Malpractices unearthed in the Auditor-General's Report and the disappearance of the MH370 aircraft must be treated as lessons to further improve the entire public delivery system, BN lawmaker and MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong has told the government.

These episodes show that there is still massive space for improvement by the government and the public sector, said Wee, who is the MP for Ayer Hitam.

“The government should treat the international incident and the audit report as an opportunity to conduct an in-depth review to improve the entire public delivery system, the quality of civil servants, inter-departmental coordination and crisis management, so that the entire civil system will be on par with international standards,” he said.

Wee said the release of the latest Auditor-General's Report would draw debates from the ruling and opposition lawmakers in Parliament in the next few days.

No end to recurrence of malpractices

The report, Wee said once again exposed the malpractices and leakages of government departments. These are reported on an annual basis and there seems to be no end to the recurrence of such events.

“Ironically, the audit report contributes to the annual government fiasco. In the MH370 incident, we have to admit that during its early stage, the government had not done enough in managing and coordinating the crisis.

“The efficiency of our civil servants and government agencies is subject to the scrutiny and test of the international community,” the MCA deputy president emphasised.

There have been numerous reports highlighted by international news organisations on inconsistencies in statements made by Malaysian government officers over the loss of  Malaysia Airlines' sophisticated Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which entered into its 32nd day today.

Similarly, Wee said, the Auditor-General's Office has exposed numerous malpractices in the public sector, even though this has not drawn international attention.

However, he said, the country could no longer ignore such annual recurrences of malpractices, otherwise the purpose of producing the annual reports would be defeated.

Following this, Wee and the MCA called for a comprehensive and fair system to be established to punish and reward those in the public sector.

“Only through such a system, can the principle of fairness be practised in the public sector,” he added.