The concentration of discretionary financial resources in the hands of the Prime Minister has reached an unprecedented stage. RM 20 billion has been budgeted for what I call “Near Slush Funds” between 2011 and 2014.
On 30th October, I raised the alarm that five items in the Prime Minister’s Department’s development budget for 2014 are “near slush funds”, namely “Restructuring of Society” (Penyusunan Semula Masyarakat), “Development programmes” (Program Pembangunan), “Special Projects” (Projek Khas), “People Friendly Projects” (Projek Mesra Rakyat), “Facilitation Fund” (Dana Fasilitasi).
The sum of RM6.9 billion is 65 percent of PMD’s RM11 billion development allocation for 2014.
Digging further, such usage of “near slush funds” by the Prime Minister’s Department is a new phenomena since 2011. In 2010, “Restructuring of Society” (Penyusunan Semula Masyarakat – 00104) received only RM 158,090, 000.
But I must qualify that the “Development of Five Corridors” (Pembangunan Lima Koridor – 00113) and NKEA (National Key Economic Areas – 94000) were the labels that used to receive billions of ringgit of discretionary funds. For instance, NKEA received RM 5.5 billion funds in 2011 (when it first appeared) but only RM12 million in 2014.
| 00113 Pembangunan Lima Koridor | RM |
| 2010 | 3,486,598,000 |
| 2011 | 505,596,100 |
| 2012 | 670,400,800 |
| 2013 | 1,327,033,700 |
| 2014 | 1,572,149,200 |
| 94000 NKEA | RM |
| 2011 | 5,465,500,000 |
| 2012 | 216,772,000 |
| 2013 | 41,549,000 |
| 2014 | 12,676,000 |
The government has been “addicted” to Prime Ministerial discretionary “Near Slush Funds” since 2011. The figure amounted to RM 2.8 billion in 2011; RM 4.3 billion in 2012; RM 5.9 billion in 2013 and RM 6.9 billion in 2014.
| Kod | Near Slush Funds | 2011 (RM) | 2012 (RM) | 2013 (RM) | 2014 (RM) |
| 00101/93500 | Projek Khas | 23,870,300 | 47,000,000 | 1,892,075,800 | 202,862,000 |
| 00104 | Penyusunan Semula Masyarakat | 660,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 1,140,000,000 | 900,000,000 |
| 00108 | Program Pembangunan | 126,000,000 | 335,500,000 | 353,090,000 | 1,087,245,300 |
| 93000 | Projek-projek Kecil | 1,009,761,600 | 600,000,000 | ||
| 93600 | Projek Mesra Rakyat | 665,000,000 | |||
| 97000 | Dana Fasilitasi | 1,000,000,000 | 2,500,000,000 | 2,500,000,000 | 4,000,000,000 |
| 2,819,631,900 | 4,282,500,000 | 5,885,165,800 | 6,855,107,300 |
This is a sum of almost RM20 billion (19,842,405,000) in four years.
Discretionary funding items with scant details or “near slush funds” now make up 15 percent of the entire development budget for 2014 of RM46 billion whereas it was only 0.3 percent in the 2010 development budget of RM53 billion. The overall development budget has dwindled over the years but PM’s “near slush funds” has grown exponentially.
| Near Slush Funds | Total Annual Development Budgets | ||
| RM | RM | % | |
| 2010 | 158,090,000 | 53,219,657,000 | 0.30 |
| 2011 | 2,819,631,900 | 51,181,894,000 | 5.51 |
| 2012 | 4,282,500,000 | 51,248,900,000 | 8.36 |
| 2013 | 5,885,165,800 | 49,749,999,000 | 11.83 |
| 2014 | 6,855,107,300 | 46,499,999,000 | 14.74 |
Something is very wrong with the way Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak handles our public coffers.