Lieza808′s Blog

My mother always tell me since I was young ” Liza, never be afraid to stand up for your rights and what you believe in and say what you feel” And my father too has instilled the value of justice, fairness and equal rights to all individual..
Today, I’m making a stand..making a stand for fair and justice..because today I’ve witnessed how By Power, the human being can manipulate the legal and political system to oppress the Weak for their own selfish benefits..

And that is how Pempena , the subsidiary under Tourism Board , Ministry of Tourism has used it;s power to oppressed my mother, Melia Majilis.

On the 12th of January 2009, Malaysiakini.com has published a Pempena scandal that my mum has kept in her heart and kept it quiet for the past 12 years since 1997.It was the Part one of the part three of the articles written.

On the morning of 13th Jan 2009, Lee Hishamuddin, the same lawyer ordered by their client Malaysia Travel Bureau(Pempena’s defunct subsidiary company) that has sued my mum to bankruptcy, sent a legal warning letter to Malaysiakini to pull out the story and stop anymore publishing or they will be sued.

Of course, Malaysiakini are used to this kind of threatens everytime when any new scandalous news are exposed..furthermore, they have all the documented evidence to prove of this scandal.therefore they ignored the 1st warning letter and published the Part 2 of the article.

On the 14th of Jan 2009..i was waiting for the part 3 of the article to come out..at 3pm nothing was on the website..and I found out why…Malaysiakini was slapped again with the 2nd warning letter by Lee Hishamuddin stating that since the case is still on court, it is a contempt of court to publish any news regarding this case.

This time, ..it was too much pressure or risky for Malaysiakini to publish the Part 3 of the article..they did not publish it on that day.

So, today i witnessed how power have successfully NOT ONLY TO shut my mum up for 12 years but it has also managed to shut up the last remaining avenue that could voice out our desperate cry of help..Malaysiakini, a place where the Malaysian could find a true honest account of the real story behind the ones that has been sold in public by the government.

I was angry, upset, frustrated and sad..We have seen how greed and power has resulted the tragic unwarranted deaths of innocent children and people in Gaza..and yet we could watch and do nothing to stop the never ending assaults.

The same here in some twisted way similar oppression happening not killing physically but killing my mother’s hard earned-25 years old business that she has build.
And I can only watch as nothing is done to stop it.

My mother comes from a small Kampung in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. She came from a big poor family with 11 siblings. And among all, she was the only one that did well in primary school got a scholarship to be high schooled at Tunku Kurshiah College, a prestigious boarding school in Seremban.

She lived in a hut when she was young and had to walk 10km every morning and afternoon to take a bus to school which is 40km away. After school,she went into the jungles with my grandfather to cut woods and use the nature to earn extra income for the family.

She studied in ITM and that is where she met my dad and they got married. After having my brother and me, being a housewife for quite sometime. With my father’s love and support, she took the courage to open up her own small Travel agency called Melia Travel.

From there, she became one of the pioneer and top bumiputra travel agent in Malaysia.

In 1997, Pempena has offered to buy and help build a strong conglomerate of bumiputra travel agencies.

And after lots of due dilligence,2 companies was offered which is Melia Travel and Masukkma Travel.

I still remembered during that time, my mum was so happy with the government initiative. I just came back from studying LAW in England. I did not want to practise to become a lawyer. Instead decided to help my mother to set up the new venture in which she has a share value of RM2.5 million called Malaysia Travel Bureau(MTB).

She was appointed as the CEO was given the task to set up the new subsidiary company of Pempena in which they injected a capital of RM4mill as the start up.

Then the late Zainuddin was appointed as the Managing Director of MTB. Conflicts start to happen between my mother and him as she has discovered several misusage of funds and diverting the real purpose of the set up of this company. That is when they started to find ways to oust my mother.

I still remembered this event in my mind. I was young 24 years old, hot -blooded, protective daughter. I followed my mother to the Board of Meetings in Pempena. I sat by her in the long big meeting table with the rest of the Board members.

And all of them hurled untrue accusations to my mother. The late Zainuddin was there and so was Dato Hanafi the CEO of Pempena then. And I could see how they try to bully my mother out.
I was so angry and i could not care less who they are..whether they are Dato” or somebody with title and positions in the industry or in the company. All I could see is black-hearted Men who were bullying my mother.

Suddenly I VOICED OUT defending my mother. I questioned and demanded answers from them on certain issues.

They kept quite and couldn’t answer me and looked at me as if for the first time they SAW me sitting by mother’s side.

Then the Chairman of the Meeting told me to get out of the room as I am not in the Board of Directors in the meeting and refused to answer my question.

To this day I will never forget what I said to them ” You have deceived my mother, bullied her, misused and abused her and destroyed her business..if you think I am going to seat here and watch and allow you to hurt my mother and keep quiet..YOU ARE WRONG!!! The only way you will bring me OUT of this room away from my mother is to PHYSICALLY FORCEFULLY PULL ME OUT of this room!!”..

