The Selangor state executive councillor for welfare and women's affairs Rodziah Ismail admitted today that the state government had "overlooked" payments due to national laureate A Samad Said for two of his paintings.
Vowing to settle the amount owed, Rodziah also admitted that she did not know where the two paintings, purchased several years ago at RM8,000 each, were now.
The matter was first publicly highlighted on Tuesday during the launch of Pak Samad's novel entitled ‘Sungai Mengalir Lesu’ when writer Uthaya Sankar SB complained that the Selangor government had failed to make the payments.
Rodziah (left) said according to procedures, the state government decided that any payment would be made within 14 days.
"The issue was raised at Wednesday's exco meeting by Ahmad Yunus Hairi (the exco member for Malay customs, youth and sports), who said the payment has yet to be made.
"Ahmad Yunus was quite surprised," Rodziah said during a press conference today.
"Inefficiency has taken place. As I am related to this issue, I take responsibility to ensure that the matter is resolved," she said.
Rodziah said she felt responsible as the artwork were purchased during an event organised under her watch, when she held the portfolio for culture.
The event took place on Sept 6, 2012, at which Samad, who is more fondly known as Pak Samad, was given recognition as a guest writer for Selangor.
Rodziah said at the event that Samad was also given a grant of RM10,000 to continue his literary works and that payment had already been made on Feb 5 last year.
However, Rodizah stressed that she was never part of the process of valuing and purchasing Samad’s works.
The exco member said that in her letter to Pak Samad, she wrote that the purchase of the paintings were handled by the Malay Customs and Heritage Corporation (Padat), which comes under Ahmad Yunus' portfolio.
She added that the paintings were intended as gifts for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
“The state government cannot buy them (artwork) directly, so we bought them through Padat to hand over to them (Anwar and Khalid).
“So we need to refer to Padat whether they (Anwar and Khalid) received the paintings from Padat for display,” she said.
Vowing to settle the amount owed, Rodziah also admitted that she did not know where the two paintings, purchased several years ago at RM8,000 each, were now.
The matter was first publicly highlighted on Tuesday during the launch of Pak Samad's novel entitled ‘Sungai Mengalir Lesu’ when writer Uthaya Sankar SB complained that the Selangor government had failed to make the payments.
Rodziah (left) said according to procedures, the state government decided that any payment would be made within 14 days."The issue was raised at Wednesday's exco meeting by Ahmad Yunus Hairi (the exco member for Malay customs, youth and sports), who said the payment has yet to be made.
"Ahmad Yunus was quite surprised," Rodziah said during a press conference today.
"Inefficiency has taken place. As I am related to this issue, I take responsibility to ensure that the matter is resolved," she said.
Rodziah said she felt responsible as the artwork were purchased during an event organised under her watch, when she held the portfolio for culture.The event took place on Sept 6, 2012, at which Samad, who is more fondly known as Pak Samad, was given recognition as a guest writer for Selangor.
Rodziah said at the event that Samad was also given a grant of RM10,000 to continue his literary works and that payment had already been made on Feb 5 last year.
However, Rodizah stressed that she was never part of the process of valuing and purchasing Samad’s works.
The exco member said that in her letter to Pak Samad, she wrote that the purchase of the paintings were handled by the Malay Customs and Heritage Corporation (Padat), which comes under Ahmad Yunus' portfolio.
She added that the paintings were intended as gifts for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
“The state government cannot buy them (artwork) directly, so we bought them through Padat to hand over to them (Anwar and Khalid).
“So we need to refer to Padat whether they (Anwar and Khalid) received the paintings from Padat for display,” she said.
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