"It was an underhand tactic that past personalities are known for" remarked an oberserver who wished to remain unknown.

He was referring to the way Asas Serba had planned their press conference when making it known of their intentions of the proposed takeover of highway concessionaires recently.

"This is a trademark of those who are well connected, dropping bombshells and then bulldozing it through, but that can only happen then." Things are not the same now.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib is a man on the ball not like Tun Abdullah who relied heavily on the advice of some people.

The Asas Serba porposal was mooted by key personnel who were closely linked with Tan Sri Halim Saad of Renong.

The Prime Minister's Department had yesterday replied formally to MP Wangsa Maju, Wee Choo Keong that no such proposal had been received by them in relation to the proposed takeover, in short Asas Serba had made a press statement, but submitted no proposal.

However, talks of another party entering the fray appeared in a blog 'Asasserbawatch.wordpress.com' and on close inspection, it was revealed that Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar had also presented his version of proposal to the Economic Planning Unit.

Given that the reply to Wee Choo Keong's question was directly related to Asas Serba, could it be that the Syed Mokhtar proposal was kept under the radar?

Timely still, that The Star carried a pertinent article on the expansion of certain stretches of the highway that has been earmarked for widening and the contract went to PLUS. Given all the recent questions and activities surrounding highway concessions, could it be a prelude to a sort of 'return of the cronies'? - PJ Moorthy - Malaysia Instinct