The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which conducted its investigations on the RM4 billion ringgit KLIA2 scandal had found many suspicious and controversial decisions by by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd. These decisions have resulted in not only an airport which more than doubled the original budget of RM1.7 billion and was delayed multiple times extensively.
The Report had found that the design of the airport had compromised Malaysia’s competitive advantage to serve and grow the low-cost carrier industry. Other findings included the decisions to locate KLIA2 at KLIA West, a site which has been documented by engineers as costly and ill-suited for airport construction; and the choice of a satellite-type terminal instead of a finger pier terminal as proposed by the airport consultants.
The first of the recommendation by the PAC was for the Minister of Transport and the Government to instruct the Auditor-General to carry out a thorough and complete audit of the KLIA2 project. The report and recommendations were tabled in the Parliament on 25 November 2015.
After continued pressure by the Members of the PAC as well as the media, the Transport Minister, Dato’ Seri Liow Tiong Lai finally expressed support for the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation for the Auditor-General (A-G) to investigate the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) project 6 weeks later in January.
Despite the fact that it took exactly 6 weeks for him to endorse the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) key recommendation after sidestepping the question many times, it is certainly better late than never.
However, it appears that Dato’ Seri Liow is a typical “no action, talk only” Barisan Nasional Minister because up till today, more than 4 months later, there has been no directive given to the Auditor-General to carry out investigations on the discrepancies and anomalies in KLIA2.
I had asked in Parliament on 25 March 2015 when the Government was going to direct the Auditor-General to carry out the above exercise.
The reply (attached), interestingly from the Minister of Finance, was that “the Ministry of Finance together with the Transport Ministry and the Auditor-General’s department are still studying the various issues which are raised by the PAC and will present a paper for the consideration of the Cabinet”.
The answer is not only disappointing, it is an affront to the role of the Public Accounts Committee. The bipartisan members of the PAC had taken great pains to hold multiple meetings with all relevant parties and even site visits to KLIA2 before concluding its report. If even the recommendation for the Auditor-General to conduct a detailed audit of the project requires another “paper” for the consideration of the Cabinet, the it shows that the Executive arm of the Government shows utter contempt for the Parliamentary institution.
What’s more, it is already more than four months after the PAC report has been tabled. How long does the Ministry of Finance and Transport need to take to study the report?
Is the Cabinet hoping that if the “study” by the two Ministries take forever to complete and the instructions never get issued to the Auditor-General, then the culprits behind the RM4 billion KLIA2 scandal will be able to escape scot free?
The inability of Minister of Transport to take responsibility for his own Ministry proves only the well-known fact that Dato’ Seri Liow is perhaps only a Minister in name. He has no major decision making powers over his Ministry, to the extent that even the conduct of an audit by the Auditor-General somehow now requires the permission of the Minister of Finance, who also happens to be the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.
We call upon both the Transport and Finance Ministers to stop pussyfooting over the scandal and start by issuing the directive to the Auditor-General at the next Cabinet meeting on Wednesday next week.