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| Power Struggle in Brunei? |
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| Written by Our Correspondent | |
| Tuesday, 08 February 2011 | |
 Hassanal: Dammit, I'm in charge here The oil-steeped Sultanate of Brunei is awash in reports that a turf war for power has broken out between Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and his younger brother, Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, the minister of foreign affairs and trade. The story started to come to light when Timothy Ong, one of Brunei's most prominent Chinese citizens, was suddenly and mysteriously cashiered from the acting chairmanship of the Brunei Economic Development Board. The board previously was under the control of the sultanate's foreign ministry. The agency was merged with the Brunei Economic Planning and Development Department, which in turn is under the sultan's control. It is unclear how the Economic Development Board, a domestic agency promoting inward investment into Brunei, came under the foreign ministry in the first place. The board promotes the development of a variety of domestic target sectors, including the Brunei Methanol Plant and the construction of thousands of units of public housing. Some critics on an electronic bulletin board in Bandar Seri Begawan have hinted that somehow Ong was involved in taking commissions on the housing, although no evidence of malfeasance has been presented. Efforts to find out what happened have been stymied. According to one source, police and anti-corruption personnel are believed to have gone to the BEDB offices the day after the announcement to seize files and records, and another contingent of police personnel went to Ong's house to ask him to surrender his passport. In an abruptly terminated telephone conversation, Ong, who was given the honorific title of Dato by the Sultan a couple of years ago during the Sultan's birthday celebrations, said he had no comment. Nor do authorities. Last week, after being out of the public eye for several weeks, Ong made a rare public appearance at the reopening of the newly renovated Brunei Hotel, which was partly owned by his family and reportedly recently sold to the family of the foreign minister. "I am sorry, it is not for us to review about anything that happened in Brunei. We have confidentiality," said Ang Swee Kiang, senior assistant director of the anti-corruption bureau in an abbreviated telephone interview. "We reserve comment on any matters. I cannot reveal anything about anything else." Brunei radio and television in late November announced that Ong had been summarily terminated from the chairmanship and, in the same announcement, that the economic development board had been removed from the foreign ministry control. The announcement was so sudden that a new deputy minister, Ali Apong, who was appointed to take over, was on the Hajj in Mecca when the news broke. Apong was previously with the prime minister's department. Ong for several years was the publisher of the now-defunct Asia, Inc regional monthly business magazine. When the magazine wound down, Ong used the name Asia Inc. to organize business conferences around the region. One source who worked with Ong at the economic development board told Asia Sentinel the businessman's removal from the board was so sudden and mysterious that no one at the board itself knows why it happened. "Until recently no development projects happened without the Wazir's (Mohamed Bolkiah's) consent," a Brunei source told Asia Sentinel. "With the sacking of Ong and the reorganization of the economic portfolio, Dato Apong reports to the Sultan. So his majesty has gained control of the economic agenda. This could be the prelude for more reorganisation, reshuffles and realignments." The contest between the two extends down to rival newspapers, with the venerable Borneo Bulletin owned by the Wazir's family, and the sources say, projects him daily in a favourable light. The license for the Brunei Times, started three or four years ago, is said to be owned by Azrinaz Mazhar, a former journalist for Malaysia's TV3 television station and the sultan's former second wife. It is said to place more favorable emphasis on the Sultan's affairs. Brunei, which depends for almost 60 percent of its gross domestic product and 90 percent of its exports on the oil and gas wells that steadily pump out 200,000 barrels of crude per day on land and in the South China Sea to the north, is no stranger to turf wars, or to scandals for that matter. Despite the sultanate's strict adherence to conservative Islam, a long string of leggy western beauties has sued the Sultanate or the multitudes of siblings and children, alleging they had been lured there for parties and ended up as sex slaves. The sultan's brother Jefri is thought to have blown as much as US$40 billion in astonishingly bad or venal investments through the Brunei Investment Agency, which was responsible for investing the proceeds from the country's energy extraction, and Amedeo Development Corp., Prince Jefri's personal corporate plaything. When Amedeo collapsed in 1998, Jefri decamped to England, where he remained for 11 years before returning in 2009.* The Sultan put up 10,000 items putatively worth US$17 billion in a debtor's sale that brought only about US$2 billion. A long string of lawsuits has continued ever since. The collapse of Amedeo actually triggered a recession in the tiny kingdom, which has about 380,000 inhabitants. "Public finances have yet to recover from the so-called ‘Jefri Scandal,'" said a 2003 report by the World Markets Research Centre. According to sources in Brunei, the Wazir has been placing allies in a long string of ministries in his attempts to assert power. Perhaps the most important is Brunei Petroleum, which controls oil and gas concessions. In addition to the foreign ministry, Mohamed's allies include the head of the ministry of industry and primary resources, who was formerly his private secretary; the minister of and private secretary of the Culture, Youth and Sports ministry, both of whom were also his private secretaries at various times, and the deputy minister of Finance. In addition, two of the Wazir's sons are in the military and looking for promotions to top spots. "Even if his majesty is the king, and the Foreign Minister controls Finance, Oil and Gas and Economy you can see who will wield the ultimate power," the source said. "Hassanal wants to take command of the economy from the Wazir at this time so he merged the BEDB with the Government's Economic Planning Department. "The way it was announced shows that Ong was just a casualty of the reorganization." *Story corrected 02/09/2011 Comments (19)
  written by Mamakthir, February 10, 2011
We would have to step in like India stepping into Sikkim if more people beg us to act on the problem.
