PETALING JAYA: Industry sources have blamed the alleged corruption within Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB) on both the Selangor-owned sand-mining company and the state government.
They said that ever since Pakatan took over the Selangor government in 2008, many sand-mining companies, some of which have been in operation for 20 years, have been struggling to survive.
“Things were good during BN's time,” reminisced BK, a former company owner. “It was easy to 'cari makan'. There was no proper system but we knew how to take care of each other via sub-contracting.”
“When Pakatan took over, everything changed. KSSB was granted sole ownership of the industry and all the other sand-mining companies had to depend on it for survival.”
According to BK, many of these sand-mining companies were either forced to cease operations or resort to illegal activities to remain afloat.
He explained that KSSB introduced a new system through which companies were required to submit tenders for mining and purchasing sand.
However, he said that no one knew on what basis the successful companies were awarded the tenders apart from their quoted price.
“Even then, the companies that were awarded these tenders didn't enjoy the same profit margins as they did before,” he said, but declined to elaborate on the exact figures involved.
“KSSB never consulted experienced industry players when it drew up the new system, so can you blame these players for being angry and turning to illegal mining?”
Another industry source called KSSB “a failure” and pinned the blame on racial differences.
“Most of the industry players are Chinese but KSSB is run by Malays,” he said. “They don't understand how the Chinese play the game, hence the breakdown in communication and cooperation between the two parties.”
He also said that while Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim had good intentions in setting up KSSB, it didn't pan out in the way that he had hoped.
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