We are sometimes, no let me restate that- always appalled at the snootiness of lawmakers who poke fun and trivialize the serious side of governance. A clear example of such attitude involves the recent nonchalant responses surrounding the delayed supply of the auditor’s general report. It is true there is no law that demands the Auditor’s Report be given alongside budget documents. Using the same argument, there are no laws on many things either. The lawyer’s un-lawyerly adage is you can break any laws as long as you are not caught.
It is also equally true, in the interest of good governance and accountability which any responsible government pledges itself to, the AG Report must be expeditiously supplied to lawmakers. Otherwise, it gives rise to a cause of concern that the delay is an attempt to shorten a critical assessment of the spending habits of government agencies. Lawmakers are guided by a higher sense of propriety, responsibility and accountability that demands they operate beyond the technical confines of written rules.
So it is correct and proper when lawmakers demand to see the AG Report that by convention is provided alongside budget documents. It was disingenuous for a lawmaker to state recently that there is no law compelling the AG Report be supplied together with other budget documents.
In my experience as an ADUN in Pahang, the auditor’s report came along with the budget documents. This is necessary for legislators to go through the spending habits of institutions of government. That will ensure matters are debated as they should be.
The AG Report has acquired the status of almost an absolutely necessary addendum for the purpose of intelligent and responsible analysis of government spending habits. I have found them necessary to provide justification or grounded criticisms to the spending habits of government.Probably because there are not so many intelligent people on the government front benches, the AG report is seen as not crucial for a healthy debate in our parliament.
It is in these documents that we find most justifications for the criticisms directed at deficit spending and of government debt. By the way, the claim that 2012 debt is within tolerance limits is simply the result of artful manipulation of the 2012 GDP figures. When the finance minister announces that our GDP will grow by 5-6%, as a percentage or proportion, the 2012 debt will indeed remain within our psychological barrier. It enabled the minister to state our debt to GDP ratio is good. In terms of absolute numbers on the other hand, the debt to GDP ratio is much bigger than last year’s. So, the declaration that the economy will grow by 5-6% was necessary so as to keep the proportion of debt to GDP acceptable. It was just a trick.
The more pointed criticisms about deficit budget are the hidden financial indiscipline that goes along with spending with wanton abandon. The ministry waiting and wanting to be crucified is the Tourism Ministry because its minister is loud and appears to be pushing her bravado image to the limits. And so she reaps what she has sowed.
The Tourism Ministry overpaid nearly RM270 million for advertisements when it chose to use direct bookings instead of open tenders. So the paying of 1-2 million for setting up websites is peanuts compared to the cost of placing advertisements. It is indicative of the minister’s inability and incompetence of putting her ministry in order. The same vendor has been at it- placing exorbitant advertisement fees for years. If the same vendor can control the Tourism Ministry in almost a cartel-like embrace, that should raise everyone’s concern of a possibility that ministry officials are more than just good friends with the particular vendor. It can suggest that corrupt practices and favoritism in return for consulting fees is rampant at the ministry and the loud mouthed minister is not able to do anything about it.
The ministry also spent a whopping RM1.95 million to buy 1,000 racks — RM1, 950 per rack — to hold its tourism pamphlets for the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign. Perhaps it’s time for the ministry to set up an in-house workshop for the fabrication of display racks since these are going to be used continuously. We are not going to nit-pick at the ministry’s inability to explain the unaccounted or missing 149 units of racks amounting almost a quarter of a million Ringgit – but that would surely be grounds to trigger a domestic inquiry. Why would the ministry be billed for the missing 149 units and if that can happen to 149 units, can the ministry be certain that they actually got 1000 units?
A minister and her ministry can’t even handle the case of display racks and yet she is entrusted to put Malaysia on the world tourism map. These qualities must be the new elements that make up a candidate’s winnable constitution.
Dear Sak, every year we read of all the horror stories of corruption by Umno and BN in collaboration with the civil servants.
ReplyDeleteAfter that ,NO ACTION IS TAKEN and business is as usual.
