The government is finally acknowledging the obvious - it is being milked in its many privatisation projects. Recognising the problem is a necessary first step toward solving it, but it is not enough. There must be a willingness to learn from past mistakes as well as from those who have done it right.

The central lesson is that only though open competitive bidding can the government get the best prices and the most efficient vendors. This is the most difficult lesson for our government officials to grasp.

A more fundamental question is the proper role of government. Should it, for example, be concerned with supplying cars and building homes for civil servants? I see no compelling reasons for sparing or insulating our civil servants from such daily concerns. Nor does the government need to provide these perks, there is no shortage of applicants for the civil service.

Saying that savvy investment bankers and private contractors outwitted government negotiators, as Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak admitted recently, is a lame excuse. It also does not reflect well on our civil servants.

Although we cannot expect them to be knowledgeable in all fields, as professionals they should know their limitations and thus be smart enough to seek outside help. You may not know anything about building a house, but you can consult various architects and contractors and ask for multiple bids. That is, you do the equivalent of shopping around. This is elementary; housewives do it all the time.