THE doors of the Equanimity, said to be owned by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or better known as Jho Low, will not be open to the public.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said this as public viewing of the super luxury yacht would affect its auction by more than 50%.
“One promise that we made (in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto) I must admit that we cannot fulfil it. I want to be very frank, that is about the super yacht Equanimity.
“I did say that if we win power, we will take back, ‘tarik’ back the yacht to Malaysia, just like ‘tarik kereta’ and open the doors of the ship free of charge and let the people of Malaysia see how much is a RM1 billion super yacht,” Lim said in his speech at the Datok Keramat and Jelutong Deepavali Open house in the Methodist Boys School in Jalan Ayer Itam, Penang.
Also present were Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and his wife Tan Lean Kee, Lim’s wife Betty Chew, Gurmit Kaur (wife of the late Karpal Singh), state exco member and Datok Keramat assemblyman Jagdeep Singh Deo, Jelutong MP R.S.N. Rayer, MBS board of governors’ chairman Khoo Cheok Sin, MBS principal Lau Chong Beng, Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh, Batu Lancang assemblyman Ong Ah Teong, Pengkalan Kota assemblyman Daniel Gooi, Pulau Tikus assemblyman Lee Chun Kit, representatives of some developers and NGOs, and JKKK members.
Bidding on “Equanimity” started on Oct 29 and will end on Nov 29. Investigators allege the 300-foot vessel was bought with funds embezzled from investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
It was first seized by Indonesian authorities who later relinquished it to Malaysia.
“We fulfil the first promise. We took back the ship. But we cannot open the doors to let the public see it. The Attorney-General and others tell me that if you let the public see, the selling price will go down by more than 50%. For example, if we want to sell it at US$100 million, we will lose US$50 million,” Lim said.
“When you buy a yacht, you want it to be exclusive. They do not want their yacht to be seen by everybody and touched by everybody. I must admit that I do know know that if you open up to the public, the price will go down by more than 50%.”
Lim said the country would take at least three years to nurse its financial health to a solid footing.
“The dark forces had already taken away the country’s wealth, so the work is not easy. When we took over the federal government and opened the accounts, I was shocked to see we had only RM450 million left in the national coffers.
“For a federal government to have only RM450 million is very small. Even Penang state itself has RM2.1 billion. Don’t forget we’ve to spend RM8 billion per month on salary and pension payments.
“So, even after six months (on the job), that’s why I’m still angry today. We even did away with the GST. It’s tough for us.”
He also lashed out at the previous Barisan Nasional government for paying 88% of one contract even though only 10% of the work was done.
Lim said the government is committed to maintaining a path of fiscal consolidation to achieve a deficit of 3.4 per cent next year, from 2.8% as the “cleaning up process” is being carried out.
Although facing financial constraints, Lim said the federal government has allocated RM857 million to Penang for development funds compared to RM608 million before and also given tax free incentives to Penang’s Swettenham Pier.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Darwina Mohd Daud
Video by Ahmad Adil Muhamad