(Tangkak, Friday): Malaysians should not let Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi forget about the exposes of misuse or mismanagement of public funds outlined in the Auditor-General 2006 report. Action must be taken to check the alarming decline in standards of public accountability, transparency and integrity in government departments.

The litany of sad cases of abuse of public trust and cheating the public ranges from the small such as the National Youth Skills Institute (NYSI) buying 2 units of two-tonne car jack for RM 5,471 per unit when the market price is only RM 50 per unit; to the huge expected loss of RM 6.75 billion in the Defence Ministry following the purchase of 6 off-shore naval patrol vessels (OPVs) that were either delivered but not operational (2) or still not delivered (4).

Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn must come clean and explain how he allowed the abuse, misuse and mismanagement of public funds in 2002 when Minister of Youth and Sports where equipment to the NYSI was purchased without open tender had exceeded the original estimate by RM 385 million to RM 785 million from RM 400 million. The Auditor-General had said that the original price for purchasing the equipment was set at RM 400 million before it finally ballooned to RM 785 million. Where did this extra RM 385 million go or is this another case of the Chinese primary school where RM 30,000 claim is made for repairs worth only RM 3,000!

The Youth and Sports Ministry was severely criticized when the NYSI paid RM 8.39 million more than the market price in 2002 for the purchase of 13 items for the NYSI programme, such as :-

·        146 sets of screwdrivers bought for RM 224 per set when the market price is only RM 40 per set;

·        82 sets of Staedler Mars technical pens bought for RM 225 per set when the market price is only RM 120 per set;

·        90 sets of Faber Castell technical pens bought for RM 1,147 per set when the market price is RM 160 per set;

·        17 sets of technical books consisting of 10 titles priced at RM 10,700 per set when the market price is only RM 417 per set;

·        5 units of 3.1 megapixel digital camera that was bought for RM 8,254 per unit when the market price was only RM 2,990 per unit.

·        650 sets of plastic vases bought at RM 42.80 per set when the market price is only RM 5.20 per set:

·        3 sets of settee bought between RM 8,250-RM 9.075 per set when the market price is only RM 1,500 per set;

·        two tower cranes bought for RM 5.72 million when the market price is only RM 2.98 million

·        60 used cars bought at a price of RM 4.24 million when the market price is only RM 2.8 million an excess of RM 1.44 million;

·        152 desktop computer packages bought for RM 4.5 million when the market price is only RM 1.4 million, an excess of RM 3.1 million;

·        420 sets of cement mortar boards bought at RM 1,027 per set when the market price is only RM 150 per set;

·        3 cabins bought for RM 141,900 per cabin when the market price is only RM 20,000 per cabin;  and

·        2 units of two-tonne car jack bought for RM 5,471 per unit when the market price is only RM 50 per unit.

DAP finds it sad that Hishamuddin has failed to pass the standards of good governance and integrity when his Ministry allowed the contractors to mark up contract prices up to 100 times the market price. As Minister, Hishamuddin must get to the bottom of this scandal explain why their spending were not in order, and take action against errant officials.

Only Malaysia Boleh can allow accessories to cost 100 times more than the price of the parent item!

Equally unacceptable is the official explanation by Treasury to the Auditor-General on this scandal which appears to try to cover up rather than seek the truth. On the purchase of equipment at higher than the market price, the Treasury said this was due to the different locations of the IKBN with suppliers also including infrastructure cost in their quotation and included other additional accessory items.

For instance Treasury claimed the purchase of 90 sets of Faber Castell technical pens at RM 1, 146.56 per set when the market price is RM 160, each set also included a set of spare nibs and other accessories. This is wrong as the original purchase order did not include such accessories. Further such explanations are ridiculous as it would mean that the accessories are more expensive than the original item, as much as almost 10 times the price of the original technical pens or 100 times the 2-tonne jack. Is this another case of “Malaysia Boleh” where the accessories are more expensive than the main parent item?

Both the Auditor-General and PAC should be given powers to punish errant government officers, especially Treasury, who try to cover up the scandal rather than expose the truth of those who abuse, misuse and mismanage public funds. An example of such cover-up is the claim by Treasury that the Youth and Sports Minister gave a letter of authority to the ministry’s secretary-general to sign eight contracts totaling more than RM 449 million.

The Auditor-General said that the secretary-general had signed 11 contracts on behalf of the Government worth between RM 7.99 million and RM 74.2 million that were related to the National Youth Skills Institute project. Under existing rules, the secretary-general only has the authority to sign contracts worth less than RM 5 million. Anything larger should be signed by the minister or someone to whom the authority has been given. No such letter of authority was produced by the secretary-general during the audit.

Even though Datuk Hishmauddin may not have benefited from this scandal, as Minister, Datuk Hishamuddin is ultimately responsible over the abuses of public trust and funds in the NYSI and his Ministry. Our third Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn was praised as a clean and honest Prime Minister with integrity. Sadly his son does not appear to be able to continue to uphold the high standards set by his father and to distract attention from his failures has chosen to threaten the Chinese community with the Malay keris.

(21/9/2007)