Bonus for losses, the GLC way for rewarding employees
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report on Wednesday, 2 October 2013, 12:59 am
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report (8)
The Malaysian Insider
October 01, 2013
Seven government-linked companies (GLCs) rewarded their employees with fat bonuses despite recording a combined loss of close to RM2 billion in 2011.
The Auditor-General Report today stated that Syarikat Prasarana Negara, an infrastructure company which had the highest recorded deficit of RM763 million among the group, gave its employees between one-and-a-half and two months bonus each.
The report also found that MIMOS, the country’s research centre, was the most generous of the group, by giving out between two and three months bonus to its employees, despite making a RM4.6 million loss in 2011.
Meanwhile, employees of KTM received the least, with the railway operator distributing ex-gratia payments of a half-month’s salary or a minimum of RM500 in the same year. The company made losses of RM103 million. Read the rest of this entry »
AG’s report reveals ministry official claimed RM300,000 for trip worth under RM50,000
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report on Wednesday, 2 October 2013, 12:52 am
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report (7)
by Trinna Leong
The Malaysian Insider
October 01, 2013
The Auditor-General questioned a RM303,813 travel claim by a Communications and Culture Ministry senior officer for a four-day study trip to Geneva, Switzerland, which the auditors felt was worth only RM50,000.
The 2012 Auditor-General Report revealed that even if the officer took a return first-class flight, stayed in the best hotels, wined and dined in fancy restaurants and was given allowances to shop for winter clothing, the final tab would have cost no more than RM50,000.
The claim was made by the officer as part of the ministry’s Malaysian Emergency Response Services (MERS) 999 project. MERS 999 is a government initiative to have only one emergency number, sub-contracted out by the ministry to Telekom Malaysia (TM).
The project, done in phases from 2007 to 2012, cost the government a total of RM801.55 million. Read the rest of this entry »
No funds, so costly wings of cops clipped
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Police on Wednesday, 2 October 2013, 12:44 am
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report (6)
Hafiz Yatim
Malaysiakini
Oct 1, 2013
AUDIT REPORT Between June 2008 and December 2010, the Malaysian police purchased five Beechcraft King Air 350 aircraft at a whopping US$58.25 million (RM175.24 million) for its Air Wing.
The planes were supposed to facilitate the upgrading of the nation’s air security.
However, within less than five years of usage, one of the planes had to be grounded for eight months, between September 2011 and April 2012, while another could not be used between June and November 2012.
Furthermore, out of the five, only three aircraft have been delivered so far. Read the rest of this entry »
RM199m “burnt” as incinerators for waste management become white elephants
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report on Wednesday, 2 October 2013, 12:02 am
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report (5)
The Malaysian Insider
October 01, 2013
The Auditor-General Department revealed a waste of RM199 million which was spent on the construction of four incinerators by the National Solid Waste Management Department over the last four years, as there was no expertise to operate such machines once they were built.
The incinerators were built in Langkawi, Pangkor, Tioman and Cameron Highlands.
According to the AG Report released today, the construction of these incinerators was also delayed two to three times from their original schedule.
The report revealed that three of the incinerators were not in operation for between 223 and 642 days, due to the lack of expertise.
The plan to build the fifth incinerator in Labuan also did not take off. Read the rest of this entry »
Clocks, scanners and “miscellaneous items” cost RTM RM9 million, up to 7,200 times over budget
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report (4)
by Eileen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
October 01, 2013
The Broadcasting Department blew its budget spending RM120,210 on clocks and scanners alone, thus overpaying for these items by thousands of times beyond its actual cost.
Despite budgeting RM100 per unit for a clock and RM200 per unit for an A4-sized document scanner, the Auditor-General found that the Broadcasting Department spent RM3,810 per unit for “branded” wall clocks and RM14,670 per unit for the scanners.
In the 2012 AG Report, it found the department bought 20 branded wall clocks and three scanners for national broadcaster RTM’s offices in three states.
The department paid RM76,200 for the clocks, which was 3,810% above its estimated budget, and RM44,010 for the scanners, which was 7,235 times more than its initial budget.
