Auditor-General Report delay: Focus on content, not timeline, says Devamany
By Yuen Meikeng, The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Datuk S. K. Devamany defended the delay in the release of the Auditor-General’s Report that was presented Monday.
He said it was more important to look at the content of the report, instead of focusing on the timeline.
Devamany said this in response to a supplementary question from Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) who asked why there was a delay in the report’s release when it was completed as early as June 16.
“Was there a delay because it was not supposed to steal the thunder from the Umno president’s speech?” Lim asked, adding that the report could have been presented together with the Budget 2011.
Devamany then replied that it has only been about a week since the Budget was presented.
THE Auditor-General’s report was not released simultaneously with the Budget 2011 last week.
For years, both documents were made public the same day.
Last year, however, the report arrived a few days earlier than the Budget.
The report has generated its fair share of interest because it details wastage of public funds by public service.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abd Aziz,had said recently that there was no legal provision for the report to be tabled on the same day as the Budget.
In futher defending the delay of the report, Devamany said: “One of the targets of the Government Transformation Programme is to ensure that the Government’s delivery system is maintained and in this process, the report was released,”
Lim also pointed out that some 160,000 people on social networking website Facebook had protested the construction of the 100-storey Warisan Merdeka tower and asked if there should be a study conducted on the feedback.
Devamany said: “People should not think that the Prime Minister will not listen to the views of the 160,000 Facebook members.”
“If there are suggestions, the Prime Minister will surely listen,” he added.
Earlier, Devamany said the performance of all National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) had been encouraging.
“For the NKRA to increase the performance of students, our main focus was to increase the involvement of pre-schools.
“For the first time in history, we have recorded the most number of pre-school classes. Until today, some 1,358 classes have started lessons,” he said, adding that the initiative benefited some 54,569 children.
Devamany said the NKRA to reduce crime had seen the crime index shrinking by 15.1% compared to last year.
“The street crime index has also gone down by 39.6% compared to the same period in 2009,” he added.
On curbing corruption, Devamany said the awarding of 3,712 contracts by the Government was displayed in the Finance Ministry’s procurement website.
“As a result from the addition of 17 four-coach LRT trains, the number of passengers had increased by 2.4mil compared to the same time last year,” he added.
