Large amounts of public money is invested in the National Feedlot Centre and as such NFC is accountable.
The controversy surrounding the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) will become another one of the Achilles’ heels for the ruling Barisan Nasional government.
The lackadaisical responses from officials – whether from the head of the civil service or politicians from the ruling government – are a very sore point.
Each year we are presented with the same politically correct packaging exercise – studious response from the civil service about wanting to rectify matters and dismissive trivialisation from politicians of the ruling government.
The fact is, matters are just allowed to fizzle away without the corrective measures.
Maybe the government is underestimating the rise in public social awareness.
The truth is the public is increasingly dejected over the scourge of corruption and of corrupt practices by the members of the establishment, comprising politicians from the ruling government and pernicious civil service.
The controversy surrounding the NFC – involving the unaccountable use of public funds – is fast becoming an emblem of shame for the ruling government.
The minister in charge of this enterprise can’t amuse us with stupid stories in Parliament by saying that we haven’t paid the full amount.
By that, the implication is, we are still containing the damage.
The equally silly retort is to say: if the damage can done with a smaller amount, imagine what bigger damage can be inflicted with a bigger allocation.
NFC is accountable
The public has the right to know how public fund has been used in a business run with their money.
That right is discharged by conscientious and public-spirited law-makers making justifiable inquiries into the business affairs of the NFC.
After all, large public money is invested in the business. The minority partner and management team of the NFC are all accountable and are answerable to the majority partner and through the majority partner, answerable to the public.
Hence, the refusal of those in charge of the NFC to allow elected representatives to enter the premises is a travesty of propriety and shows utter disrespect for members of the highest law-making body.
It also strongly suggests that the management of the NFC has many things to hide under that mountain heaps of cow manure.
The government of the day should direct the managers of the NFC to allow law-makers to enter the premises and ascertain for themselves the current state of affairs.
If nothing is amiss as stated by the minister concerned, then there is nothing to fear.
Know the difference, YB
Silence from BN law-makers will imply they condone this kind of black-holing of information.
And before any cunning BN lawmaker says, “we have nothing to hide because it is ‘we’ who allowed the Auditor-General’s Report to report on the matter”, we must tell him quickly to differentiate between party and government.
‘We’ and the civil service are two different things, YB.
The civil service is bound by law to serve the government of the day and charged by law to report on government operations.
Since it’s a centre funded mostly by taxpayers’ money and has become one of the hotly debated issues in Parliament, it must ready itself for closer scrutiny by law-makers.
And if the government is sincere, it should form a select committee to investigate the matter further.
The writer is a former Umno state assemblyman and a FMT columnist.
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