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Saturday, 22 November 2008
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28 laptops at double the price? MPSJ queried

Naveen Mathew Menon
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Gary Chong Kuen Yip
Gary Chong Kuen Yip

KUALA LUMPUR: Paying double the price for a laptop. Twenty-eight laptops for RM178,000 for 24 councillors.

And Gary Chong, the special assistant to Seputeh Member of Parliament Teresa Kok, is not going to let the issue sit on his lap. He duly raised the issue at a press conference at the DAP office in Kinrara.

Chong pointed out that 28 laptops were purchased for 24 councillors at a whopping RM178,000 by the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ). The councillors received their laptops late last month.

"Taxpayers' money was used to buy these laptops," said Chong.

He said the Dell Vostro 1200 laptop should cost about RM3,000 but the council paid more than RM6,000 for it.

Chong said even if other costs were included, it should add up to only a maximum of RM3,500 each.

"Why are the laptops so expensive? The Dell Vostro 1200 laptop costs RM3,099 according to the brochure. The maximum that it should cost is RM3,500 including a three-year warranty."

Chong said the total cost of buying 28 laptops should work out to only RM84,000.

"The laptops were purchased under a rent and buy scheme. Why the need for this? They could have been bought directly from Dell or some other company.

"Why 28 laptops when there are only 24 councillors? When we asked the council, they said that if they bought fewer than 28 units, the cost would be higher.

"They explained that the open tender that they got was the cheapest," Chong said.

A group of DAP councillors and some members of NGOs met with MPSJ president Datuk Adnan Mohd Ikhsan over the matter.

Chong said the councillors made two suggestions to Adnan -- return the laptops to the supplier or ask for a price reduction.

Adnan said he would consider the suggestions.



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