COMMENT | Will there be a swansong for this circus?
COMMENT | The circus is in town to give us our seasonal dose of fun. There will be plenty of oohs and aahs when the artistes take us through a series of tricks and slapstick to tickle your funny bone. The simple disappearance of a wad of cash with a rustle of the fingers no longer excites the audience - us. The new tricks involve millions and even projects (as in infrastructure and farms) totally disappear.
I made my maiden contribution as an astute observer of such happenings in what I subsequently labelled (rightly or wrongly) as the “Annual Catalogue of Abuses”. My musings in 1978 were on these lines: “The Selangor government paid a whopping RM7,000 each for 21-inch television sets for its guest houses when the same sets were advertised for sale in The Malay Mail for RM999 each.”
Yes, another edition of the Auditor-General’s report was published this week and the familiar elements that provided laughter for us in the past continue to amuse us and refresh our thoughts and memories. More abuses, more misuses, more wrongdoings, more exploitations, more manipulations and the descriptions go on and on.
Why am I describing such a serious matter as a circus, you may ask? The answer is simple...
COMMENT | The circus is in town to give us our seasonal dose of fun. There will be plenty of oohs and aahs when the artistes take us through a series of tricks and slapstick to tickle your funny bone. The simple disappearance of a wad of cash with a rustle of the fingers no longer excites the audience - us. The new tricks involve millions and even projects (as in infrastructure and farms) totally disappear.
I made my maiden contribution as an astute observer of such happenings in what I subsequently labelled (rightly or wrongly) as the “Annual Catalogue of Abuses”. My musings in 1978 were on these lines: “The Selangor government paid a whopping RM7,000 each for 21-inch television sets for its guest houses when the same sets were advertised for sale in The Malay Mail for RM999 each.”
Yes, another edition of the Auditor-General’s Report was published this week and the familiar elements that provided laughter for us in the past continue to amuse us and refresh our thoughts and memories. More abuses, more misuses, more wrongdoings, more exploitations, more manipulations and the descriptions go on and on.
Why am I describing such a serious matter as a circus, you may ask? The answer is simple: Officialdom has helped turn this valuable piece of serious and painstaking work by dedicated and officers of integrity into being treated like parody or satire.
No one takes anything seriously – edition after edition, the indiscretions are repeated by different players at different levels. And judging from similar actions in the past, almost all the perpetrators have got away scot-free, or with a slap on the wrist. Having already made their pile, a handful quit the civil service but others remain and continue to serve and milk the system.
Auditor-General Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid certainly hit the nail on the head in calling out said certain departments which had meted out lenient punishment on wrongdoers for discrepancies or questionable actions cited in his previous reports.
“There are times we felt that certain departments meted out light punishment but we do not interfere because our job only involves audit findings. We will raise the issue of non-compliance and it is up to the internal investigation committee to decide on the punishment after investigating the matter,” Nik Azman (above) was quoted as saying earlier this week.
Of the more than 1,000 officers who were identified as wrongdoers, only two were prosecuted while the others were punished through internal mechanisms as withholding of increments, salary cuts and fines. Over 604 were let off with warnings.
Where is the deterrent? Why are so many getting off lightly? Has the brotherhood or “abang-adik” culture prevalent in the civil service led to the tutup satu mata (one eye closed) syndrome that has afflicted the system?
Although some acts are so glaring and open and even a cursory reading will show that something wrong had happened. The audit report noted that faulty systems in the Immigration Department saw thousands of immigrants slipping through our checkpoints.
Audit analysis results showed a quota of 32,424 foreign workers was created and approved to 123 employers. Also noted was that first-time levy payments of RM40.79 million were done in an unorganised and dubious manner.
It was also found that of the 32,424 quotas, 21,378 foreign workers had obtained temporary foreign worker permit (PLKS). The estimated audited first-time levy payment to be collected from the 21,378 foreign workers would amount to RM24.55 million, said the report.
As an immediate action, the Immigration Department says it has blacklisted the concerned companies. Really? Will it work?
Let’s say that ABC Sdn Bhd has been blacklisted. What is there to stop the directors and shareholders of this company to set up another and call it XYZ Sdn Bhd and continue to have dealings with the department?
If there was wrongdoing, why was prosecution not considered an option?
This one takes the cake...
It is impossible to go through the entire reports as it is voluminous but this one takes the cake: The construction of the Perlis Sports School (SSM Perlis) has been delayed for nearly five years since it was first approved under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
Worse, the government’s attempt to revive the botched construction is again facing delays as the contract was given to the same contractor that undertook the project originally, the report said.
The audit suggested that the failure to complete the Phase 1 project was due to “the appointment of the incompetent contractor for the construction work and the reappointment of the same contractor to complete the abandoned project of Phase 1 of SSM Perlis”.
“This project was approved on April 6, 2007, with an allocation ceiling of RM76.6 million. The implementation of the project comprises of two phases: Phase 1 with development allocation of RM34 million under Rolling Plan (RP) 1 in 2011, and Phase 2 under RP4 amounting to RM40 million by 2015,” the report said, adding that as of 2018, Phase 2 has yet to start.
“The Audit Review found that the company 205536-U (Pantas Technologies Sdn Bhd) failed to complete the project, despite the 109-day Extension of Time (EOT) that was approved until Nov 18, 2014,” the report said. The physical development of the project at the end of EOT was only at 49 percent completion, compared to full completion, it added.
Didn’t I say it is a circus?
R NADESWARAN made attempts at two Town Hall meetings to demand accountability and give the AG’s Report some semblance of respectability but officialdom pooh-poohed them. Email him at citizen.nades22@gmail.com with your comments.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
