Not only Rizal, I read on Berita Harian Online today that Rosmah Mansor also invited me to visit Permata[1]. So I am perplexed at Rizal’s negative reaction towards my acceptance of the invitation to visit Permata, which both he and his boss extended. Perhaps it was because I inquired them to also disclose Permata’s accounts during my visit? If there is nothing to hide in the accounts of Permata, why was Rizal so riled up by this simple request?
As a matter of fact, the fundings received by Permata are tax-payers monies, hence Permata is obliged to show the accounts and be accountable to the people. He seems to have forgotten that Permata doesn’t belong to any individual, it is a government agency!
Rizal said that I am only interested to scrutinize the books. This is not true. I would like to get the full picture of how Permata is run and financial management is an important part of assessing the performance of an agency.
Here is an analogy. Swatch watch is a decent watch and is priced at around RM300 per watch. It is still a decent watch when it is bought at RM2,000. However in RM2,000 case, it is not value-for-money. The RM2,000 should be given to those who can buy the most Swatch watches with it. In the same manner, in assessing Permata’s performance, we need to ask how many children benefit from this, the overall impact to the families, the long term strategy and how monies allocated to Permata are spent to achieve those goals. I hope this analogy will help Rizal to understand the value-for-money concept, which probably too foreign for him now.
All in all, I am not afraid to give credit when credit is due. But will Rizal and his boss chicken out and cancel their invitation to me just because I inquired about the accounts?
As a way of distraction, Rizal has also brought in Penang cases. For Penang Tunnel case, the Public Account Committee (PAC) report will be tabled in the November sitting. For Taman Manggis case, he can use Freedom of Information Enactment (FOI) in Penang to apply for documents related to Taman Manggis. But FOI is probably another foreign concept to him because the federal government works in secrecy – Permata’s resistance to open its books although it is using tons of public funds every year is a perfect example.
Now, let’s get back to the issue of Permata, I would like to reiterate that the only way for Permata to clear its name is through public disclosure of its accounts. Will Rosmah and Rizal take up the challenge or will they chicken out and cancel the invitation?