Remember the story of the govt purchasing a CARJACK(FOR PUNCTURE TYRE) at RM 5700 per piece when you can get one for RM 100 at any spare parts shop.
That is why the govt is BANKRUPT AND TO OVERCOME ALL THIS, A CHANGE OF GOVT IS NEEDED.
Dato,the reason the Auditor General's report was not submitted with the budget was because of huge indiscrepencies and markups in expenditure in the various government ministries and departments.To present the AG's report together with the budget will embarrased the PM and make his face blushed pink,red and purple in front of the cameras.
ReplyDeleteEh...Datuk, what about the globe-trotting with husband and others on punblic expenses in the guise of bringing in millions of tourists dollar ?
ReplyDeleteDear Dato,
ReplyDeleteThe way things are going on , very soon our most blessed and beloved country will be brought down to its knee,Greece style. Not possible ? just wait and see.
I am fearful, sad and helpless.
Dato,
ReplyDeleteU r dead wrong about this – ‘The ministry waiting and wanting to be crucified is the Tourism Ministry’!
1st, this minister, just like all her other cabinet cartel members, don’t care two hoots about any criticism, either from within & without.
2nd, any minister worth his/her socks, would start fingering the proverbial cookie jar the moment the appointment is announced/confirmed by the pm.
Time is short & the cookie jar is not always ‘full’ all the time, meh!
So, after ranting about the ‘spend-thrift’ of the tourism minister, what about her other cartel members?
The pm’s department would be a likely catch after the defense minister. Oh, don’t forget about the wannabe PDomingo’s portfolios, too.
Really good time ahead! Just as Alfred E. Neuman’s saying – ‘what, me worry?’
Just wait till Zeus has mercy on us, and then we can be calling all Greeks brother in arm.
well said, the tourism minister is a lard monster indeed
ReplyDeleteSir,
ReplyDeleteLuka lama berdarah kembali. Oh oh, sebenarnya, bukan luka lama. Ceritanya sama, cuma tahun berbeza.
Hanya satu obatnya. KICK OUT BN. Full STOP.
Buruk-buruk orang lain pun tak se buruk BN.
The delay to supply the AG's report shows that the government tried to hide its findings. As simple as that.
ReplyDeleteGoing by the so many cases of government ministries and agencies not following the set policies and guidelines in spending, the next natural course of action is to take necessary action against their heads including the ministers themselves. But will that happen in bolehland? I don't recall any serving ministers being hauled up for mismanagement of their allocated funds.
Many GLC staff have been taken disciplinary actions for not following policies and procedures under corporate governance, which was designed by the government itself through Khazanah. Interestingly Khazanah was also mentioned negatively in the AG's report. Could we have leadership by example here?
Pok Li
Yes, why is there no action taken for such misappropriation of funds? What is the use of reporting them!
ReplyDeleteMalaysiais horror of horror!
ReplyDeleteWhat can we do ? The Chief Sec is all mouth only because he cannot even touch his own malay chaps and dames in government...Crimes against the public by this government crooks is still the same year in and out!
Nobody answers for it let alone sent to jail for daylight cheating....
The rape and the robbery looks like its sanctioned by the top dogs in Putrajaya....
If we were correct before Merdeka under British civil services even 5 cents have to be accounted!!!
Well we can only curse at this Mahadev crook who started this rot ...Pointless unless the guilty ones are made to pay dearly by getting the sack or jail terms. No two ways about it....Well CHIEF SECRETARY its time you earn your fcuk....salary to do something as Chief Sitting BULL..
gc
ReplyDeletewhy gomen need to buy car jack when it rents new cars from a privatised
co-spanco?
why does spanco supply new cars to
gomen without car jacks?
the gomen servants are a bunch of
mat lembus/ah kows who do not question
simple conventional wisdoms?
why ?
a legacy of madey-feel-good.
civil servant cannot use of common sense when dealing with decisions made by polikus
Let us review the senarai of ignoble gomen people [hereafter referred to
de mat lembu/ah kow of 1 malaysia ] --
1 . accountant amersham- maybank. Bought indonesian bank from singapore government investment
company when the banking system was failing
2. accountant azlan hashim - sold proton motor cycle operation mv agusta for 1 euro to a small jalan Ipoh
chingkie outfit -givi. MV Agusta was divided into two aparts - one part was sold to indian motorcycle and
another to bmw and the sale raised about usd 400 million. And the name mv agusta still means
high quality entity producing great look bikes still.