written by hamba allah, February 11, 2011
To say that Ong is corrupt is premature. Let ACB do its job. If ACB interviews all the top BEDB staff, including those who have left then they might find out the true situation - whether there is corruption or not. The man is innocent until PROVEN guilty. So please keep an open mind.
Check the files not off the 7,500 public housing but the smaller projects - I Centre, Management of I-Centre, renovation of 3 condominium towers. That sort of thing. Ong will be mad to seek bribes from thousands of houses. Even 10% of that as bribes we are talking hundreds of millions of dollars. But a smart man can always hide the corrupt evidence. But he did switch from doing professional job to playing politics. When he put the Dr. Graham Henderson on his BEDB board that's the end of Ong... Ong became bravely foolish. That;s a strategic miscalculation. Oil profits go to BEDB? Income from oil and gas will be controlled by BEDB and the Foreign Minister? That will make any Sultan angry! So His Majesty has no choice but to grab back the Economic portfolio. For example when economic portfolio merged Ong could have be retained as the Chairman of the merged entity. Why His Majesty chose another Chairman instead? Because he don't trust Ong anymore...Ong is lucky not to be stripped of his Datoship...Do the job, Ong diversify the economy in professional way. Don't play politics! So Ong gone, Dr. Graham Henderson also going. His Majesty is winning the power struggle day by day...Good luck to you Your Majesty and may you remain the Brunei Sultan for long time.. All His Majesty's allies are back to help him in his struggle - Puan Hajjah Mariam, Prince Haji Jefri Bolkiah (spotted at National Chinese New Year function), Pehin Haji Isa Ibrahim all back! Kudos to you your Majesty whenever you face problem Prince Jefri is back. You are one smart King. Daulat Tuanku
written by TruthSeeker, February 15, 2011
Your article on recent developments in Brunei contains information from unnamed sources that are UNTRUE.
For the record, the BEDB office was never raided by police and anti-corruption personnel. Ong was not asked to surrender his passport because there was no reason to do so. Also for the record, the BEDB was and remains a well-managed organization. Its financial accounts are regularly audited by an international audit firm. These audits are from time to time verified by the government’s own auditors. Since 2002 when the BEDB began operations as a statutory body, there has not been any evidence of impropriety. All BEDB contracts have been awarded through open tenders and always to the most competitive bidders. Sadly, some of your sources seem to be more interested in conspiracy theories and character assassination than in the truth.
written by hidden dragon, February 16, 2011
Truth seeker, I refer you to www.bruclass.com, click brunei forum click thread for Timothy Ong. There are anonymous postings there saying that Ong asked for "incentives" which is against the national aspirations of diversification. Another poster wrote that Ong milked the projects from start to finish..........
