I refer to Taxpayers have rights too by Henry Tan. As a taxpayer myself, I strongly agree with him. We have the right to know how our money is used.

I write this from experience as I have had the misfortune to see how our money was squandered. I was a sub-contractor for a company that was given a multi-million ringgit government project. There was no way that the company could accomplish the project as it just did not have the experience nor the qualifications, hence the need for sub-contractors like us who did the work but have no say in how best the project is done.

The company got the contract, presumably because of its connections or maybe it had the right status. As the project progressed, it became evident that a lot of money was being mis-spent. There were certain portions in the project that were highly marked up in both price and specifications.

It was obvious that it was a way to get more money out of the government. Many of the machines were underused and in many cases, even unnecessary. Cheaper alternatives were simply not considered because the contractors were more interested in the easy money than the project.

It really pained me to see such wanton waste of resources. Our economy is suffering because of our excesses. The governments money comes from our taxes and duties which are all paid by the people and businesses.

It got me thinking that for every RM1 tax collected, how much of it was wasted?

I felt so sad when I discovered all these things during that project. It was partially my hard-earned money as well as that of all the taxpayers! And, I believe this is just a tip of the iceberg. I am sure that many other government projects are also similarly mismanaged though in different degrees.

The problem with our government now is the lack of transparency. We, the taxpayers, deserve the right to audit how our money is being spent.

I do not see any reason why government officials allowances should not be made public. Their salaries are paid by taxpayers after all and we need to see if their performance match their remunerations.