What's With The Attacks On Syed Mokhtar's Daily Bread?

Kedahans are mostly perplexed and flabbergasted to hear how Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary has been politically targeted by the opposition. Latest, Nurul Ezzah, the daughter of PKR's own Mahdi, anwar ibrahim, attacked Syed Mokhtar during a ceramah.

Unlike most of the Sayyid families in Malaysia which are Ba'Alawi, Alawiyins (Family of Alawi), the Al-Bukhary are from an earlier branch of the genealogy known as Ba'Musawi (Family of Musa). Many of them traveled along the Silk Road as traders, and settled in Bukhara province, in the present Uzbekistan, hence their qabila name, "Al-Bukhary", or "Of Bukhara." Among the earliest known Al-Bukhary in Malaysian history is Syed Ghulam Al-Bukhary, who went looking for areas with tin ore perspective and found the Batu Bersurat Terengganu by chance.

Even among the Sayyid families of Kedah, the Al-Bukharys are relatively the newest family to arrive in Kedah compared to the Jamallulail, Shahabudin, Al-Jeffry, Barakbah, Al-Idrus and Alkaff. It was understood that the Al-Bukharys of Kedah came to Semenanjung Tanah Melayu in the early 1900s as traders from Bukhara via Pattani.

Now then, Syed Mokhtar came from a poor family. He worked his way up, just like many businessman. Government contracts or not, he has proven he has the nitty gritty of proving his mettle in the business world. Sure, the government can help, but if you are incompetent, the business is most likely going to die with you. When the government wanted a port in Tanjung Pelepas, scores of developers shrank away at the sight of impossibility of developing an area filled with muddy mangrove swamps. When Syed Mokhtar was developing it, he can virtually hear the laughter coming from the island state across the straits. In the end, he had the last laugh when he managed to secure prominent shipping companies to his side, such as MAERSK. Who can forget his brash success when he went to Singapore and bought MPH.

Lately, the opposition seems to gang up on him. Last year, he bought over Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd. With the worries of Halal status of the then flour supply, the company decided to switch flour suppliers. This seems to irk certain quarters of the non-Muslim population of Malaysia, who then rallied to the aid of the Hong Kong based tycoon to boycott Gardenia. Although DAP's teresa kok seemed concern over the racist rally, it was in vain. The whole boycott move looks very much orchestrated by none other than pakatan itself: branding Syed Mokhtar as a crony and so many other things. Strangely, they claim that Robert Kuok subsidizes products. It's worth to note that Robert Kuok lives in Hong Kong and all the money he makes goes there, and while he gets richer, he never spent a cent on subsidies. He did make money from making flour for the subsidy category and made tons of cash.

Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary and Robert Kuok are no strangers. They have shares and interests in Malaysian sugar production companies. Lately Robert Kuok has sold off his shares and exited the Malaysian sugar industry and bought a majority stake in an Australian sugar manufacturer. In short, now Robert Kuok sells raw sugar to Malaysia at market price, while Malaysian manufacturers had to buy, depending on price, and produce it under the subsidy category. Who's the subsidizer now? Kuok doesn't care. Even Syed Mokhtar has ceased all sugar-cane plantation operations, replacing them with rubber in Padang Terap, Kedah.

Syed Mokhtar was the "Man With The Midas Touch" in Malaysia, although during Abdullah Badawi's time, they try to paint Syed Mokhtar as a pariah of the business world. He has turned sickly corporations into profit-makers. His acquisition of Pernas, GPT, Bank Muamalat, DRB-Hicom and many more, and his ability to make them churn profits annually have proven his worthiness.

His expansion of business seems to worry pakatan so much. The acquisition of Proton triggered "concerns" over his overly vast empire. Of course, pakatan's actual agenda was on the massive land banks owned by Proton, which they claim to be "safe-guarded by transferring them to Syed Mokhtar."

It's just weird, pas and dap has always talked trash about Proton, just like they did about any government project, and now they're concerned about it? Really. I don't think any of them will actually bother if a Singaporean bought over Proton.

Even Pas Kedah keeps a good relationship with Yayasan Al-Bukhary. In fact, Syed Mokhtar's double tracking project by MMC-Gamuda makes pas look good. They make it look as if pas is developing Kedah even though most of them are asleep...almost all, mahfuz got lost in the Kepala Batas Airport, somebody should show him the way out of the bathroom.

The callous statement by YB Ghani that Kompleks Al-Bukhary is built on the former site of Masjid Alor Malai waqf land was purely misguided. He was lambasted for that statement wherever he went, worse because he thought Kedahans were stupid. Now he wished he never grew up and stayed at Neverland.

The projects in Yan, Bukit Kayu Hitam, the immigration complex in Durian Burung and infrastructure upgrading for the projects will bring a lot of benefits to Kedah once completed. Pas knew too well that Syed Mokhtar's company GPT has been almost solely responsible for the elevating social standards in Padang Terap.

Kedahans know Syed Mokhtar, and one of the many reasons why he is making such drastic moves in business is this: In Alor Setar, between Jalan Langgar and Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, stands Kompleks Al-Bukhary, a landmark project by Syed Mokhtar. The complex comprises of a mosque, administration offices, orphanage, an Islamic medical center, a university and its campus. Nearby is the Souq Al-Bukhary, with Giant as its anchor tenant. The university is already in operation, with a few hundred students from Islamic countries as the pioneers. These students come from poor families in Islamic countries, and are reputedly sponsored by Yayasan Al-Bukhary. Even the daily operations of the complex are handled and paid by Yayasan as well. It is rumored that the foundation spent RM200,000.00 monthly for the maintenance of the mosque alone. These operations are not cheap, but for the benefit of Muslims, Syed Mokhtar will definitely need to make money to keep it going.

In addition to the complex and bazaar, Syed Mokhtar was also responsible for the construction of the mosque in Akar Peluru, Pokok Sena, Pantai Johor, Anak Bukit and Padang Senai, and also contributed for the construction of the surau at the PDRM Headquarters in Jalan Stadium. The Masjid Al-Bukhary itself, for the Arabic-Spanish mixture of architecture, is now considered one of the sights to visit in Alor Setar.

Perhaps it's the fact Syed Mokhtar contributing a lot to help the Muslim population worry pakatan to the core. The vast fortune to be made, more and more Muslims will be helped...oh no, how can the New World order stand for this?! It is well known that anwar has tried again and again to entice the corporate world to jump to his side, but businessmen like Syed Mokhtar doesn't seem to give any time to anwar, and I guess that irked him too much. And the success of a Malay businessman doesn't really sit well with dap...not when it cuts off a Chinese multi-billionaire.

Leave Syed Mokhtar alone, he's not interested in your politics. He's a corporate trader and player, he'll know what to do when the time comes.

Pakatan is up to something, and whatever they're cooking can't be too good for Syed Mokhtar and Malaysia. Do you think an Israeli defender like anwar and the socialists like dap will let Syed Mokhtar expand his business empire and help more Muslims?

Nurul Ezzah's strategy to attack and label Syed Mokhtar as Tun Mahathir's proxy is a good move...if she's talking to imbeciles. It's like the blind leading the blind...although the blind has better chance than nurul ezzah. While nurul ezzah talks with her ass, like her dad, I'll just stay at home laughing, while munching away on my Gardenia bread. If that nurul ezzah or any of her comrades come to you and speak, always remember this:

..O you who believe! if an evil-doer comes to you with a report, look carefully into it, lest you harm a people in ignorance, then be sorry for what you have done.[49;6]