ROBBER BARONS ON RAMPAGE!From federal to state govts & GLCs,Malaysians are being BLED DRY

The sheer waste of the rakyat's money in most Government Linked Companies (GLCs) in recent times goes to show and highlight the irresponsible governance of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and Malaysians wonder when the rot in these companies will be arrested.

Added to this, recent findings by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has shown that there is a dire need to review the role of all GLCs in terms of their relevancy and performance as these GLCs are being funded by the federal government.

There is a need by the BN government to check if the objectives of these GLCs are relevant to the present times besides checking on their management, efficiency and Return-Of-Investment (ROI) to the government.

For example, Felda and Felcra are examples of which where the government puts equity into the companies, but questions arise on how they manage these equities and whether the government is recouping their investments in dividends.

Felda and Felcra are glaring examples of the abuse of GLCs based on the Auditor-General's Report 2013 Series 2 (AG Report 2013) unveiled on June 16, 2014 which states that these corporations have made procurement that are not in accordance with procedures.

The factor in question is not so much of corruption but the spate of mismanagement that goes on within GLCs.

Compounding and complicating the situation is the growing number of GLCs operating now in the country many of whom overlap in function and have been around for decades and may not even be relevant anymore but continue to receive public money to fund them.

Rein in this abuse of public money

It is incumbent upon the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to do a full audit and review of all GLCs to see which are the companies that are still relevant and are fulfilling their objectives.

The core problem is mismanagement by incapable managers in these GLCs that cause a great loss and waste of the tax payer's money.

Another example is Radio Television Malaysia or RTM's use of RM43.7 million which was allocated by the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia to create new programs for TV Interactive in TV 1 and to purchase existing programs for TV 1 and TV 2.

The funds allocated were misused and it was a clear breach of the rules concerning allocation of money to GLCs.

Besides GLCs, in particular, a total of 230 suggestions were made in the AG Report 2013 Series 2 to assist the federal and state governments and federal statutory bodies to make improvements and overcome the weaknesses reported.

But the AG's Report annually often highlights these recommendations but they are often not heeded and therefore it is time for greater political will on the part of the BN government to ensure that corrections are made.

Of the 230 suggestions in the most recent report, 55 were made to the federal government, 31 to the federal statutory bodies and 144 to state governments.

Not only are GLCs wreaking havoc, basically the specter of mismanagement and abuse of funds within the BN government is really bad it paints a picture of a government that couldn't care less and acts and behaves recklessly and irresponsibly with the people's money.

What is the point of having rules and regulations in place when the weaknesses reported mostly involved inefficiency and failure to comply with the government financial regulations by public servants?

Need for real checks-and-balances

In this second series of the AG's Report 2013, 57 performance audits and 18 management audits on government companies were done at the federal and state government levels and federal statutory bodies.

These audits covered the construction aspect, maintenance, law enforcement, procurement, asset management, socio-economic uplifting programs, infrastructure and company management.

The National Audit Department carries out a performance audit annually to gauge how efficient and effective government projects and activities have been implemented and monitored, and how far the original aims have been met.

It is also to see whether public funds have been spent prudently. For the audit of government companies, the department evaluates the financial statement analyses, management of company activities and corporate governance.

Like said earlier, while the AG goes to the ground, and while he does not cover the entire ground, it is pointless for him to spell out recommendations that are not going to be followed or obeyed.

Moreover, if a greater and more comprehensive audit of federal, state governments and federal statutory bodies is done, it will only logically serve to highlight greater ill management, waste and abuse of public funds.

This is why it is time to use the whip rather than a soft, counselling approach. It is time to punish offenders who are guilty and responsible for wasting or abusing public money and removing them from office and shutting down these companies or departments if necessary.

The rakyat must play their role to highlight and point out cases of waste or mismanagement to higher authorities.

But the failure to do so has caused the BN government to become weak and inefficient in administering the nation's financial coffers.

Is this going to be a never-ending saga?

Every year or annually as the AG's Report is highlighted to Malaysians it is the same old saga, a sad tale of how the much needed and precious resources of the rakyat are going to waste.

Is the government ever going to learn?

The only way it seems that these problems can be solved is by hauling to court or by putting in place punitive measures for those guilty and responsible for any abuse or wastage of public funds.

Only by going by hard and fast rules will these problems highlighted annually by the AG be effectively solved.

Besides this, measures must be taken to train and recruit personnel to handle work functions with these government bodies who are qualified, capable and experienced that they can truly deliver the results.

By opting to employ half-past-six characters within government bodies or only those of a particular race these problems will eventually lead to crises and these government bodies will bleed the rakyat dry.

Worse still, it can lead to a collapse of government as the public confidence begins to erode and Malaysians begin to devise their own ways of coping and managing without the role and function of these government bodies.

When it comes to such a stage, it will lead to a breakdown of governance and the nation being effectively declared a failed state.

This is what it appears to be heading towards as all the AG's advice every year falls on the deaf ears of those in authority. - Malaysia Chronicle