by Aidila Razak
Malaysiakini
Feb 17, 11

Hundreds of government-linked companies (GLCs) have been established in Malaysia, but their performances have been mediocre.

So declared Auditor-General Ambrin Buang, who added, “sometimes, I question if they (these companies) are even relevant in the 20th century”.

Speaking at forum on public governance in Putrajaya today, Ambrin (right) said GLCs could do well to adopt the private sector’s code of governance, since it was in these public companies where much of the public funds were wasted.

“It is this sphere of government that is very loose, where people are awarded for not doing anything,” he told the audience of about 80 people, made up mostly of academicians.

Mismanagement in GLCs have featured prominently in the many reports of the auditor-general. In 2009, for example, the report to Parliament highlighted RM1.45 billion in losses incurred by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd.

In 2005, his office ticked off the Treasury for guaranteeing loans amounting to RM47.5 billion for GLCs without sufficient supervision on how the money is to be repaid.

Stop rewarding the crooks

However, Ambrin said today that it is “not fair” to say the government wasn’t doing much to curb excessive spending, particularly in GLCs, as the cabinet had instructed that all those responsible be brought to task.

“But action by the heads of department has been lacking. (They) condone or kesian (feel pity) because they are retiring, etc. That must change,” he said.

Panelist and Umno disciplinary board member Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas, said the size of the bureaucracy made corruption difficult to police.

“We have one federal government, 13 state governments and more than 100 local governments. We have too much government that is becoming ungovernable. There are many layers of power, overlapping half of the time,” Megat Najmuddin said.

However, good public governance, the former Kelana Jaya assemblyperson said, could not take place without political governance.

“Funding for political parties is totally opaque and this is where the problem starts, it creates corruption… Our political system is built for corruption,” he said.

Megat Najmuddin added that Malaysia’s system of reward and punishment was “upside down, for we punish the good and reward the crooks”.

“That is the general view, if you look at who gets a datukship or becomes a Tan Sri,” he said.

Safeguards are weak

Agreeing with him, UiTM professor of law Shad Saleem Faruqi said corruption in Malaysia had become “institutionalised”.

“The tender system, for example, is the mother of all corruption… The electoral system, too, limits the amount spent on individual candidates, but not that spent by the (political) party.

“(The government) tries to solve problems using populist measures, like in education, where we shave the mountain instead of preparing students so they can mount the peak,” Shad Faruqi (right) said.

In a speech he made earlier, he noted that several instutitional safeguards of good governance in Malaysia were weak, including the judiciary, which he described as “having become part of the problem”.

Federalism, which aimed at limiting power and areas of corruption, Shad Faruqi said was “not working very well” as Malaysia practised a “quasified system”, as had been evident in the appointment of Selangor state secretary Mohd Khusrin Munawi without the menteri besar’s consent.

“Surely, the chief executive (of the state) should have a say. That adheres to the spirit of federalism. There may be legality (in the appointment), but there is no legitimacy,” he added.