Idris’ ‘new ministry’ gets RM12.59 bil to play with
By Athi Shankar, Free Malaysia Today
GEORGE TOWN: There’s a “new” and costly “ministry” in the Prime Minister’s Department (PMD), according to a DAP parliamentarian here.
Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong said the “new ministry” which is headed by Idris Jala, a minister in PMD as well as CEO of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), received a whopping RM12.59 billion under Budget 2011, which was unveiled by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak last Friday.
Terming the new ministry as “Kementerian Idris Jala” or KIJA, he said under the Budget 2011, KIJA would receive some RM6.19 billion in 2011. This would be topped up with an additional RM6.4 billion for 2012 to run its activities.
From the amount, RM11.86 billion has been allocated for National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) projects over a two-year period (2011-2012) under a development budget.
Another RM729.4 million will be allotted in 2011 under an operating budget, which Liew claimed would be mostly channelled to international consulting firms.
Pemandu has two drivers — Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon and Jala.
But Liew is certain that it would be Jala in the driving seat managing its funds with the help of numerous consulting firms. Koh is expected to sit on the wayside.
“KIJA” outfits are responsible for preparing the Government Transformation Plan (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) as well as various other Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for ministers, ministries and federal government agencies.
“The ETP has allegedly usurped the role of the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC), which was tasked to prepare the New Economic Model,” alleged Liew.
Officially, he said Pemandu has been allocated RM20.67 million in 2011, with an additional RM897,800 under a new policy.
He said there was also a “one-off payment” of RM18.43 million for Pemandu.
Liew also queried the RM136.87 million allotted under emolument for contractual workers in PMD which would also be utilised by KIJA.
“The big numbers mean that KIJA is indeed a very costly affair. It’s time for the KPI minister to disclose his own KPI score card to the people of Malaysia,” said Liew .
Costly budget
Liew also touched on allocations for the National Key Result Areas (NKRAs), including RM9.1 million for crime fighting, RM22 million for education and RM38.42 million for 1Malaysia programme, describing the group a “costly alphabet”.
In addition, the NKRA delivery task force for low income household would cost RM265 million.
However, Liew argued that if only cash grant of RM1,000 was distributed, 265,000 low income families could be aided.
“Clearly, it is a move that is set to benefit the consultants,” he said in his statement today.