I stared, I made a stand, I did not budge.. I was ready for a battle.. I could hit any of their face at that point of time…and THEY KNOW I mean business…

Everyone was shocked to see this came out from a young woman who is protecting her mother. For a while time stood still..then I realised a soft hand placed on my left shoulder..it was my mum’s hands calming me down…and she looked at me ..gave me a signal with her eyes that it is ok to leave her alone in the room…Only with her permission that I left my mother alone to the vultures.

It was heartbreaking..now..even typing this out..my tears drops down my cheeks..i wish i could help my mother..but i felt helpless..and that is how I feel today when Malaysiakini has pulled all the articles written by Pempena after the threatening legal letter by Lee Hishamuddin approved by Pempena.

I studied LAW in England and I came back I did not want to practise it for this very reason. How a reputable law firm like Lee Hishamuddin has advised their client MTB/Pempena to manipulate the legal system to destroy people like my mother.

I believe the basic how law and regulations in any countries…even in any religion..is meant to protect the people. But instead the law has been misinterpreted, the system has been abused for selfishness, greed and power.

Lee Hishamuddin, a reputable company has not advised it’s client MTB/Pempena to settle this case out of court but advised to continue the case to Court of Appeal. And all because they want to sue my mother and claim an expenses of total RM68,000 alledgedly used personally by my mother. Whereas, we have proofs of document to show that those expenses was approved by the Board of the Directors and it was used to purchase the office equipment of the new set up company MTB.

Obviously, Lee Hishamuddin is trying to make more money out of MTB. They are reputable and not cheap. Possibly the last 12 years since 1997, their average legal cost possibly is about minimum of RM10,000 x 12 years ..it will be costing Pempena RM120,000 from 1997 till 2009 up till date just to claim RM68,000…is that ridiculous? And Pempena, a  government link company approved to use government money to pay the expensive lawyers to continue to oppress their own people, a malaysian citizen using an unoperative defunct company called Malaysia Travel Bureau(MTB).

Malaysia Travel Bureau(MTB) is a defunct company and operation had shut down around 2001. Pempena has set up another new company called Malaysia Travel Business which is using the same logo that has been designed by my mother on the previous old MTB. By this time the late Zanuddin has passed away and the new “mafia” is continued by Rosly Selamat who are the Director both the old and the new MTB. Of Course he is no more in the Pempena management there as he is transferred to the newly set up company called MyCeb , free for him to abuse the RM5millon capital that has been injected in there.

So, Pempena is very smart. Even if my mother wants to sue for her RM2.5mill shares , she will get nothing..as the company MTB has nothing but losses.(That is why Pempena has been audited by the National Audit  now due to “bad” investment and losses)

And now, Pempena has used MTB, a defunct unoperational shell company to sue my mother and make her bankrupt. And Lee Hishamuddin , the reputable law firm has advised Pempena, a government linked company under Ministry of Tourism on how to use this strategy to destroy my mother’s livelihood

Now, which LAW and Ethics that Allow the people to misuse and manipulate it as a strategy to destroy people’s life?

The Irony is The Minister of Tourism was an affluent capable lawyer in a reputable law firm herself before she join the politics. She of all people should see this sheer manipulation of law and injustice was done.

Of course, what ever happened before was not under her administration and therefore not directly accountable to it…
However, after all the highlights on this Pempena scandal before this, instead of choosing to help settle my mother’s case, she chose to hide the main abuser and transfer him to another new company called MY CEB and injected rm5mill for Rosly Selamat to manage.

Excellent management! Destroy and bury the victim…shut my mum up and shut Malaysia kini up..

For 12 years, my mother has been appealing to the government even up to the Prime Minister’s Office to settle this out of court. But no one wants to help her and hear her voice.
For the last 4 months , I’ve personally approached Pempena to settle this case out of court but it was treated as not important. Even though I’ve mentioned that my mother needs to come back by February 2009 so that she can attend my younger brother’s wedding in peace.

My mum is living in the USA with her American husband. Since she is a bankrupt, if she comes back ..she cannot leave Malaysia and go back with her husband.

I appealed to Pempena to release the legal actions against my mother so that she can be released from her bankruptcy and come back to be at the wedding.

She got desperate …as we have time limitations and hence voicing out to Malaysiakini so that Pempena pays attention and treat it as important and she wants to come home to see her family in Malaysia.

And now Malaysiakini is threaten…and that is why I am writing this blog till 6 o’clock in the morning..

Again for the 2nd time in my life , just like in the boardroom meeting when I was 24 years old…I will say this to you Pempena…
“If you think I am going to watch you bully and abuse and hurt my mother and keep Quiet…YOU ARE WRONG!!! I am voicing out NOW!!You have to Physically SHUT MY MOUTH UP IF you try to keep me Quiet! I want Justice and Fairness and allow the Law that has been created to protect the People and not destroy the people!I’M VOICING OUT NOW!!”

Haliza Abdul Halim
The Eldest Daughter of Melia Majilis and Abdul Halim Yahaya
and Eldest Sister of 11 Siblings