AS I specifically said yesterday READ : I cannot in good conscious accuse either Bernas or its owner Syed Mokthar of financing this caper, but I am at liberty to say that who ever funded this blitz, was doing both Bernas and Syed Mokthar a big favour.
SYED Mokthar and his 100 per cent owned Bernas from which he has collected close to RM1 billion in dividends in a span of 36 months, has come out smelling like a bed of roses, when the agriculture minister told Parliament today that BERNAS had to import 38 per cent more rice, than it even had to do before.
THAT would bring , RICE imports by BERNAS to about 69.2 per cent to 71 per cent of Malaysia's rice needs.
WHILE Malaysian farmers, who normally supply READ : 62.6 per cent of the Rice consumed in this country saw thier output drop drastically by more than 50 per cent to a maximum contribution of 30.8 per cent.
FALSEHOOD was being streamed on Tik Tok into our homes that rice millers in order to make a quick buck was mixing imported and local rice together to make a quick buck.
WHEN in actual life they was no local rice to be mixed with in the first place because the paddy farmers were being hit by one calamity after another from weather patterns, water drainage issues and diseases killing their livelihood away.
RICE millers, especially the BUMI PUTERA rice millers are the only group in the paddy chain, with money, who oppose the manner in which Syed Mokthar is given privileges, denied to other sons of this soil. READ:Malay Rice Millers United In the Stance : Bernas Must GO!
THE entire PR Blitz, will count giving rice millers a bad name as merely an insignificant bonus, as there was a two pronged agenda here at play.
FIRST , the lesser agenda, namely which is to show why BERNAS in its present form should not be shown the door, with the keys thrown away for good.
MAT Sabu, told Parliament today, READ : what I told you EARLIER today, that the non economic sence of just because you have imported more rice into the country, you have suffered a great financial loss.
CONSIDERING, that Syed Mokthar has cashed out more than RM900 million (closer to a billion ringgit, really) over a three year period, in dividends, the average dividend pocketed by Syed Mokthar would be in excess of RM300 million a year.
THE entire PR Blitz had a RM90 million REASON to it because 30 per cent out of zero will always be ZERO. READ : Anwar Ibrahim, says Bernas going forward will have to pay 30 per cent of its profits to the B40 poverty stricken farmers.
CLEARLY ,there is a move to embarrass the Prime Minister if the 30 per cent profits ends up to be zero or a very insignificant point percentage to the farmer.
ALL these are of course definitely coincidence, even if it is coming from a man who READ : gave Bersatu RM195 million in cash, merely 76 days after Muhyiddin Yassin gave Bernas a 10 year new concession.