3 And what do the world think about proto-ton ?
3,Oxbridge trained dany -boy- rashdan who got mas to sponsor qpr home jersey to the tune of puluh millions
in a small visiblity epl club which is likely to get little or no tv coverage
4. tikus dalam labu zarinah -anwar under whose watch a number of dubious deals merger deals involving
her husband
5. nor mohamad yakob- dubbed as black widow/spidey -notorious for losing billions in gambling the forex /
maminco deals
6. ling liong sik -the minister with the billionaire son , who is connected with the unwxplained billion dollar
losses at the port klang free trade zone development
7. oc phang the ptd officer who was seconded as the gm of port klang authority , under whose watch
billions of dollars were spent without good managerial controls
[readers must update with more names]
khong khek khuat
Dear Sakmongkol
ReplyDelete“Lawmakers are guided by a higher sense of propriety, responsibility and accountability that demands they operate beyond the technical confines of written rules.”
That is the ideal in a true representative democracy, where a well-informed population votes able, public-minded persons to represent their collective interests in parliament. But all 3 conditions that are required for a proper parliamentary democracy are absent or are severely compromised in our country.
We do not have a well-informed population because a large section of Malaysians are deprived of a critical and independent press, and many are so under-educated that they cannot separate real information from fiction that the government dishes out through the controlled media. It would be a stretch to think that the majority of our parliamentarians are able and intelligent. Those listening to the presentation of the recent budget can see and hear for themselves how they clapped and banged their tables to express approval when the FM-PM announced tiny bits of cash hand-outs, behaving like school children whooping when the teacher hands out sweets to them, but failed to express themselves - approving or disapproving - when substantive policies were announced. They cannot understand Economics 101, and neither can they understand the need for Governance 101.
The consensus view of private sector economists is that Malaysia will not achieve the 5.0 – 6.0% economic growth in 2012. So you are right to say that the government is too optimistic to say that the budget deficit next year will be only 4.7%. The deficit will be higher because growth will be lower. Our public debt is projected to increase by some 12.5% over 2011 to RM407 billion. This is a very big number. We should be worried.
In Penang, the PR government managed to return the state budget to a surplus from perennial deficits from the first year they took over. They simply opened all government tenders to competitive bidding, and achieved this despite reserving all Class F tenders (under RM200,000 jobs) to Bumiputra companies. But as we can see from the Auditior General’s report, 9 ministries over-spent their budgets. The example of the Tourism Ministry’s purchase of rakes is a very small example, but it illustrates the kind of chicanery that goes on in public purchases and procurements. Recently I heard a story that a company was told that their interior decoration tender of RM80 million for the new Palace in KL would be successful, but there was a little matter that they had to accede to before the award: they had to now revise the contract sum UPWARDS to RM120 million, and the difference of RM40 million to be disbursed to those who “helped” approve the award. I cannot verify the truth or otherwise of this story, but I have seen or heard enough of similar procurement stories to think that there is perhaps some truth to it.
Dato',
ReplyDeleteIt makes no difference whether the AG report is released or not. The government does not take heed of the AG report knowing full well that the Malaysian public are powerless to pursue the government's wastages and leakages. So what is the tourism brochures display racks cost RM1,950 per rack? The Tourism Minister and the Minister in the PM's department will come out with their guns blazing that we Malaysians are FORTUNATE that the racks did not cost RM19,500!!!!
Year in year out the AG report highlights the uncontrollable and unstoppable leakages of purchases and services awards made by the various ministries and government departments. So what has come out of all these AG reports? It's just a sheer waste of having an Auditor General's office with its overstaffed employees and money down the drain by publishing hardcopies of the AG report which ends up as door stoppers or bookends supports. As long as we have an UMNO led corrupt government, we Malaysians will continue to be screwed big time by the government to enrich their own cronies and leeches.
