The money has gone

The Auditor-General’s Report has once again revealed the malpractice in the public domain. But the incident of fraud repeats year after year and the government takes no actions against it.

By LIM SUE GOAN/Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/Sin Chew Daily

The government wants to cut 15% of operating expenses in the 2010 Budget scheduled to be announced Friday (23 Oct). In fact, it should first reduce the government department’s wild expenses, including mismanagement, waste and fraud. It may help the Treasury to save tens of billions ringgit.

The Auditor-General’s Report has once again revealed the malpractice in the public domain. But the incident of fraud repeats year after year and the government takes no actions against it. The report is simply a waste of efforts. Here are a few suggestions for the reference of the authority to stop financial mismanagement:

1. Carry out undercover investigation: The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong has implemented an undercover investigation plan and successfully, they have solved many corruption cases. The Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) may carry out a similar scheme. If they are facing the problem of manpower shortage, perhaps they can take the “whistleblower” measures to reward those who expose corrupt civil servants. In the first two months of its plan to turn loss into profit, MAS had implemented the “whistleblower” measures to raise the corporate integrity level.
2. Change the procurement method: The government’s procurement procedure is a black box operation. As a result, the purchase prices are several hundred percent to 3000 percent higher than the market prices. Therefore, it is necessary to change the procurement method. Other than open tender, the prices must be published online for the reference of the bidders, so that the government is able to buy cheaper equipments.
3. Appoint an independent audit company: The National Audit Department can continue its task but it may be too late to reveal improper spending after a year. Most importantly, the act must be immediately exposed and stopped. Appointing an independent audit company allows immediate expose of abuses and it can help the government to save a large sum of money.
4. List financial management as a key performance indicator (KPI): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has set KPIs for various departments but neglected the more important financial management. Improper spending in any department should be regarded as a failure to meet the target and no salary increment should be allowed, or even a dismissal would be necessary.
5. Having classes and examinations: According to the Auditor-General’s Report, the expenses of many departments are very ridiculous, showing that the financial heads of these departments and agencies are lack of related knowledge or skills. Therefore, they should attend classes and sit for an examination every three months. And they should be replaced if they fail the examinations.
6. Take disciplinary actions: The government must work out a severe punishment and reward system to severely punish those who commit serious mistakes, carelessly spend and are involved in corruption. It should include to charge officials, who are involved in criminal offenses, in court instead of merely transferring them to other positions.

It all depends on human efforts to reduce waste and fraud. If we continue to allow for various unreasonable incidents, the Treasury would not have enough money to squander. Also, MACC should not investigate only small cases like “the order of national flags by a state assemblyman”. If they take actions according to the Auditor-General’s Report, the country’s integrity level can certainly be greatly enhanced.

If the defects are not corrected and stopped, it will be impossible to reduce the financial deficit. No matter how many political slogans we have, it will not be enough to cover up the financial drawbacks.