Tee Keat takes the hard – but right – course

By Baradan Kuppusamy (The Star)

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat could have taken the easy way out and swept the PKFZ issue under the carpet. Instead, he chose the more difficult path in the name of greater accountability and transparency.

AS far as whistle blowing goes, there is simply no comparison to what MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has done with the Port Klang Free Zone issue.

Ong’s battle for transparency and accountability over the PKFZ fiasco is significant as his actions tally with the new mood in the country post 2008 – to punish culprits and make them accountable for massive loss of public funds and, if possible, recover the losses.

For that, he is now facing enemies within and without as he battles to make the people behind the PKFZ fiasco own up for the huge losses.

As MCA president, Cabinet member and dogged reformer, Ong has no comparison in the higher reaches of Government for his single-minded mission to reveal the truth behind the PKFZ fiasco and punish the culprits.

He has initiated one probe after another since becoming Transport Minister just 17 months ago, briefed the Cabinet numerous times on the findings, and made public, as he had promised, the findings.

How the PKFZ was managed, or rather mismanaged, and how the public funds were overspent and how millions in cost overruns happened, are all there on the Internet to be read and digested by any citizen.

Not since the independent commission report on the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance scandal that was made public in 1984 has there been a revelation from the Government of such significance. At that time, public pressure had forced the Government to release the report.

This time, too, public demand is high for an accounting of the PKFZ fiasco. Ong, mindful of the changed political landscape, not only pressed ahead with his probe into PKFZ but also met demands to make public the findings.

For some baffling reason, however, Ong, who is Cabinet member and president of a party, seems to be fighting a lone battle for transparency and accountability.

Thus far, he has only got lukewarm support from the Barisan Nasional and the Government, both of which are pinning their hopes on re-inventing themselves to regain lost political support.

Here is an ideal issue and a committed crusader to convince the people of the Barisan’s reform agenda. While Ong is putting words and promises into practice and winning hearts and minds of ordinary Malaysians, others are still mouthing slogans.

Ong’s unabashed crusade is a pointer for others in Barisan to catch on and for the civil service to emulate. Instead, we see Ong under brazen attack by the very individuals who managed the PKFZ for the past decade.

One accusation after another has been hurled at him – from taking free rides in planes owned by PKFZ turnkey contractor Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd to receiving an astounding RM10mil from the company’s CEO, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, who is also Bintulu MP.

Ong has done the right thing by filing a RM500mil defamation suit to clear his name and has vowed to press on with unveiling the PKFZ fiasco and ensure the people behind it take the rap.

At the same time, a faction in the MCA allegedly allied with a top MCA leader is threatening to unseat Ong. And if Internet reports are to be believed, this faction has a war chest of some RM100mil to buy their way to success.

No minister has ever been in such an unenviable position as Ong – battling high corruption, trying to convince a Government still in apathy and facing an internal rebellion in the party he heads.

But he still vows to keep at it.

Foremost in the minds of many people is why Ong would want to battle with Tiong and his group if Ong or the MCA had received RM10mil in cash. The logic is not sound, they say. Besides, it is a huge sum and few people have the means to raise it in cash and carry it around to give it to the MCA.

Another question that hurts is why the system and its main players who preach reform are not rallying behind Ong and his crusade which is exactly what the new, post 2008 Malaysia is all about.

Ong, who became Transport Minister many years after the PKFZ was launched, and after two transport ministers had overseen the project and retired, could have taken the easy way out by sweeping everything under the carpet and playing dumb.

Instead, he grabbed the bull by its horns and is paying a heavy price for his guts. He deserves public understanding, support and encouragement.