(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): Transport Minister Datuk Chan Kong Choy must punish RTD and Transport Ministry over the confusion of the RM 500 million eKesihatan scandal, especially those involve in planning what was clearly detrimental to public interests until Cabinet was forced to suspend it indefinitely. Originally slated to be implemented on 1 October 2007, Cabinet has decided to let the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) coordinate the implementation of the health screening programme for commercial vehicle drivers. 

On September 10, RTD announced the implementation of eKesihatan, whereby a private company Supremme Systems Sdn Bhd (Supremme) would screen more than 700,000 commercial vehicle drivers. For a fee of RM 80 paid to the private company, these drivers shall be tested for drug abuse under a medical check-up scheme when they renewed their licence or applied for a new one.

Strong public protests from doctors, the Malaysian Medical Council, and owners and drivers of commercial vehicles nationwide at the monopoly granted to Supremme without open tender and high fees charged. If health screening can be done for a nominal fee of RM 1 at government hospitals why should a private company charge RM 80. Even if the government wishes to charge RM 10, such fees should be paid to government hospitals and not earned by a private company.

Supremme had projected it will make RM 92 million over 15 years. However, working on the Supremme’s own projection of 1.2 million drivers the Sun estimated that company may well earn over RM 500 million for doing nothing other than being a middlemen. This is a classic case of rent-seeking under the New Economic Policy (NEP) where a well-connected company is rewarded for being awarded a contract to do nothing other than passing work to doctors and medical professional.

DAP regrets that Chan appears to be not in command of his Ministry when he defended the eKesihatan scheme last week as necessary and that the people objecting were confused and it would be implemented as scheduled on October 1. Clearly Cabinet had decided that it was not the people objecting who was confused but the Transport Ministry and Chan were confused in its role to defend the interests of the public and not assist a private company to charge exorbitant fees to earn extraordinary profits.

This latest lapse by the RTD on eKesihatan shows that there are serious problems of integrity in the Transport Ministry. Chan should perhaps go on extended leave if he is still not able to manage his Ministry in the public interests because his performance upon his return from medical leave is below-par. Not just the complete lack of professionalism in the eKesihatan scandal but also Chan’s refusal to respond to questions over the government’s huge bailout in the shameful RM 4.6 billion Port Klang Free Trade Area (PKFTA) scandal.

On his return from overseas, Chan should uphold accountability, transparency and truth by clearing up questions on eKesihatan and the PKFTA scandal. To date, the public wants to know how a private company can buy land for RM 95 million in 1999 and sold it to PKFTA for RM 1.8 billion 3 years later or how a RM 500 million project can balloon to RM 4.6 billion. Chan should explain the rationale for the government spending RM 4.6 billion to bail out the PKDTA.