Govt must table stimulus packages in upcoming Parliament, says TI

Transparency International (TI) Malaysia has urged the government to table the various stimulus packages it announced during the upcoming Parliament session for debate, as well as getting the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to scrutinise them.

“The government has been rolling out various stimulus packages both for fiscal and non-fiscal spending totalling more than RM500 billion.

“For good governance, transparency and accountability, the government should table this in the coming Parliament sitting for debate.

“And get the PAC to scrutinise these huge expenditures,” its president Muhammad Mohan said in a statement today.

He added that the government should update the public on the status of those packages’ disbursement.

The statement comes in conjunction with the release of TI’s latest report on the effectiveness and transparency of government aid for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lower corruption in the aid process

The report highlighted the lower level of corruption involved in the government aid process, saying this could be due to the online application method used by the government instead of direct contact between applicants and public officials.

It found a majority of respondents, or 64 percent of them, expressed confidence over the transparency, integrity, and accountability in the federal government aid process.

Only eight percent of respondents claimed that bribery and corruption were necessary to obtain government assistance, according to the report, and mainly involved banks, federal government and agencies, as well as local government.

TI also found that 52 percent of respondents admitted to diverting funds they received from aid programmes like Prihatin and Penjana to sustain their businesses and to pay for operational expenditures.

“The research also finds that while the SMEs are generally aware about the federal government aid, 65 percent of the respondents were not aware about the state government aid,” it added.

Aside from encouraging the government to continue using online applications in its aid process to reduce corruption, the group also suggested improving internet connectivity throughout the country to facilitate more people in the process.

The report recommended several other areas the government can look into, including:

• loosening the qualifying criteria for applicants,
• reducing bureaucracy,
• engaging trade unions and associations to better grasp the practical issues facing SMEs,
• centralising subsidies and aid to avoid public confusion, and
• utilising public communication channels in convincing the public about transparency of the aid programmes.

“The government should demonstrate greater transparency, integrity and accountability by making the public know how all these huge stimulus packages were disbursed.

“And allow the opposition and the public to question the decision-making and distribution process for the betterment of the nation and particularly those in need in these troubling times,” the group added.

During today’s launching event for the report, the group said the full version of its report will be made available to the public by next week.

On July 5, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the Dewan Rakyat will reconvene on July 26 and sit for five days until Aug 2, followed by a three-day sitting of the Dewan Negara from Aug 3 until 5. - Mkini