Aiya, you will can reproduce this piece next year and you won't be far off the mark.
ReplyDeleteBN is showing its middle finger at the AG's report. Can't you see that?
You think the kampong folks read the AG report? You think Ibrahim Ali, the defender of race and religion, will criticize the government for its excesses?
Assalamualaikum Dato Sak,
ReplyDeleteThis delay in providing AG report is the latest ante to show how "accountability" has different interpretation. While AG report is a "holy book" for companies to get rid of bad rats, govt stand seems to be indifferent. It is no longer "Elementary" as it synonym with Sherlock.
Every year same old stories about discrepancies in govt spending in AG report. Everyone seems happy, no heads rolls and best of all more money can be spent next year on new budget. Many HODs in govt depts mentioned in AG report still able to look forward for further promotions and for some collect retirement perks plus bestowed titles to acknowledge his/her past contributions.
Just wonder if we want to be high income nation, whether such practices can still be practice and condone? If successful, corporate governance gurus will be rewriting their books for others to learn from Malaysian experience. Could have save country RM240 millions of free advertisement. The prognosis is good as Malaysians have doubled it's millionaires populations in last 18 months.
In conclusion when BN Chairman and deputy are chanting matra for winnable candidates for next GE that could elevate some as cabinet members, we have to learn and expect such personalities to continue such tradition.....err rather transformation (one should not forget the buzz word)
For students dreaming of attending Harvard Business School, LCE, Wharton or any other Ivy League institutions it is no longer necessity to send them if they want to pursue career in politic or in govt when they can learn it all in the country. Malaysia have rewritten many new ideas on Economy, Finance, Corporate Governance and many others that dwarf many famous gurus thinkings. And it has been efficiency executed under GTP, ETP,NKEA,NKRAs, MKRAs and many more. Can't wait for next year what surprises are in stored.
dato',
ReplyDeleteeverybody who has the power, ministers, politicians, top government servants and anybody that has the opportunities are raping bolehland 24/7.
they are worse than saddam, gadaffy, bush and whatever. i hope they all die in a horrible ways.
Salam Dato'
ReplyDeleteWhat is the point discussing the AG Report when the previous year reports being kept without action, just talk only.
Each year we are presented with same horror stories behind the said report but just like local film industry, the horror movies is actually a comedy with all the reports being laughed at by the doers.
Every Dick, Tom & Harry will give comment on the matter but when the curry is "basi", it will be thrown away until the next AG Annual Report being published.
Supplying or not the said report to the lawmakers prior to and/or together with the tabling of budget doesn't make any difference. They are not doing the reading, instead somebody else would have to read for them which evidently most of them are sleeping in the parliament.
Does KERAjaan has a ball to take serious action on what had been reported by A-G under NKRA to fight corruption?
I DON'T THINK SO....
Back to square one couple with meLAYU mudah lupa attitude, the KERAjaan servants are continuing laughing all the way to the bank!!!
dato,
ReplyDeleteorg yg tinggal sedikit kuasa politik, tapi tu pun kasi jual sampai habis tinggal taik aje.
kepada melayu2, cina cina, keling keling yg durjana dan pengkhianat, kaki penggadai, kaki songlap. sekarang kau orang senanglah banyak duit. tunggulah anak cucu kau dengan kita orang yg tak bersalah ni pun akan menderita. celaka kau orang ni.
Dato',
ReplyDeleteI must admit that i find your articles terribly entertaining. Not for the fact that they are well written and informative, more so for the reason that such good writing comes from someone who is actually in UMNO and had walked the so called corridors of power.
It is sad that there are not more "enlightened" people like yourself in BN who are prepared to call a spade a spade.
Keep up the good work...on a separate note, do you think that KJ got sucked in on the accustaions against LGE's son, and was set up by his enemies in UMNO?
The excuse given for not releasing together the AG report and the Budget was to make it easier for the media to cope.
