RM38.5mil was for badly-needed repairs, not renovation, says Muhyiddin

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PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has clarified that the RM38.5 million spent on work at Seri Perdana, approved and started during his tenure, was to repair old and damaged sections of the property and not for simple renovations.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the Pagoh MP said that upon his appointment as prime minister, he received a report from the prime minister’s department (JPM) regarding the state of the building.

The damage included leaks, outdated lighting systems, damaged floors and ceilings, and plumbing system faults, he said in his first response to the issue.

“I was also informed that the electrical wiring, lighting and mechanical equipment such as air conditioners also needed to be repaired as they were too worn out.


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Why spend RM38mil repairing a house you didn’t want to live in, asks Najib

PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak tonight questioned Muhyiddin Yassin for spending RM38.5 million on repair work at Seri Perdana – the official residence of the prime minister in Putrajaya – if he had no intention of staying there.

“Was it meant to be left empty?” the Pekan MP asked his former number two in Umno in a Facebook post.

Muhyiddin had earlier this evening said that he had never lived at Seri Perdana as “long as I served as prime minister” – a post he had held for 17 months.


He said this when justifying the sum spent, where he also revealed it was used to purchase new furniture, as much of it had been removed by Najib as it had apparently belonged to the latter.

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Don’t slander me over RM65mil spent on Seri Perdana renovations, says Najib

PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak maintains that he did not spend RM65 million to renovate Seri Perdana when he was the prime minister, after Muhyiddin Yassin drew criticism for spending over RM38 million on repair works for the official residence.

In a Facebook post, Najib said DAP had accused him in 2010 of spending RM65 million for renovations at Seri Perdana, but attributed this to a misunderstanding on their part on the 2011 budget.

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YOURSAY | Hard to buy Muhyiddin’s story on Seri Perdana

IndigoPuffin9170: Wow, just wow. Most of us can build several bungalows from scratch with RM38.5 million.

Give me half of that, and I will sort out your wiring, plumbing, roofing, etc, and even get furniture for you, with a few million left for my profit.

How on earth does former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin have the gall to make this statement in public? Does he not realise that there are experienced contractors, builders, and architects who could see right through his lies?

He asked for citizens to raise RM30 million for Covid-19 and he spends RM38.5 million for his official residence.

Wow, just wow.

OCT: It's unbelievable that all the previous PMs who had stayed there didn’t complain that Seri Perdana needed renovation.

The moment Muhyiddin became PM, he approved the renovation at a cost of RM38.5 million at a time when Covid-19 was raging. He approved it during the emergency so that nobody knew or questioned it.

The previous contractors for Seri Perdana must have also shortchanged the government by providing substandard materials not based on architecture specs. We don’t buy your story that Seri Perdana has deteriorated to such an extent that needed such a high cost of renovation.

Was there an open tender or closed tender? A rule of thumb is that when the renovation costs more than the actual cost of the original building, it might be more cost-effective to rebuild the building.

There is no maintenance culture in the government as can be seen by the various dilapidated government buildings. The administration needs to be transparent by showing the bill of quantities on the renovation.
It looks like the rakyat is taken for another ride by the ex-PM. Don’t be surprised when more come in the future.

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