The calls for Works Minister S Samy Vellu's resignation is hitherto based on his alleged accountability for shoddy workmanship in respect of the six ill-starred government and infrastructure projects.

This line of argument flatters Samy Vellu with too much power, and ignores one basic point. Did the works minister have the authority to 'push the button', so to speak, when it came to the appointment of allegedly 'shoddy' main or turnkey contractors for the MRR2 Kepong flyover, the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung, the accident prone East Coast Highway, the new Hospital Sultan Ismail in Johor and the delayed Matrade building?

Here is the hint. According to a Bernama report, Zainal Abidin, the 20th prosecution witness at the trial of Eric Chia said former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim, gave Perwaja Steel special exemption by not requiring Chia to refer to the ministry for approval for purchases and contracts above RM15 million.

Here is another hint. In respect to the seven-year delay in the completion of the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) building, veteran opposition member, Lim Kit Siang asked a relevant question: 'Why has the Finance Ministry allowed the contractor Perangsang International Sdn Bhd to defer payment of the liquidated ascertained damages (RM120 million) until the completion of the project, which is still not in sight?

Isn't it true that it is the then finance minister who called the ultimate shots in appointing government-favoured contractors? So why blame the works minister? Being a loyal soldier - like Ling Liong Sik - he certainly would not disclose the obvious, even in his own self-defence, though he might well have stated it in the confidential report to the prime minister who keeps it, until now, guarded.

Lim Kit Siang also urged an inquiry into 'the actual role of the various ministries, departments and government officers at every stage of the decision-making process liable for the tragedy of expensive errors'.

It does not take a genius to figure out that if an open tender system based on merits and pricing is put in place, the objectives of NEP will be compromised. So to will be the opportunities for cronyism and money politics that support positions and appointments under the prevailing political culture.

So is it not strange then that when the Umno backbenchers raised the issue of the 'tragedy of expensive errors' in parliament, they did not know about the above and directed their fire instead at the works minister? Without mention of the then finance minister, whose portfolio it was to determine awards for contracts above RM15 million?

Why do they not question the system of awarding government contracts under the NEP? Its implementation has so far proven to have created many expensive errors in other areas as (for e.g. education) well.

And so, why create a public furore over a possible root cause that can never be changed? And of all people, the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall should know better than to call for nationwide protests against the unfortunate works minister.