BETWEEN RAFIDAH & MAT TAIB: WHO IS A BETTER.......

The March edition of "The Edge" under the column "frankly speaking", the columnist concerned was puzzled by the appointment or otherwise of two well-known personalities of their own class, namely Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz and Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib. Rafidah was involved with the issue of AP (approved permit) of imported cars whereby each car was declared to the Custom Department only costing at e.g RM36,000/= so that the import duty amounts to RM18,000/= only. The car is then sold at exorbitant/inflated price to the Malaysian public. Rafidah was also allegedly involved with the purchase approval of shares for her family a few years ago.

Mohammad Taib, nicknamed Mike Tyson, was charged with an attempt to bring in S$1.0 million into Australia in 1997. It was during the Asian economic crisis. During the court proceeding Muhammad Taib claimed that he could not read English as a result of which he did not declare the amount of money he was bringing into Australia. Interestingly, he made a statement under oath that he always bring large amount of money wherever he went since that is the norm in Malaysian society. Furthermore , he said that he did not believe in the use of credit cards.