This blog has been created to enable all Kristal members to get the latest news and info on the status of Kristal Golf Resort and for members to share their views, suggestions and comments as well as to keep everyone in touch.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Important Notice - Letter to Suasa Kristal

Kristal Golf Resort Action Committee is gathering signature of members and is writting to call for a meeting with the Company, Suasa Kristal (M) Bhd., The Receivers & Managers Suasa Kristal (M) Bhd. c/o MustaphaRaj Sdn. Bhd.

The letter to Suasa Kristal and the receiver &managers is to requisite for EGM to demand golf course be opened immediately.

The minutes of AGM will be available by next week. If anyone wants a copy, pls contact PB Trustees or Billy Yeoh, Lau Heng Loon for a hard copy or we can e-mail to you or fax to you.

To help the Action committee work effectively, please pay up the RM200 towards the membership action fund.

Contents of the letter to Suasa Kristal (M) Bhd are as follows :-

We, the members of Kristal Golf Resort, hereby requisition pursuant to section 88(1)(h) of the Companies Act, 1965 and in accordance with the terms of the Approved Deed, a meeting of members for the following purpose:

(1) that the Company, Suasa Kristal (M) Bhd, lay before the meeting the accounts and balance sheet which were laid before the last preceeding annual meeting of the Company;

(2) lay before the meeting the last audited statement of accounts of the Trustee;

(3) that the Company is directed to reopen all facilities of the Club to al members, guest and visitors forthwith;

(4) that the Trustee shall make written request within 7 days to the Company, requiring it to make available to the Trustee and Representative and to an approved company auditor appointed by the Trustee, for inspection the whole of the books of the Company whether kept at the registered office or elsewhere;

(5) that the Trustee shall make written request within 7 days to the Company, requiring it to give to the Trustee and Representative written information as they required with respect to all matters relating to the undertaking, scheme or enterprise of the Company or any property (whether acquired before or after the date of the Deed) of the Company or otherwise relating to the affairs thereof, including but not limited to, written information in respect of the sale of the Company's assets;

(6) that the Trustee shall within 14 days render an account of the sinking fund since the establishment of the fund;

(7)that the Trustee shall take such necessary action within 30 days, including but not limited to, initiating legal proceedings to compel the Company to account for the sinking fund collected and to recover from the Company any sinking fund colected by the Company but not paid into the trust account administrated by the Trustee;

(8) that the Trustee shall take such necessary action within 30 days, including but not limited to, initiating legal proceeding to compel the Company to use its best endeavours to carry on and conduct its business in a proper and efficient manner, including the reopening of all facilities of the Club to all members, guest and visitors forthwith;

(9) that the Trustee, Representative and Company are to comply with such other directions as the meeting thinks proper;

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Golf resort members in the lurch


Saturday September 22, 2007
Golf resort members in the lurch

Kristal Golf Resort Members Action Comittee secretary Lau Heng Loon (right) having a discussion with the legal advisor Lee Khai (left) after the press conference at Green House restaurant, Bukit Tambun, with them is the committee chairman Billy Yeoh See Ling (2nd right) and vice chairman Zakariah (2nd left). NIBONG TEBAL:Kristal Golf Resort Action Committee chairman Billy Yeoh See Ling said more than 200 members who attended an extraordinary general meeting on Sept 9 adopted a resolution which strongly opposed the closing down of the resort which is located in Jawi near here.
“We call upon the Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad, the receivers, and the purchaser not to develop the property for other purposes other than its original operation as a golf resort,” Yeoh said.
He claimed that there were other bidders for the property who intended to continue its operation as a golf resort but their offers were rejected.
“I was told the property was sold for RM21mil,” he added.
Yeoh said the members were left in the lurch after the resort closed on July 23 without any notice.
“There were about 1,400 members who included 300 Japanese expatriates and 150 foreigners of other nationalities, “ he said.
He claimed that the golf course was rated as one of the 10 best resorts in the country and had been patronised by a former Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, sultans, governors and ministers.
“Every year, about 1,200 to 1,500 golfers from Korea would come here to play golf during their winter season,” Yeoh added.
He said the action committee, which was formed during the EGM held at a nearby restaurant, would meet Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon next week to seek his assistance to resolve the matter.

The Star - Star Golf 12th August 2007

Reclaimed by the forest
The closure of Kristal does not come as a surprise, given the difficulties the club was going through.
EDITORIAL:BY WONG SAI WAN
HAPPENED to be travelling north two weeks ago when a colleague called and asked if I was a member of the Kristal Golf Resort.
When I inquired why he was asking, this non-golfer burst out in laugher and said the club had closed down and over 1,400 members left in a lurch and a further 150 employees out of a job.
In the words of another fellow golf journalist, the forest will soon reclaim another golf course.
What happened at Kristal did not surprise me because there had been many stories floating around about the difficulties the club was going through after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
Now it turns out that Kristal, which is located in Jawi, Penang, had collected more than RM50mil in membership fees, in addition to the monthly fees of RM115 for corporate members and RM88 per month for individual members.