ReplyDeleteThis type of excuse is inexcusable. The AG report must precede the Budget. Then the lawmakers and rakyat will know how last year's budget has been spent before debating the next one.
By reversing the order, next year's budget is approved ahead of any revelation on where flagrant corruption has taken place in the year before. What if the new budget approves a larger allocation for the same fouling departments?
This goes to show the present govt uses budget announcements to spin for itself. By the same token, it glosses over bad and corrupt decisions revealed by the AG reports. What has the minister said so far about the recurring abuses of public funds? Too busy gorging apom balik instead?
The situation is made worse year after year when you consider how the national budgets have been presented. The focus has always been on how to spend without equal measure on where to make.
What are the assumptions underlying the govt's confidence on revenue streams to pay for the hikes in remuneration? For all its purported doctoral support, the MOF has not answered this at all.
Neither has it proffered anything substantial to the business private sector commensurate with its preeminent role in raising tax revenue to fund the present govt's electioneering largesse.
This same private sector is going to face tremendous pressures as desubsidization takes place in the coming years while it has to reengineer itself in the absence of a relevant and credible human resource pool for the challenges of an increasingly cost-sensitive global market.
Right, no?
Year in and year out, the same horrors are told. I am convinced that criminals and their conspirators are running the country. Period.
ReplyDeleteDato'
ReplyDeleteMasaalahnya, orang melayu yang rata-rata makan gaji dengan kerajaan atau berniaga kecil-kecilan tak bayar cukai...apa depa nak kesah, banyak ke sikit ke duit cukai yang dikutip dari orang lain.
Cuba tengok surat khabar apa yang depa baca...UTUSAN MENIPU, BERITA HAIRAN, METRO SEXUAL, ETC. Mana ada ada cerita pasal Audit Report.
Kalau kita cakap lebih-lebih apa golongan ni akan balas....Nasib baiklah Kerajaan BN memerintah, kalau bagi Pembangkang memerintah tak tau lah apa nak jadi...
Apa kita nak buat Dato', Melayu sendiri yang bagi lesen kepada orang politik merompak.
Tapi kalau pasal perkara remeh remeh, golongan ni yang akan meraung paling kuat sekali, soal dasar ekonomi, pendidikkan, masa depan anak anak kita, hapak pun tak den gar.....tengoklah Berahim Ali...pernah tak kita dengar dia cakap atau hentam kerajaan pasal sister pendidikan kita yang entah ke mana hala tujunnya dibawah "pimpinan" DPM?
Ni dah keluar Audit Report, buatlah kecoh sikit, baru lah ada class...
melayu muda
if there are so many screw ups in the ministry, why not have this AG report half yearly??? but then the issue is not how frequently you do it, it is about taking remedial actions!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAL
Sorry Dato for being a bit crude,well it's very simple really(sorry M'sian sisters) this Minister has 2 mouths,both needs to be fed,no wonder she cries the loudest,need I say more.
ReplyDeleteSalam Dato'
ReplyDeleteEpisod menakutkan ini berlaku setiap kali laporan AG dikeluarkan. Paling malang elite umnobn dan majoriti ahli yang lain buat macam tak ada apa-apa yang pelik berlaku.
Bagi saya, sebagai ahli umno thank to Dato' yang mengulas perkara ini untuk di baca oleh ahli-ahli umnobn untuk mengambil tindakan keatas golongan elite-elite umnobn dari terus berkuasa merompak wang negara.
drp: ahmad salleh
That's why some people like to utter niamah! Every year the same annal horribilis and the promise of terror and hell for those culprits who spend our hard earned money like there is no tommorow and nothing ever comes out of it and it is heaven (for those in a position to outdo each other in squandering our money) as usual until the next annals horribilis.
ReplyDeletesetiap tahun laporan audit keluar orang kampong x tahu mereka d kerajaan beli barang semua nya mahal belaka saperti teropong malam luar jual rm 1940 tapi kerajaan bn beli dgn harga rm56900.00 satu.sbbtu lah 15tahun msia dah defisit sampai skrg hutang rm490billion dah akan bangkrapt geherasi muda masa depan habislah
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteDear Dato,
Sir,
Quote Anon 1215
" ....I am fearful, sad and helpless."