How do you know Ong is clean. Do you follow him around 24/7. When he was Chairman he spent a lot of time overseas. Can he not ask verbally for a cut while abroad? - as in I give you access to Brunei projects, what is my share? That sort of thing. If its verbal there is nothing in black and white to incriminate him. Ong is a smart man. If corrupt, he will not leave a paper trail Don't trust people too much. Brunei people even Chinese bigwigs not immune to the "corruption bug" I know truth seeker you are Chinese. If your bangsa involved you will want to hide it and sweep it under the carpet. If its a Malay incriminated you will want maximum exposure and maximum publicity. Why are the posters in Bruclass saying such a thing about "incentives" and "milking the projects" if its untrue?
written by Anak Jati, February 18, 2011
As a proud Bruneian Malay I am ashamed of the racist views of hidden dragon. He has revealed his views are not based on logic or evidence but on racial prejudice. I am also puzzled that he puts so much weight on Bruclass. Every intelligent Bruneian knows that Bruclass is where you go if you want to spread rumours without evidence anonymously. Easy to tell lies when no one knows who you are!
written by hidden dragon, February 21, 2011
My post is not racist. I doubt also that you are malay though you post as Anak jati.
If you know anything about Brunei you can see that when the Malays are involved in corruption, the Chinese will talk loudly and for hours downgrading the Malays....When the Chinese are the corrupt ones, all the Chinese will keep quiet or say that they don't know. What a bunch of hypocrits! In a recent corruption case, the Malay Minister went to jail. Where was his Chinese co-accused the Wong Kim Thai? His Malaysian passport was surrendered to the court? So how did he escape? Did his Singapore wife, her friends and the Singapore embassy help him escape then? Hope Interpol is alerted to track him down wherever he is - Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka - and extradite him to Brunei to face trial.
written by Writer, March 01, 2011
To truth seeker - you must be someone from the Anti Corruption Bureau trying to bait us. So we will happily walk into your trap!
The facts in the above story are correct. Ong hasn't been seen for a long time and travel abroad is restricted. Even when he appeared at the opening of the Brunei hotel (to sign documents and to signify transfer of ownership of the hotel from his family and friends to Prince Qawi, son of the Foreign Minister) his photograph was in the paper but he was not named in the caption of the photo neither was his name in the article. You just take a look at that issue. The paper is owned by the family of the foreign Minister. So even the Foreign Minister's side is hanging Ong out to dry! Even they have lost confidence with him. Why? Why is his passport held if there is no corruption? Normally only for corruption cases is the passport held. Think, think think before you simply accuse others of getting their facts wrong!
written by analyst, March 01, 2011
There is a power struggle going on. Of that your website is spot on.... Keep up the good work and the good stories and observations about Brunei......
Whenever there is a power struggle His Majesty the Sultan will signal so to the rakyat by doing three things:- 1. Bring Prince Jefri back to be temporarily resident in Brunei. If the Foreign Minister aka Wazir and his boys try something funny like an unconstitutional grab for power then they will be countered by Prince Jefri and his merry men. When push comes to shove Prince Jefri will always throw his support on His Majesty's side; (Prince Jefri is back) 2. Marry a commoner. That happened in 1981 and 2005 when His Majesty was in a beleagured position. 1981 has sandwiched between his father Sir Omar and his brother the Foreign Minister. 2005 he was beleagured because after the cabinet reshuffle all his allies had been depleted especially his trusted man and long time special adviser, Isa Ibrahim. This commoner wife comes from outside the royal circle and gives His Majesty an independent leg to stand on; (Isa Ibrahim is back as speaker of LegCo (legislative Council and Rumours of an impending fourth marriage abound); 3. Revert to Wearing His army uniform rather than his baju melayu (Malay dress). The army uniform is to signify that all is not Unity in the family. But by wearing the Supreme Commander Uniform he is signalling that he is in command of both his family and country! On the recent National Day celebrations all eyes were on what he would be wearing when he stepped out of his car! Alas He was wearing his army uniform rather than his Malay national dress. Think again. Its a National Day. This is MMM (Malay Muslim Monarchy country. Why is he wearing his army uniform on such an occasion?. Those who say there is no power struggle are BLIND and/or IGNORANT of local affairs. Anyway Your Majesty belated Happy National Day to you, your country and its people. Hope you will have long life to witness many more National Days to come and continue to lead the country from strength to strength. Daulat Tuanku.
written by another anak jati, March 03, 2011
To anak jati... you say not to believe the posts in Bruclass. Why? English saying there is no smoke without fire! When they talk about his (Ong) lack of leadership skills they are correct.
