No action will be taken against Penang state development officer, Nik Ali Mat Yunus, who had issued a statement to counter the allegations against him made by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, said Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Sidek Hassan.

He said Nik Ali had to make a clarification on all the allegations levelled against him to defend his position.

mohamad sidek hassan chief secretary of government "If he (Nik Ali) were accused with all kinds of untruths and criticised repeatedly, he too has his dignity, if he did not reply, then people would say that he is guilty, so it was proper that a clarification was given," he said at a press conference after opening the forum on National Procurement Guidelines in Kuala Lumpur today.

News reports earlier stated that relations between Lim and Nik Ali were strained when the Chief Minister had repeatedly issued statements attacking the government officer.

Among other things, Lim was said to have labelled the officer as "not professional, incompetent, a coward and should be expelled" pertaining to the illegal sand mining in Balik Pulau.

CM should not blame Nik Ali

Mohd Sidek said the cabinet meeting yesterday felt that criticising a civil servant in public on matters that were not true should be stopped.

NONE "The chief minister should not blame Nik Ali because such matters were not under his (Nik Ali's) jurisdiction, even if there were (mistakes), there was no need to go to the media and blame the individual.

"Lim should have gone to the relevant department and state whatever happened through the correct channel," he said.

Asked on the claim that Nik Ali (left) would be "removed" from the state, Mohd Sidek said: "That would be cruel and excessive, furthermore, Nik Ali is a federal officer sent to head a federal department (in the state)."

Public, investors' trust

Meanwhile in his speech, Mohd Sidek said resilience of the public procurement procedures and processes must earn the trust of the public and investors.

"Trust can only be earned through results – consistency in actions and results. It is earned through compliant and transparent bidding and tender processes; through clarity of terms and conditions, clarity in decision making; and through meeting of committed deliverables set in procurement.

"Over the years Malaysia has evolved and improved on its public procurement process and procedures.

The Treasury Instruction issued in 1997 on Public Procurement has since seen several updates and improvisations in meeting the demands and requirements requisite for the times.

"In April 2010, prime minister launched MyProcurement website as one of the improvisations and strengthening of government procurement.

"The intent of this site is to enable open and candid access to information relating to a bid and tender," he said.

He said the MyProcurement site is a clear commitment by the public sector to fight corruption.

"We are here to comply with the transparency required of any progressive and developed nation. We conduct open tenders.

We offer everyone capable of requisite project delivery an opportunity to work with us. We no longer accept support letters on projects," he said.

- Bernama

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