25 October 2011 12:15
----------------------------------
You are not helpless. Each and everyone must expend some energy and do their part first in convincing their closest and dearest that they must be brave enough to CHANGE out the present irresponsible BN.
We could have been a First Class nation but our generation (mainly those 40y.o and above) chose BN for all the wrong reasons.
On the younger internet-savvy generation lay our hopes for a Malaysian Spring. We need a two-party system for a brighter future. And YES, the sooner it happens the better.
Looks like the country is going to the dogs as long as the current ruling elites are not stopped by the people in 13th GE in plundering the nation.
ReplyDeleteWhat does AG Report say about PEMANDU bcos their budget is in billions for ETP EPP projects by companies that use the lab to lobby PEMANDU to get public funds to make their projects commercially viable or bankable? What does the AG Report say when such a high-level (PEMANDU) outfit under PM Office under Ministers Idris Jala & Koh Tsu Koon that advices PM, Cabinet, CM/MB & are given access to sensitive data from govt agencies and companies is run by little Napoleans who are in their 20s-early 30s, little work experience, non-subject matter experts, new mba postgraduates, and some are not even Malaysians (Singaporean etc)? What does this say about the country when these young inexperienced kids are given responsibility to helm and execute the highest-ranking economic transformation plan with some of most expensive budget?? Why is PM repeating the same mistakes by the 4th floor-Oxford boys-running-the-country practiced in the previous administration?
ReplyDeleteAssalamualaikum Dato' Sak,
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that everyone is not happy when they find out all the abuse that is going on when the AG Report comes out.
We are close to being desensitized by this. Every year the horror stories come out - overspending, abuse of process, misallocations etc etc - yet the perpetrator is scot free.
If, after the AG report, we see a slew of arrests at the highest level, charges that stick and convictions, then - yes we know the system is working.
Those who were caught with their hands in the honey pot will be slightly miffed that their parties are interrupted, but after about 2 weeks (at most) noise, they will be back at it again.
What do they fear? If the AG report to police/MACC, it will not go anywhere. If it were, we will see convictions. Can you recall a case when that happened in the past? No, right. Why should they be afraid? So, they will continue dipping the honey pot.
So, year after year - sama jer lah. No difference.
I am surprised that people act as if they are upset. Marah cam tu jer. Tak pergi mana mana pun.
So, rather than getting seasonally upset over something that should be as clear as daylight, let's focus on continuous effort to get rid of the mother of all scourge in Malaysia - the Federal Government, by legal means.
We borrow our children's time while we are on this earth. Let's do something meaningful for them.
Melayu Baru.
Dato' Sak,
ReplyDeleteJust to share this...
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand" - Milton Friedman
"Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks" - Doug Larson
"It is enough that the people know there was an election.
The people who cast the votes decide nothing.
The people who count the votes decide everything" - Joseph Stalin
You be the judge.
Shalom.
The final wedge that will push Msia into the abyss is Pemandu.Yet they r completely insulated n unchecked.Did their EPPs go thru Parliamentary debate?
ReplyDeleteThere are hidden enablers that will tie the country to long term commitments with the EPP projects proponents.There are "friendly persuasion" investments by Petronas,GLCs n related companies in doubtful projects endorsed by govt.
MRT,River of Life. . .ponder.Who pays?Who gets the bucks?
Meanwhile confuse n keep Rakyat occupied with hudud,murtad etc.Create crisis after crisis.Key is getting all EPP related contracts signed b4 PRU 13.
Heads you lose,tails i win.
Dear Dato' As an ex serviceman with 30 years service we were told about traitors and deserters anad what the AF act does to them. We fought the commies lost a lot along the way for the country and we are proud about it. What can I do to these enemy within. Now that I am a retiree I am only hoping I can get a watikah to be the Tok Mudim. I would like to sunat all the BN politicians so that they can piss straight.
ReplyDelete