TWENTY-EIGHT MILLION RINGGIT LOSSES??? TRANSPARENCY???

ARCHIVES 2009

By adminK On Oct 27, 2009

By masterwordsmith

How do you feel after reading Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah's statement in THE STAR that the Government could be losing billions of ringgit every year through excessive payments for contracts and procurements for a wide range of things …?

Public officials MUST be held accountable for whatever!!! Government meetings are open to the press and the public. Budgets and financial statements must be reviewed by anyone and officials must be open to discussion as such measure will reduce the opportunity for the authorities to abuse the system. Thus, we need an open government where the business of government and state administration should be opened at all levels for effective public scrutiny. With transparency, all information is open and freely available.

However, we don't have that in Malaysia. Unsurprisingly, The Star Probe revealed:

● Hundreds of millions of ringgit in overcharging are taking place for ICT, which is a multi-billion-ringgit industry. Contract prices can sometimes be more than 50% than if the deals were done on a tender basis.

● Project finance on favourable terms from foreign countries – the so-called soft loans – can result in contractors being restricted largely to those from the country providing financing, resulting in considerably higher costs.

● Open tenders, done properly and with appropriate evaluation, are one of the most effective ways of reducing the costs to government. At least two state governments see great benefits in open tenders.

● Malaysia falls short in comparison with other countries in terms of calling for and disclosure of open tenders and their details. There is no centralised system.

● The Government is keen to cut wasteful spending and will, as far as possible, have open tenders from now on.

I find it unbelievable that such a colossal loss begets a minister's statement that the government needed to curb wasteful spending. For more inconsistent arguments and evidence to disprove such ridiculous reasoning, please read this article called OVERPAYING BY THE BILLIONS and GOVERNMENT : NO MORE WASTEFUL SPENDING.