Does BN care about the AG Report?

Had the Auditor-General's Report carried any weight, it would have played a role in bringing about the much needed changes.

COMMENT

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has wasted RM28.8 million to rent and another RM5.5 million as maintenance costs on for his private jet for a year – this is just the tip of the iceberg coming from the Auditor-General’s 2012 Report.

Unlike Najib, Singapore premier Lee Hsien Loong has no qualms travelling first class on Singapore Airlines and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on economy class. So why does Najib and the other VVIPs be pampered with a private jet?

Malaysia has seven executive jets for official use by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, to carry out official businesses of the nation.

If pampering the seven VVIPs with one jet each was not sinful enough, the government between 2010 and 2012 gladly wasted US$25.2 million (RM80.53 million) for rental, RM16.515 million for maintenance and RM3.32 million on improvement of the VVIP jets.

This is not all. If Najib is all for digging into the nation’s coffers, the Royal Malaysia Police on the other hand needs a rapping for its being highly irresponsible, to the extent that it lost assets worth RM1.33 million in the past three years, including firearms, handcuffs and even vehicles.

The AG report noted that between 2010 and 2012, the police lost 156 units of handcuffs, 44 units of firearms, 29 vehicles, 26 walkie-talkies, 22 radios, six cameras, four computers, one cell-phone and 21 unspecified items.

Now, how does the Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar expects the rakyat to digest this piece of news, of comprehending the fact that the police and ‘safety’ do notgo hand in hand?

If this piece of revelation was not damaging enough to the already battered and bruised PDRM, the IGP in his folly took the foolish way out when he decided to placate worried Malaysians that the missing guns did not fall into the hands of criminals and had instead fallen into the sea during certain operations.

How sure is Khalid that criminals are not in possession of police weapons? Or for that matter does it not give Khalid sleepless nights that his subordinates recklessly ‘lose’ their firearms during operations?

Khalid later clarified that 37 and not 44 guns belonging to police personnel went still missing, with seven having been recovered post- the AG’s report.

Would Khalid have made the attempt to retrieve the stolen guns had the matter not been made public by the AG report?

Khalid also told FMT that the missing guns could also be due to police negligence and car break-ins.

“There are also cases involving car break-ins and negligence from our officers,” he added.

In other words, the PDRM has a big problem in not just keeping the country but also its possessions safe, does it not?

AG report not taken seriously

While the Audtor-General’s Report has done it again – detailing with brutal truth the the ineffiency of the federal government and the splurges by prime minister Najib and other VVIPs, it sadly will once again be dismissed by the BN government.

Had the AG report carried any weight, it would have played a role in bringing about the much needed changes. It was the AG report that revealed the misappropriation of RM250 million loan meant for the cattle rearing project carried out by the National Feedlot Centre ( NFC) which was headed by Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail and who is spouse of former Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Shahrizat Jalil.

It was the NFC fiasco that brought down the curtains on Shahrizat’s political career. Despite that, Najib went against the rakyat’s wishes and reappointed the Wanita Umno chief as his advisor on women affairs.

Throwing his support behind a politician rejected by the people to safeguard his political survival puts paid to the question as to whether the AG report is given due respect by the BN government.

With Shahrizat back in ‘full force’ and the Home Minister Abdul Zahid Hamidi issuing a gag order on the topic of ‘lost PDRM weapons’, conveniently putting the blame on ‘human error’ and not foul play, it goes to show the AG report whilst succeeding in bringing out dirt from under the carpet, has little impact as far as the federal government goes.

The AG report also said the RM801.55 million Malaysian Emergency Response Services 999 Project (MERS 999) under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM) was besieged with poor management.

“Audit findings revealed that the overall project management was particularly poor in contract compliance, contract administration and project monitoring.,” read the AG’s report.

One of the shortcomings was the late execution on the development and installation of the MERS 999 system in 16 sites; and 34 sites were operated later than the timelines stipulated.

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) was appointed through direct negotiations to develop the project with a total cost of RM801.55 million.

But TM far from improved matters. The AG report said that the appointment of local and foreign consultants did not comply with the financial regulations and the consultancy service fees exceeded the prescribed rate by RM1.92 million.

“The consultancy service fees amounting to RM25.88 million was paid in lump sum without supporting details on the services provided.

The report also revealed that the cost of reimbursement on consultant services amounting to RM480,000 was paid in a lump sum without being supported by receipts.

“In another instance, the project management fee was overpaid amounting to RM295,036.”

Is that how GLC works, wasting tax payers money because it is simply lazy to do its ‘homework’?

Who will heed the AG’s report and make sure the improper payments arising from TM’s discrepancies will be recovered and appropriate actions should be taken against the identified officers who committed the offence?

Does the BN government even care, going by the fact that it has an insatiable appetite for cronyism?

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.