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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Saturday 12 September 2009

The ADO Pembangunan and ADUN’s allocations.


 

I read the following from the hearing on how state reps spend their allocation. A few government officers were summoned before a select committee to clarify certain matters. The select committee SELCAT was headed by TC Khim. This particular one is interesting. It involved the questioning of a former ADO, Tahir Bujang. As he was in charge on processing Local Orders of ADUNs, I guess he was at that time, ADO Pembangunan.

The former ADO and now DO, Tahir Bujang was correct when he said how and what the money was used for was not his concern.

He is right. Each ADUN is allocated a budget to which he then applies for many uses. Purchase computers for JKKK, Youth bodies, and other organisations not being political party. To TADIKAS, voluntary organisations, sumbangan for kenduris and so forth. Sponsor trips to Langkawai and all that, pay for buses for kumpulan wanita to shop at Nilai atau Rantau Panjang.

These allocations are not departmental expenses under the supervision of ADO pembangunan. Tahir is right when he says, he isn't concern how and where the particular YB spends the money. The onus of responsibility lies with the ADUN concerned. If he provides for a group to dangdut in Medan or Jakarta, that too is not his concern. If he pays for schoolbags for some village group, that isn't his concern. The ADO or his officers do not have authority to manage the peruntukan to an ADUN or judge where the money is applied to. His duty is to process the LOs.

The officers at the Bahagian Pembangunan where the ADO concern heads merely process the submissions of the YB concern which are made though Local Orders (LO) with bills from vendors/suppliers attached. From there, the processed applications for payents are sent to the State accountant's office to be disbursed. The money is paid directly to the vendor or contractor or supplier. If the ADUN kautims with the supplier, Tahir does not have to bother.

The selection of the contractor or supplier is done by the wakil rakyat concerned. If he has business kakis, he will choose a one stop contractor like Rony Liew does. Look at his list of supplier/contractor , you can immediately single out one particular vendor. That vendor is mister fix it- buys schoolbags, finances kenduris, trips etc or even maybe exchange cash for cheques. Who knows? When anyone does this, it of course raises suspicions. Again, it's not Tahir's concern. If Rony liew or his officer skims from the allocations, that is also not Tahir's concern.

Each state has its own practices. Most wakil rakyats haven't got any preset list of contractors or suppliers. The Pejabat Daerah maintains a list of these and if the wakil rakyat so wishes, he can ask the name of the suppliers and vendors.

Of course, officers from the Pejabat Daerah do stupid things sometimes. Eg. Since it is not their responsibility over how and where the peruntukan for the ADUN is made, they don't have the authority to make field trips to the vendors office to verify the ADUNS's Local Orders. On what basis? This is not a departmental expenditure. A Wakil rakyat is not a worker under the ADO. They have authority to audit their own departmental expenditures not the wakil rakyat's.

So, Tahir BUjang is right when he said what he said.

The wakil rakyat can spend his peruntukan in a single day if he so wants. The speed by which he gets them processed and approved depends on his goodwill with the officers involved. These officers are not to be judged. The person to be judged is the wakil rakyat for spending his entire allocation in a very short time.

One thing I learn from my experience, those who complain loudest are the very ones asking most from the wakil rakyat.

14 comments:

Anonymous,  12 September 2009 at 10:43  

Wa we Malaysians are just stupid,we shouldn't study but instead go into politics as this is the one area in our lives that there is no check n balance only songlap.

ABC 12 September 2009 at 11:02  

tx for this posting, becos normal folks like me never knew this.

if the D.O. or his officers are just to sign things, without having the power of checks and balances, why even bother to have them sign off on the money?
and this is a lot of money! this is where the money paid by taxpayers like me goes!!!
why not strengthen the system by having a more powerful guy sign off on things and allow him to carry out checks if he sees something funny (but ensuring he is not too close to the wakil rakyat)?
or else have proper quarterly edits by independent third parties?

everyone wants the rakyat to be helped with free schoolbags and maybe the occasional public makan (trips to langkawi too much lah! if paid by public money).
but if this happens everywhere all the time, then it is one explainer why wakils with access to those funds are easily corrupted.

