BACK TO HIS OLD WAYS? Muhyiddin's 'International Diploma' deal to benefit cronies

The United States Sports Academy (USSA) has been extrememly quick to defende its award of an honorary doctorate on Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, saying it was based on merit and not linked to a project it undertook for the Education Ministry.

Academy president/CEO Dr Thomas P. Rosandich stressed that the doctorate was to recognise the Deputy Prime Minister's “lifelong contributions to sport and for his proven track record… The honour is very much earned and well-deserved."

My colleague Dr Ong Kian Ming was the first who exposed the fact that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was being conferred the honorary doctorate on 17th January 2013 by a remote college based in Daphne Alabama for the latter’s efforts “to enhance physical education to help in the building of a nation’ through the creation of the ‘One Student – One Sport’ initiative” as reported on the USSA website.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin is receiving his doctorate despite the worst ever achievement by Malaysian students in the recently published Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011, where Malaysia has suffered the biggest drop in test scores among all countries for both Mathematics and Science between 1999 and 2011.

Again no open tender: Program created at Muhyiddin's request

Despite the questionable “honorary doctorate” granted to Tan Sri Muhyiddin by a little known US college with only some 600 distance-learning students, the key question is why was the contract awarded via direct negotiation to unabashedly UMNO-linked company?

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had awarded the contract to “retrain” 1,000 PE teachers via an “International Diploma in Physical Education and Scholastic Sports (IDPESS)” costing RM22.9 million to Syarikat KH Sports World Sdn Bhd. It must be highlighted that USSA has admitted that the IDPESS programme was a newly created and customised diploma at Muhyiddin’s request.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin must also respond as to why the IDPESS 6-month retraining programme cost RM22,900 for every PE teacher, which is more than 4 times what it costs to obtain a ‘Diploma in Pengajian Sukan’ from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), which costs about RM5,709 for 6 semesters (18-months).

Reeking of corruption, disregard for transparency

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is also the Finance Minister had promised us a “Government Transformation Programme (GTP)” under his administration where all procurement contracts awarded by the Government will be via open tenders.

What we see here practiced by his own Deputy Prime Minister, who is also our Education Minister, is a blatant disregard for the GTP initiatives.

The contract also proves, together with other scandals plaguing the Barisan Nasional government, that cronies of UMNO and Barisan Nasional will continue to receive privileged contracts at inflated prices. It is clear that BN has no ability or intent to “change” itself, as promised by Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Tony Pua is the DAP MP for PJ Utara