The department also bought five scanners for A3 sized documents at an inflated price of RM20,630 each – its estimated budget was RM1,000 each. Read the rest of this entry »
Govt overpaid TM by RM11.6m for 999 emergency line, says A-G
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report on Tuesday, 1 October 2013, 11:40 pm
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report (3)
by Joseph Sipalan
October 1, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 —The government has been told to take back at least RM11.6 million from Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), after the Auditor-General (A-G) detailed a laundry list of “improper payments” and “unreasonable expenses” incurred in the development of the Malaysian Emergency Response System (MERS) 999.
The figure does not include an RM25.88 million lump sum payment made out to the national telecommunications company by the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry, which the auditor in his 2012 report said could not be verified but was given ministry approval.
In his 2012 annual report released today, the A-G identified numerous issues surrounding the RM801.55 million project, where funds were carved out from various parts of the project over the course of its six-year development by TM from 2007 to 2012.
This included some RM5.07 million spent by the ministry to cover the cost of organising training workshops and seminars and related expenses for TM staff, which the A-G described as unreasonable.
He said it must be recouped from the project contractor. Read the rest of this entry »
RM38,000 wasted in Health Ministry’s ‘stupid’ campaign
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Health, Media on Tuesday, 1 October 2013, 11:29 pm
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report (2)
Malaysiakini
Oct 1, 2013
The Health Ministry’s decision to brand smokers as ‘stupid’ in promotional literature cost it RM38,750 after the material was deemed unsuitable for distribution.
The Auditor-General’s Report 2012 states that the ministry had ordered 300 backpacks costing RM19,500 and 3,500 notepads at RM19,250 with the slogan ‘Smoking, a stupid habit for stupid people’.
But the items never made it into the hands of the citizens as the language was later deemed inappropriate.
But the lingual faux pas was not the ministry’s only mistake. Read the rest of this entry »
Backstabber’s guide to Umno polls
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Mariam Mokhtar, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 1 October 2013, 10:54 pm
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Sep 30, 2013
Mention the word Umno Baru and people will think of the 3Cs – corruption, cheating and cronyism.
Thousands of miles away, Najib Abdul Razak told the UN General Assembly that “the greatest threat to Muslims today, is not from the outside world, but from within”. His words are poignant and have some gravitas, for they reflect the conditions at home.
Thanks to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the public has become extremely mistrustful of politicians. Thanks also to Mahathir, the biggest challenge which Najib will face at the next Umno-Baru elections, is ironically, within his party.
Many factors will affect the battles during the upcoming Umno-Baru election, including wit and financial considerations. The two men, president Najib, and deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin, ‘won’ their seats unopposed. Read the rest of this entry »
Security in schools sees RM2bil go down the tube
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Education on Tuesday, 1 October 2013, 10:40 pm
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report
Malaysiakini
Oct 1, 2013
AUDIT REPORT The 2012 Auditor-General’s Report has revealed severe mishandling of RM2.051 billion with regard to hiring security contractors for schools between 2010 and 2012.
From poorly prepared contracts to hiring of septuagenarians as security guards, the auditor-general said the management of security services in 35 schools and hostels surveyed was generally unsatisfactory.
The audit, which involved schools in Selangor, Perlis and Sabah, found that the contracts were not uniform and did not state specific requirements set by the Education Ministry. Read the rest of this entry »
Mind Your ‘Transformation’, Please!
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Kee Thuan Chye, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 1 October 2013, 8:19 am
By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
30th Sept. 2013
“Transformational” is getting to be a hollow word. And the Cabinet ministers who brandish it at will don’t seem to understand its meaning. Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi just showed he doesn’t when he said the bringing back of detention without trial in the newly proposed Prevention of Crime (Amendment and Extension) Bill was “transformational”. Was he using it simply to be in fashionable sync with the Government Transformation Programme?
Is something retrogressive transformational? Is a return to the provisions of the repealed draconian Emergency Ordinance (EO) and Internal Security Act (ISA) transformational? If it is so, then Malaysians are in for a big surprise. And a nasty one too.
Both acts were considered reprehensible to the public, and therefore the Government was forced to remove them. But that was before the 13th general election was called. Now that it’s over, the Government apparently sees no more need in appeasing the public. Pre-election pledges have gone out the window.
