I am unable to understand how budget allocations are made in this day and age. Suddenly the police chief says that he is short of 2,000 bullet proof vests and immediately he gets a RM150 million allocation.

I have just retired after 35 years in the civil service. I can clearly remember when the late Tun Razak briefed a meeting on the concern involving the delayed implementation of projects. He had three golden rules when it came to implementation of projects:

  1. Study the road signs - it says 'Stop, look and go'. If you 'Go, look and then stop', you will waste public funds.

  • If the project does not have financial implications, implement it immediately.

  • If the project has financial implications, then study it carefully because when you implement it in haste, you will have to pay three to four times the cost.

    • Today these rules are hardly adhered to. I hope that those who have been entrusted with the care of our public funds will try to spend RM1 to produce RM2 worth of goods and services instead of spending RM2 for RM1 worth of goods and services.

    We have another 50 years to go before we reach the 100th anniversary of our independence. If we are not careful, we may run out of money and will not be able to celebrate our centennial in the style that we do now.