berjaya Square bukanlah sesuatu yang mencucuk minda Vincent Tan kebelakangan ini. Ada
satu syarikat kepunyaannya di Australia yang bernama Carlovers yang kini sedang
menghadapi saman malu di Sydney yang dituntut oleh seorang bekas wartawan Malaysia
bernama Ganesh Sahathevan yang sedang menekan perasaanya. Syarikat itu juga sedang
menghadapi masalah untuk membayar A$18,000 sebagai royalti kepada satu kumpulan
pencinta alam bernama Planet Ark. Tuntutan Mr. Sahathevan itu adalah satu tuntutan
balas yang mungkin akan menekan Vincent Tan. Seorang jurucakap Carlovers telah
mengulangi pendapat Pengarah Urusan syarikat itu, Mr. Andrew Teh, yang berkata,
"Walaupun kami tidak mempunyai wangtunai sekarang ini, tidak bererti kami sudah muflis."
Planet Ark yang pernah mendapatkan khidmat Piere (James Bond) Brosnan sebagai salah
seorang jurucakapnya, telah mencuba mendapatkan kembali A$18,000 itu daripada Carlovers
yang merupkan sebuah syarikat tersenarai di bursa saham Australia, sebagai hutang lapuk
dalam satu perjanjian promosi. Planet Ark telah dikehendaki mencanangkan Carlovers
sebagai sebuah syarikat yang mesra alam dan dijanjikan sebahagian peratusan daripada
kutipan wang yang diterima. Perjanjian bertulis ini telah lama ditandatangani sebelum
Vincent Tan mengambil alih dan kerana itulah Mr. Teh cuba mempertikaikannya. Planet Ark
telah memberitahu Carlovers, kalau hutang itu tidak dibayar, sebelum berakhirnya waktu
perniagaan pada 23 Oktober 00, syarikat itu akan membuat tuntutan bayaran secara terus
daripada Vincent Tan dan akan melakukan beberapa usaha untuk memberitahu seluruh dunia
akan peranan Berjaya Group dalam mencemar alam sekitar di Malaysia, Amerika Selatan dan
di mana juga terdapatnya syarikat kepunyaan beliau itu.
Ugutan ini sudah tentu akan mencemarkan nama Vincent Tan. Perdana Menteri sepatutnya
telah diberi nasihat agar tidak melakukan apa yang telah dilaksanakannya kelmarin.
Masyarakat media Australia masih lagi marah dengan cara Vincent Tan memperlekehkan
undang-undang Australia untuk menyekat kebebasan akhbar. Dalam satu kes mahkamah di
mana tarikh kes itu belum lagi ditentukan, kisah kroni Perdana Menteri ini sudah tentu
akan menggegarkan dan mempalitkan sistem kehakiman di Malaysia sebagai ekorannya.
Vincent Tan telah berjaya memperlekehkan sistem kehakiman di Malaysia, dan kini mencuba
cara yang sama di Australia. Tetapi, dia merupakan satu mangsa kejayaan putarabelit
kehakiman itu. Di Australia dia dianggap sebagai seorang kaki gedebe. Perkara semacam ini tidak pula
berlaku di Malaysia kerana sifat kita yang mudah berlembut dalam memilih perkataan.
Lagipun sesiapa yang berani menyanggah beliau di Malaysia sudah tentu akan mengalami
kekalahan kerana adanya kemudahan untuk peguam kroninya menulis keputusan mahkamah bagi
pihak hakim yang mengadili kes yang dihadapinya. Itu sebabnya beliau selalu menang dan
berjaya menuntut gantirugi berjuta harganya dalam setiap kes yang dibawanya ke mahkamah.
Di Australia nanti, banyak pihak akan mahu tahu daripada mulutnya sendiri bagaimanakah
agaknya peniaga yang disebut oleh peguam kroninya sebagai bertaraf antarabangsa dan
tidak ada tolok bandingnya ini, mencanai jaringan perniagaan di seluruh dunia itu.
Rencana Asal: Tan Sri Vincent Tan Is The Biter Bit In A Sydney pickle
The Prime Minister turned up promptly yesterday (21 October 00), within
hours of returning from the ASEM summit in Seoul, to lay the foundation
stone of that internationally-known business man of unquestioned repute,
Tan Sri Vincent Tan's latest revised edition of his Berjaya Star City in
Kuala Lumpur. It is renamed Berjaya Times Square, and threatens to become
Malaysia's -- and therefore Southeast Asia's -- largest shopping mall,
taking over from the half-empty MidValley Mall a few miles away. This
project, as in almost every one of his cronyistic ventures, is heavily
delayed and strapped for cash, blamed on the Asian economic crisis but
really because he did not have the money, crisis or not, to carry it
through. The Prime Minister's presence is no doubt to tell the world he
still has access to him, and therefore projects. But these days that is
akin to an albatross around his neck. But Tan Sri Vincent needs for Times
Square to succeed -- for his, and his Berjaya Group's, survival. Having
cashed in his chips early, with his arrogance reflected in every move of
his, he does have a hard time ahead. But Berjaya Times Square is not what weighs heavily on his mind this
weekend. His far-flung empire creaks to a halt as he and an Australian
subsidiary, Carlovers, embroils in defamation suits in Sydney against a
former Malaysian journalist, Mr Ganesh Sahathevan, and difficulty in
paying an A$18,000 royalty to an environmental group called Planet Ark.
(Since Mr Sahathevan countersues him for defamation, he is in a lose-lose
position whatever happens.) And a Carlovers company spokesman, speaking
on behalf of its managing director, Mr Andrew Teh, told Planet Ark:
"Just because we (the company) do not have cash does not mean that we are
broke!" Planet Ark, one of whose prominent spokesmen is Piers Brosnan, the
latest James Bond, had been trying to recover from Carlovers, listed on
the Australian Stock Exchange, some A$18,000 owed under a promotional
agreement. Planet Ark was to promote Carlovers as an environmentally
responsible company in return for a percentage of the takings. This
written agreement was entered into by Carlovers before Tan Sri Vincent
Tan's paper juggernaut took it over, and whose new managing director, Mr
Teh, repudiated it. He claims he knew nothing about it. Planet Ark has
told Carlovers that if it does not pay them the A$18,000 at close of
business tomorrow, Monday, 23 October 00, it would publicly demand payment
from its chairman, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, and highlight his, and his Berjaya
empire's, role in degrading the environment in Malaysia, South America and
where ever his crony presence exists. This potentially damages Tan Sri Vincent more than any of his
travails. The Prime Minister should have been properly advised not to
have done what he did yesterday. The Australian media is incensed at Tan
Sri Vincent's use of the fair trading laws to restrict press freedom. He
does not have a good press. In the coming court case, a date for which
would be fixed next month, the Prime Minister's crony relationship would
amost certainly surface in an action which also puts Malaysian justice on
trial. He blows an illwind across the Malaysian judiciary, and now wants
to in Australia. But he is the victim of his legal successes.
He is seen as a bully in Australia, though not in Malaysia only
because we are so circumspect in our language, and any who suggests it
would find himself in a law suit which, on past practice, would be
suitably fixed. After all, it is his lawyer, according to an unchallenged
affidavit, who wrote the judgement in a defamation action he brought that
now allows plaintiffs to specify how much he wants in general damages, and
not plead special loss. Every defamation action brought by well-connect
cronies and business men have walked away with huge defamation damages
without having to prove their case. In any case, interested parties would
be interested in finding out from the man himself, under oath, how
extensive is the empire of this internationally known business man of
unquestioned repute, which his crony lawyer says he is.
M.G.G. Pillai |