Khairy asked to explain overspending on K-Pop event

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin must explain how the cost of the 2012 Youth Day event that involved the controversial K-Pop artistes ballooned to RM55 million, says DAP.

Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim in a statement today noted that in the RM12.17 billion Supplementary Supply Bill tabled for first reading on July 8, the government had requested additional funds for the project.

Sim (left) said the controversy over the extravagant K-Pop artistes event last year had revealed the expenditure of the project then to be RM15.2 million.

"The latest surprise is, this amount has ballooned by another RM12 million. 

"This is on top of the claim by the ministry last year that they also received private sponsorship amounting to RM28 million.

"Overall, the cost of organising the 2012 Youth Day celebration was around a whopping RM55 million (totalling the three amounts).

"In other words, since the event was held for five days, the government spent an average of RM11 million a day.

"Why did the cost of the Youth Day celebration balloon so drastically when (then Youth and Sports Minister) Ahmad Shabery Cheek even boasted that private sector sponsorship increased tremendously from RM10 million?" he asked.

Sim urged Khairy to reveal the cost breakdown of the event, including the sponsorships, the list of contractors as well as their jobs and costs of their service.

Better use for funds
Noting that the incident happened before Khairy's term as Youth and Sports Minister and as such, was not his fault, Sim hopes that the minister would provide honest answers in the cost breakdown.

Sim was also critical on who benefitted more from the RM55 million mega spending, and pointed out that it could have been better allocated to schools without the necessary facilities for their students.

"And finally, the recurring annual problem of students from minority groups not getting places in universities. 

"If the cost of putting a student through higher education is approximately RM50,000 per person, this is an estimate for a law degree in a private college," said Sim.

The total cost for the 2012 Youth Day would be able to put at least an additional 1,000 students through higher education, he claimed.