After revealing huge sums of money owed to the government by private companies, Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said today government-linked companies (GLCs) too owed billions of ringgit, but Putrajaya made little effort to recoup the dues.

Instead, Ong said, the government is bent on going after ordinary Malaysians for money owed to the National Higher Education Loan Fund (PTPTN), which pales in comparison to these companies.

Ong today trained his guns on GLCs that owe the government billions of ringgit, including Indah Water Konsortium (IWK).

“At the end of 2012, these companies had outstanding federal loans totalling RM4.5 billion," he said in a statement today.

Ong ( left ) highlighted that IWK had failed to pay a ‘single sen’ of its repayment and owes the federal government more than RM2 billion.

“IWK failed to service a single sen of its RM165.58 million repayment due in 2012 and had an outstanding loan of RM1.94 billion at the end of 2012, which has since increased to more than RM2 billion.”

Ong also claimed that GLCs such as Cyberview (the master developer for Cyberjaya), Malaysian Debt Ventures and Composites Technology Research Malaysia also also have huge debts with the government.

The DAP lawmaker also questioned the lack of action against these companies in comparison to the harsh blacklisting of PTPTN defaulters.

“Why does the government lack the internal processes to ensure that these companies, especially those that are profitable, adequately service their government loans?”

“Why do these companies seem like they are getting a ‘free pass’ while the PTPTN borrowers are given a far harsher treatment, including the possibility of a credit blacklist?”

Ong added that the government should also stop ‘bailing out’ these GLC companies if they perform poorly, instead of hunting down PTPTN borrowers.

“Why is the government inconsistent in wanting to exert financial discipline on PTPTN borrowers while at the same time continuing to bail out these government-owned companies?”

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