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Datuk Mohd Ali Rustam Should Learn From Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo’s Refusal To Spend Public Funds Indiscriminately By Fully Bearing The Cost Of The RM 1 Million Round-The-World Junket Press Statement by Lim Guan Eng (Petaling Jaya, Thursday): DAP welcomes the announcement by Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo that the Selangor Public Accounts Committee (PAC) must bear the cost of the aborted visit to Egypt on Jan 18 themselves without involving state government expenditure as the state government would not spend public funds indiscriminately. Datuk Dr Mohamad Khir should also ask the Selangor PAC members who wanted to spend public funds indiscriminately for this Egyptian holiday to resign for failing to uphold accountability and transparency.  Datuk Dr Mohamd Khir Toyo’s disapproval of the Selangor PAC Egyptian holiday validates the stand by DAP Sekinchan Assemblyman Ng Suee Lin to withdraw from the the so-called educational trip to Egypt. No one can understand how a trip that allots only 2 hours of business but 7 nights of pleasure, including belly-dancing, be considered educational. Clearly Selangor PAC must make a full public apology for trying to fool the public that belly dancing is educational, waste public funds and its shameful attempt to penalize Ng for being the whistle-blower.  Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Mohd Ali Rustam must follow Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo’s example by fully bearing the cost of the RM 1 million round the world junket from 4-19 January 2005. Any failure to do so would show that unlike Selangor, Datuk Mohd Ali Rustam is willing to spend public funds indiscriminately for a round-the-world junket that has not provided any significant benefits to Melaka.   According to the itinerary of the “working visit’ obtained by me, only 3 days out of the 15 days were spent for official appointments with the remainder reserved for sight-seeing, shopping and even golfing. Apart from Datuk Mohd Ali,other members of the official delegation included Melaka State EXCO member Datuk Poh Ah Tiam and his wife as well as Datuk Mohd Ali’s three children, Mohd Ridhwan bin Mohd. Ali, Wan Nadzirah binti Mohd Ali and Muhammad Hamka bin Mohd. Ali. The rest are made up of other state government officials, two contractors undertaking the RM 92 million Melaka River beautification project and two reporters from Bernama.  Is it normal for a government to include wives and school-going children who holds no public posts to be part of their official delegation?  What type of working visit is this when 80% of the working time is spent on visiting famous tourist sites in Hawaii Texas and Florida as well as shopping in Dubai. Spending RM 1 million for this type of working visit is not only a waste of public funds but also a gross abuse of power. If Datuk Mohd Ali has any respect for public accountability and good governance, he should immediately direct all members of the delegation, including himself, to refund the RM 1 million cost of the trip. If Datuk Mohd Ali wishes to be fussy, then he can pay back RM 800,000 of the RM 1 million cost since 20% of the time is spent on business whilst 80% on pleasure.  RM 1 million is a huge sum of money that can be spent for useful purposes that benefits the public, whether donating to the poor or improving our drains, roads and public safety. By spending RM 1 million for a holiday is most irresponsible at a time when the business climate is poor. (3/2/2005) * Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General