Stop disposal of documents, DAP tells all Melaka agencies

State DAP secretary says state govt agencies must abide by directive that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had issued to federal ministries.

VIDEO INSIDE

State DAP secretary Khoo Poay Tiong wants the Melaka state exco to be in place before any disposal of documents is carried out. (Facebook pic)

MELAKA: All Melaka state government departments and agencies have been told to postpone the disposal of documents to avoid raising suspicions.

Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong said any move to dispose of documents at this time might be misconstrued as these agencies wanting to hide something.

He said such disposal should only be carried out after the appointment of the new executive council, as it was currently “a sensitive issue”.

“We are aware that the Melaka Historic City Council (MBMB) was told to stop the disposing of documents after about 30 black plastic bags containing documents were said to have been cleared yesterday.

“MBMB personnel told me that the documents to be disposed of were more than five years old.

“However, upon inspection, we found the documents were only three years old,” he told a press conference at Seri Bendahara, Ayer Keroh, here today.

Khoo, who is also Melaka DAP secretary, said among the documents were those from the MBMB Licensing and Health Department on Ramadan Bazaar rental rates, which appeared to be burdening traders.

“To avoid any misunderstanding, state government departments and agencies have been told to delay the disposal of documents. I will meet new Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari on issuing a directive,” he said.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had ordered all ministries not to dispose of or destroy any sensitive documents.

Meanwhile, Khoo said the state government would be conducting investigations into unreasonable expenditure under the previous administration.

He said among the expenses which would be investigated involved the upgrading and restoration of Seri Bendahara, which is the Chief Minister’s official residence, between 2013 and 2017 at a cost of more than RM2.2 million.

“The expenditure, among others, involved a car park to accommodate six vehicles, amounting to RM309,000, piping maintenance works at RM700,000 and the cost of air-conditioning maintenance at more than RM115,000.

“When we were in the opposition, we had raised the issue at the state assembly meeting. We want these issues to be investigated thoroughly to find out who was responsible.” -FMT