Ariff Sabri 12 September 2009 at 12:08  

rem,
have access is right. not have money in pockets. wakil rakyat dont see the money. its disbursed through the akauntan negeri's office. if the wakil rakyat abuses this allocation, throw him out!.
you may say tip to langakwi is too much, but thats what the rakyat ask sometimes.
and mind you the allocation is not the same in the states ok. selangor-each adun gets 500k a year, Trengganu- 600k a year. Pahang- 100-120k a year. other states maybe 100k a year. if you have 10ok, thats 9k per mnth for you to spend on yr constituency.
am sure the Pakatan rakyat aduns in Selangor now, have the same outlay.

Ariff Sabri 12 September 2009 at 12:12  

rem,
siapa kata tak de check and balance. the akauntan negeri and the pegawai pembangunan's office monitor the expenditure and alert them to the MB or whatever department necessary.
and also there is a limit on one single payment. a single payment taht exceeeds a certain amount has to be approved by the MB's office.

Suci Dalam Debu 12 September 2009 at 12:27  

Sir,

Check & Balance? Maybe it exists on paper only.

Your article also explains why many rush to be YBs.

Donplaypuks® 12 September 2009 at 13:08  

No ADO's job or that of his staff is to merely rubber stamp any Adun's wasteful claims and spending.

He has to check:

1. If the project is within the parameters of the budget allocation e.g. if the Adun decides to take a few constituents to a red light district, should the ADO close eyes and approve?

2. Whether proper receipts and accounts are submitted. Submissions should be scrutinised for fraudulent and false claims. This is a Standing Order in the entire Civil Sevice administration function!!

3. Whether the spending is within the approved time limits e.g. in some cases projects and payments were approved after the Selangor Aduns had ben voted out!

In the final anlaysis, there have to be checks and balances. Aduns cannot use these funds for party political campaigns; the funds are meant for across the board community benefit programmes and not as selective entertainment allowances.

dpp
We are all of 1 race, the Human Race

Anonymous,  12 September 2009 at 13:43  

donplaypuks,

normally the reps dont ask money from DO for the red light district and karaokes girls. its their business suppliers who pays them after they just give some business at inflated value to cover those expenses. takkana cara tu pun you tau meh

sunwayopal 12 September 2009 at 15:00  

The issue is not really abt checks and balances. Yes, lets agree the role of the ADO or DO is not to scrutinise the nature of the expense.

The issue is about spending ALL of ones allocations in 2 mths. The annual allocation mind you. In worse case scenario, even if you say no blatant misuse and corruption, is this morally correct?

Second, even after the state govt has fallen, the ADOs still issued cheques out AS THE GOVT was being transferred to Pakatan, again , correct?

Anonymous,  12 September 2009 at 16:04  

I don't think you are correct in your writeup. If I'm not not mistaken any purchase or payment has to follow government procedures and government servants are duty bound to verify and adhere to.
I may be wrong but I'm long retired.

old guy

Anonymous,  12 September 2009 at 22:27  

Sak you said
"The former ADO and now DO, Tahir Bujang was correct when he said how and what the money was used for was not his concern"

Perhaps this was practise in the past but it doesn't mean that it was a "CORRECT" practise.

What do you think ?

Frank,  13 September 2009 at 02:31  

Dato Sak

I can only agree with you up to a point.

The DO or ADO Pembangunan has a fiduciary responsibility, given the funds are taxpayers' funds.

Fiduciary responsibility entails ensuring the funds are spent in accordance to what it is meant for.

The DO cannot brush aside his fiduciary responsibility. Unless one assumes he has not so. Anyone signing off and forwarding for payment has a fiduciary interest in the utilisation of those funds.

Anonymous,  13 September 2009 at 06:55  

How many ADUNs and MPs do we have?With each having this special fund of between 120 k to 500k each..the country is spending a hefty bundle on this "feel good" projects.
Apart from this , the govt have specific budgets for other "feel good" initiatives such as makan time,donation sprees,BN penyayang programmes >>and all these functions well televised by RTM1.
Time to review processes to ensure that the funds are used in a more relevant and cost effective way.
Pemudah?Pemandu?where art thou?

Anonymous,  13 September 2009 at 11:49  

If a NGO which is given an allocation wants to take cash, the licensed vendor/supplier will deduct 20-30%. If not, the NGO will receive goods worth much less than the market value.

Anonymous,  14 September 2009 at 13:39  

This is sickening. Either the ADO is lying or there is something wrong with the system.

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