Members of the golf resort at Sungai Bakap staging a peaceful demonstration after they were prevented from entering the premises.According to the members, the closure was unannounced and sudden. Two hundred of them then staged a protest outside the club, demanding an explanation from Suasa Kristal (M) Bhd.
Members claimed they were not given any notice of the closure and were shocked when they turned up to play golf two Mondays ago and learnt that the company had come under receivership.
On the main gate was a huge signboard that said CLOSED and a note asking them to contact managing director Ishihara Shotaro for further information.
Shotaro, who was also present outside the club to witness the protest last Friday, said he received his termination letter on Monday.
The club, which opened in 1993, has a large expatriate membership, including 300 Japanese members with others from Britain, the United States and Taiwan.
The workers have lodged a report to the labour department and word has it is that the members are trying to seek redress legally.
To be fair, Kristal was (past-tense is being used here because I doubt the course can be re-opened soon) not the only golf club to run into trouble after 1997.
According to industry sources, many owners of the clubs, constructed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, were just too ambitious in their development.
“While most were courses built as part of a mixed housing-commercial development project, there were others who relied too heavily on the course to bring in the money.
“The clubhouses that were built were just too luxurious. They were more akin to palaces than functional premises to house facilities for members,” said a former senior manager, who has served at several clubs.
The closure of Kristal is a huge blow to the golfing community in the north and to Penang’s tourist attraction efforts.
Three years ago, the five clubs in Penang - Penang Golf Resort, Bukit Jambul Country Club, Bukit Jawi Golf Resort, Pearl Island Country Club and Kristal Golf Resort - formed a consortium to turn the state into a preferred golfing destination in the region.
Called the Penang Golf Circuit 2004, it was to be a new tourism package to target Japanese and South Korean tourists.
But sadly, after 2004, the circuit did not make much headway and the Japnese and South Koreans prefer the courses and facilities in the Klang Valley.
Kristal is not the only club to close in the state. Pearl Island Country Club is also no more. It has been bought over by a well-known developer who is turning it into a housing project.
After hearing about Kristal, I purposely took a drive past the Pearl Island site and the fairways and greens are gone - all bulldozed with only brown earth left. At least this is one course that the forests won't reclaim.

Friday, September 21, 2007

China Press 29th July 2007

水晶高球場突關閉逾1400會員要求交代

(爪夷29日訊)公正黨要求檳州政府即刻介入,調解華都打昔路水晶高爾夫球俱樂部突然關閉事件,因已導致1400余位會員權益及高達4000萬令吉會員費的嚴重損失事件。
該黨峇都交灣區主席劉子健是在接獲高爾夫球俱樂部會員的投訴及與部份會員瞭解后,發表文告。
他表示,此事件涉及多個層面,其中包括數十位被解僱的俱樂部職員、逾1400名俱樂部會員,甚至多位購買位于該俱樂部內的獨立別墅的產業投資者。
他說,這是一個集勞資糾紛、產業買賣合約,以及俱樂部會員籍投資行為的案件,當中有關連的政府單位包括人力資源部、房屋及地方政府部、青年體育部、州政府內相關單位。
他說,該黨要求檳州首長許子根嚴正看待此事,因它涉及檳州政府名譽、外國企業投資,尤其今年時值大馬旅遊觀光年。
涉及4000萬令吉
他也要求業主馬上安排會議,與行動委員會對話,尋求雙方都能接受的解決方案。
投訴者向劉子健表示,當初投資俱樂部會員籍的資金從2萬到4萬令吉不等,平均每名約3萬令吉,以該俱樂部有逾1400位會員來計算,最少是一場涉及4000萬令吉的案件。
他說,不知所措的投訴者要求業者,清楚告知會員權益是否有所損害,如何交代他們會員籍,以及何時可恢復使用俱樂部設施等課題。
他建議行動委員會針對此案件向警方報案,讓警方插手調查此案。
疑財務陷困
威南區首間創立的高爾夫球場疑因財務陷困,拖延多時后終面臨關閉命運,令1400名會員及80名員工深受影響。
據悉,由于面對財務問題,該俱樂部于上週一起被接管及關閉,所有會員禁止入內,而80位員工也遭停職命運。
禁止會員進入
這間成立13年之久,是區內首間高球場俱樂部,地點位于華都打昔路,于1994年日本公司斥資8000萬令吉開創立,佔地287英畝,擁有18洞球場。
該俱樂部目前擁有1400名個人及私人籍會員,其中有300名是來自本地日本公司,其中計公司會員入會員費4萬2000令吉,個人會員3萬6000令吉。
由于不滿接管司在未事先通知下,突然禁止會員進入,令會員們深感不滿,感到會員權益被剝削。
為抗議接管司在未通知會員的情況下倉促關閉及禁止會員入內,約百余名會員昨午聚集在該球場之大門口處舉行抗議行動,並成立行動委員會與接管司斡旋。
除了水晶高爾夫球場俱樂部外,威南區另有一間位于爪夷的皎誼嶺高爾夫球場。