KJ: Gov't picked up K-Pop bill after sponsors withdrew

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has admitted that his ministry paid for a K-Pop concert, which was deemed too raunchy by some, during Hari Belia 2012.

At the time, ministry officerss had claimed that the concert was privately sponsored. 

However, the Auditor-General's Report 2012 revealed that three K-Pop groups cost the ministry RM1.6 million.

In a post on his Facebook account, Khairy said ministry officers had denied that the concert was publicly-funded because initially there were pledges from private sponsors, but the deal fell through.

“K-Pop concerts have been cancelled for Hari Belia (from) 2013 onwards,” he said.

At the material time, the youth and sports minister was Ahmad Shabery Cheek. Khairy was only made a minister this year, after the My 5 general election. 

The Auditor-General's 2012 Report on the government having paid RM1.6 million for the K-Pop concert last year contradicted with ministry secretary-general Mohid Mohamed's statement in June 2012 that the three K-Pop groups' were privately-sponsored. 

Duplicate payments

The Auditor-General also found that two contractors - M&S Events & Resources and Khalif Enterprises - made duplicate claims for jobs worth between RM26,500 and RM41,000 to Majlis Belia Malaysia (MBM). 

MBM, which is under the Youth and Sports Ministry, made the payments for the duplicate claims amounting to about RM430,000. 

On this matter, Khairy said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission was currently in the tail end of its investigations. 

He said he has sought an explanation from ministry officers on other matters raised in the report, before action could be taken. 

Other matters raised include “imprudent” payments of close to RM200,000 for promoting Hari Belia 2012, including payments to bloggers and luxury hotel stays for journalists. 

A sum of RM48,300 was also spent on a four-day working trip on Hari Belia 2012 to Jitra in Kedah and to Songkhla, Krabi and Phuket in Thailand. 

Although only appointed minister this year, Khairy said that he views the issues effecting his ministry as raised in the 2012 audit report “seriously” as a matter of “collective responsibility”. 

“The ministry will take relevant action to ensure wastage and misappropriation (of funds) can be overcome. Public funds are the rakyat's money and we must be accountable to the last sen spent.”