Go to his previous office and see how busy he is. Most of his appearance is for show only and then receive 40K plus first class travel at the end of the month. 4-5 years ago he made a presentation of the Methanol plant. It was at Rizquin ballroom at Centrepoint, Gadong in the centre of Gadong suburb. The presentation was prepared by many people and many divisions in the company - International, Business development, Corporate, Legal. Then it was rehearsed. When it was finally delivered he never gave credit in his presentation to anyone. It was a team effort but he made it look like one man show.... This shows his arrogance (maklum lah educated in Australia. Where they don't have a high priority to teach courtesy and teamwork there) lack of team spirit, lack of teamwork cooperation and appreciation towards junior staff. He just expect them to be his slaves... So overall lack of leadership skills as mentioned in the Bruclass is correct. Even if the comment is anonymous it is correct. As the days go by I am not sad that he was removed. I believed it was the right decision. He already overstayed his welcome!.
written by retiree, March 03, 2011
If no power struggle why army helicopters flying around the capital at low altitude at nights almost non-stop recently. Even tonight they are doing it. They are patrolling the rivers of Kampong Ayer watching if any boats bringing weapons up the river. They are patrolling the border post with Limbang quite frequently. They never used to do this before.
Why are they doing aerial patrol if no threat?
written by royalist, March 11, 2011
i support His Majesty. I understand he is an excellent pilot. He can fly many different aircraft like B727, B747-400, Airbus 340, Airbus 310, Airbus 320. As a leader he is the pilot and we are the passengers in the flight. The journey is on this aircraft called Brunei Inc.
A good pilot and a good leader thats what we need. He is showing "I am in command of the aircraft and I am also in command of the country. What can the Foreign Minister alias the Perdana Wazir (first Minister) do. Can he fly a plane? No so I doubt he can run a country. He will be beholden to French and Singapore interests. Right now his skill is such that he can only fly a kite! (in malay known as layang l;ayang)
written by construction man, March 18, 2011
Bina Puri (B) Sdn. Bhd is the Brunei subsidiary of Bina Puri Holdings Sdn. Bhd. Bina Puri (B) were awarded the lion share of the public housing contracts by BEDB. The Malaysian company is close to Malaysian PM and Datin Rosmah who are thought to own shares in the company or front the company which is run by others. The Malaysian PM's ally, Dato Haji Ali bin Abdullah is Chairman of the Brunei subsidiary. Dato Ali is a former Malaysian High Commissioner to Brunei. Timothy Ong is close to and known to all of them.
In fact when Ong has an Asia-Inc conference in KL he has no problem getting the Malaysian PM to be a keynote conference speaker or panelist despite the latter's hectic political schedule and governanace of the country. In addition Malaysian PM and wife are strong supporters of the Brunei Foreign Minister. (Not the Brunei Sultan). BEDB projects were under the purview of the Brunei Foreign Minister. Some reasons for Timothy Ong's sacking are:- Timothy Ong rather quickly and prematurely oked (signed) the BEDB progress payments amounting to millions of dollars for:- several thousand public houses in Brunei built by Bina Puri; oked the progress payments for the renovations of three tower block condominiums at Ong Sum Ping in Brunei near the former BEDB headquarters also done by Bina Puri; The monies were sprinted out of Brunei by a Chinese guy, another PM Najib ally. Brunei sources say the guy "disappeared and his disappearance with the monies nearly caused the collapse of the Brunei subsidiary (Bina Puri (B) Sdn. Bhd" What is clear is that he left quickly taking the payments to the Malaysian parent company. Locals VIPs expecting their "cut" were left high and dry and were very furious to be played out.. As a consequence, Ong was promptly sacked. His movements were restricted and his passport was held to prevent him from leaving the state. This was a precautionary measures just in case he has been offerred commissions by Bina Puri and these were paid to him through his Singapore, Malaysian or Australian bank accounts. So there you have it the story behind Ong's dismissal as understood by Brunei construction sources.
written by local lady, March 23, 2011
I have worked with Ong. So let me tell you about my experience. I can vouch for his lack of leadership skills. Can talk well but that is not ALL leadership is about... Administration often in a mess. When there are scenarios he is lost. Cannot think FAST outside the box. His degree is in international relations and diplomacy. He should have studied international business instead.
