Con-Sultan of Swing
This blog is one blog that have been questioning the over reliance on Con-Sultans during the time of Tun Abdullah’s administration. The then Tingkat 4 was filled with business Con-Sultan doing works totally unrelated to their background on policy, politics, communication etc.
It turns out their interest was to menyamun for themselves projects and fees through consultants. Khazanah, GLCs, EPU and Government Departments was the lubuk for securing Con-Sultaning jobs.
Since Con-Sultaning jobs was easily secured using the cloud of Tingkat 4 PM Department, then evolve a procurement specialist Con-Sultaning firm like Ethos Consulting.
I would have thought with the end of Abdullah, such practices would have ended. But no … it is still rampant.
How can one end it if Omar Ong and his partner in Ethos, Rohana and Minister like Tan Sri Nor Moahamd Yakcop is still very much at large?
Ethos seems to be found in every other organisation telling companies, and government on how to go about how to do things differently. Seriously, let’s think for awhile.
Why must in almost every other major Con-Sultaning work, the name Ethos keep cropping up?
How much experiance would so-called wunderboy Omar Ong has to have his Con-Sultaning firm be the one doing every other thing? Is he so that terer that he knows everything?
How many organisation/(s) has he managed and delivered as successful outcome? From his resume, he has none.
By the look of things, what Ethos is doing is merely as agents for multinational Con-Sultaning firms. The knowledge is not with him but with outside firms.
Since outside firm like McKenzie hire local on a private basis. So, Ethos gets a cut from McKennzie and McKenzie pay relatively peanuts to the actual people doing the research legwork. Imagine them writing the need to stop no rent-seeking practices.
If one is familiar with Con-Sultans, one must know what one wants and be exact in the deliverables. Otherwise, their will recommend something theoretical, and general that it has no specific and workable solution to work on.
That is where they will pau more money out of the clients for more plans after plans which is all academics. That is taking your watch and telling you the time when all the while you can read your own watch.
The problem is so widespread now that our Government is spending billions on consulting fees. If this continues, Idris Jala could be right. We will go bankrupt by 2019 from paying consultants. He himself is paying consultants in the hundred of million.
If we can recall during Tun Abdullah times, Khazanah was said to be doing the GLC Transformation Plan. It used to be on the website but no more now. They had prepared something like 10 plans, manual and studies.
Yet, look at the performance of Khazanah companies. Their handicap companies is no more MAS, Proton and UEM. It has expandaed to Pos Malaysia and now SIme Darby. One member of Parliament told me that they had spend some RM400 million in the past five years.
I am not too sure if this included IRDA which has been spending berbeli-yon beli-yon, to emulate the late Tun Ghaffar, on consultant fees but still nothing delivered.
It is heard there is an endless stream of work for Con-Sultans being dished out to the point the Con-Sultan reports, manual, plan and what say you can be stack up to reach the ceiling. Give time, it will can reach the top ceiling of two floor penthouse.
Most likely, the consultant fee paid is not included in Khazanah’s RM400 million fee because there were consultants hired for all other corridors and is likely absorbed by the respective companies involved.
Speaking of companies, Ethos was entering GLCs and threatening as though it is PM’s instruction.
One former PLC CEO, I personally know was hustled and refused. In his own words, the work they offered were things that could be done by the Financial Instiutution he was the MD of. Why should he let others do the work, he asked?