When there are complaints inside from staff he will always put it off by giving excuses. When you say this, he will say oh that will take 5 years. you tell him another suggestion for improvement he will reply oh cannot be done now. He's always inward looking because of his British training. Never proactive and certainly not innovative. For example Mitsubishi Chemicals makes solar panels in Malaysia. BEDB was building 7,500 public houses. Why each house does not have a design incorporated for solar panels in the roof? These things are so basic. Even a Secondary 5 (year 12) student can think of these. Why couldn't Ong? He was overrated, underworked and overpaid!
written by construction source, March 26, 2011
Here is more reasons why Ong was sacked:-
When BEDB were doing marketing promotions and talking to foreign investors they were doing fine. When they started doing infrastructure projects (building highways and public houses) then they got into trouble! The current MD of BEDB is very poor in project management and never handled multimillion dollar highway projects in EDB Singapore before?. Ong as Chairman has NO BACKGROUND whatsoever in PROJECT MANAGEMENT) and within the BEDB they just do not have the infrastructure team to coordinate and supervise well these projects. Getting the projects is one thing. implementing it quite another! Enough of these so called professional Singaporeans within the BEDB like the CEO trying to pull the wool over our eyes! Originally in one of their press conferences they said when they get the project they will hand the project to the relevant government department to manage. So when they got public housing they should hand it to the experts in the housing development department. When they got roads they should have handed that project to the roads division of the public works department. But NO having got the projects which were very lucrative they overconfident to do it themselves even though they do not have the expertise inside the BEDB to handle such multi-million dollar projects. They bit off more than they can chew as they say in English jargon! Projects were obtained but internal expertise was not built up within the BEDB to keep pace. There has been a major failure of the Telesai to Lumut highway project. When the project was signed the press release said that it was a scenic view running parallel to the coast/beach. So one got the impression that its like one of the New Zealand highways going for miles along the coast. It is actually more inland and runs for some part along the Telesai river. By now the project is supposed to be 15% complete and 15% progress payment approved by Ong before his dismissal. However only 1% ot the project has been completed and its years behind schedule! Recently questions were raised in the Legco (Legislative Council) about this project delay. The Development Minister answered to characterise the project as a "minor" delay but it is a "major delay and embarrasement" to the Government and people. Ong has left this project is a mess and I do not envy the new Chairman having to clean up the mess Ong left behind. Ong is not corrupt but I hope the Brunei Anti-Corruption Bureau investigate Ong's foreign accounts (in UK, Australia, HK, KL and Singapore) to see whether he was OFFERRED by any company any commissions from the public housing, highway project or single buoy mooring project (to load the liquid methanol offshore). If there are any irregular large cash deposits or incoming telegraphic transfers into his personal acopounts, evidence should be gathered and he should be charged! His public awards from the palace should also be rescinded pending thorough investigations. We cannot say that he brought Brunei Methanol Plant so he should be absolved in case of any discrepancies. He should be held to account. Brunei Methanol Plant was the success of Brunei LNG (to provide the GAS) and Mitsubishi Chemicals (to build the plant as they had a VERY GOOD IDEA and plan how to build the plant as they had built several in other countries). The BEDB role in that project was a small part ONLY clearing the ground and providing electricity and water supply for that plant.
written by researcher, April 01, 2011
Ong put the then Brunei Shell MD on the BEDB board of directors. When Ong was booted from BEDB, Shell MD was helping to run the BEBD for a few months. This was another stupid move as Shell MD would have been privy and had access to many confidential documents, consultancy opinions about Brunei and industry studies from inside the BEDB.
After Ong's ousting, local sources say that Shell MD was considered as a replacement for Ong as Chairman of the BEDB. However he refused to break his ties with the Shell International group. Taking the top job at BEDB Shell MD would have had to sacrifice his international career with the Shell group. In fact the job he was subsequently offered with Shell as Head of Shipping is a significant demotion. Shell MD has gone from being a Managing Director/Executive Director of four big Brunei Shell companies to just being a VP (read Manager) of Shell Shipping. Also if you put his name- Dr Grahame Henderson- in a google search among other things you will be directed to an email that he was given 24hours to leave Brunei. Why would a high flyer get that treatment in the end from Brunei authorities? The plot thickens!
 written by Sultan Brunei, November 01, 2011
well it seems that sultan hold on brunei is being ungripped through political tactics. But it doesn't effect Sultan he still have whole nation in his favoritism.
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Mockingindian
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If Ong took the bribe he should be prosecuted just like Pengiran Dr. Ismail (the ex Development Minister). Same rules applies for all.
Or is this just to shake Ong to change his allegiance from the Foreign Minister to the Crown Prince? If so they are gathering the clan- supporters and prominent businessmen around the Crown Prince which means he will soon be anointed as the new Sultan. Is this power play with smokes and mirrors to create prominent backers for the crown prince?