A government that is transformational would not hark back to the dark days of Mahathir Mohamad’s reign, when fear was the instrument used to keep people in line. It should instead be demolishing Mahathirism and restoring the damage done to our institutions. No wonder Mahathir is applauding the Bill and blaming the public for “not (being) that developed or educated to appreciate that the law is for their own good”. But then, that’s Mahathir. Always blaming other people. And always asserting that might is right.
The new Bill proposes detaining a suspect for an initial two years, after which period if a review finds that the suspect should be detained further, he will be held for a further two years. This could go on indefinitely in a series of two-year periods. In this sense, it is no different from the EO and the ISA. Read the rest of this entry »
Why Najib hightails it to New York and such…
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 30 September 2013, 2:35 pm
The Malaysian Insider
September 29, 2013
Najib addresses the 68th United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday. – Reuters pic, September 29, 2013.Najib addresses the 68th United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday. – Reuters pic, September 29, 2013.Here is one reason why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak enjoys being outside the country so much: it is only in the rarefied air of the United Nations assembly or in meeting rooms at the swanky Waldorf Astoria in New York that an audience still buys his talk about Malaysia being a model of moderate Islam.
Back home, here in Malaysia, with the right wing very much in ascendancy in Umno and with religious and racial intolerance at red flag levels, any mention of the word “moderation” is met with cynicism. Or worse yet, disdain.
It was revealed in Parliament that the Prime Minister spent a staggering RM44 million on travel abroad between March 2008 and May 2013.
It is a fact that has raised eyebrows even among Umno politicians. Some of them wonder why attending the UN assembly or opening the Khazanah Nasional office in San Francisco is so important, or why it was necessary to go to Thailand for his second break after the May 5 general election.
Actually, there is a simple explanation why he enjoys being outside the country so much. He needs a diversion from the daily mess that is Malaysia, a mess compounded by his willingness to allow shrill, fringe voices to dictate the tone of this country. And his inability to tackle the laundry list of issues from endemic corruption to the breakdown in law and order.
A laundry list that also includes: an increasingly right-wing Umno; an inept Cabinet; a combative opposition; fractured and irrelevant BN component parties; a widening budget deficit and the insatiable appetite of businessmen and cronies; and, not least, the hulking presence of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Read the rest of this entry »
Making Corruption History – Cakap Kosong Je ‘Jib!
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Corruption, Najib Razak, Razaleigh Hamzah, UMNO on Monday, 30 September 2013, 12:08 pm
M. Bakri Musa
30th Sept 2013
In San Francisco recently, Prime Minister Najib confidently declared “to make corruption part of Malaysia’s past, not its future.” The man’s delusion never ceases to amaze me. The reality is of course far different; corruption defines the Najib Administration.
Nonetheless if Najib is serious, then he should heed Tengku Razaleigh’s call for Najib to declare his assets. Otherwise it would be, to put it bluntly in the vernacular, “Cakap kosong je ‘Jib!” (Empty talk only!)
Tengku Razaleigh’s suggestion, if implemented, would do far more good than all of Najib’s lofty declarations of “changing organizational as well as business cultures” or creating “a new governance and integrity minister” and “elevating the anti-corruption agency.” Malaysians have heard all those ad nauseum, not only from Najib but also his predecessors. Read the rest of this entry »
EC must call for GE13 re-election
– Richard Loh
The Malaysian Insider
September 30, 2013
Which is more important and critical in a democratic nation, a general election or a political party election?
From what we observed in this nation, political party like Umno and its component Barisan Nasional parties have been postponing their party elections due to an impending general election hovering between last quarter of 2011 to 2013. This indicates that the general election is more important and critical that overrides any matters in a political party.
The overwhelming perception is that the laws of this nation can be manipulated, misrepresented and realigned to suit those in power. As they are only perceptions, we will not take them as face value and assume that no one is above the law and those in power are acting accordingly and abide by the law.
“RoS acted on the complaints of several disgruntled members who claimed the December election was not properly conducted after the party announced that a tabulation glitch had resulted in the wrong candidate being elected to the central executive committee.” reported by The Malaysian Insider
Accordingly, the Registrar of Societies (RoS) must have investigated the matter and came to the conclusion that DAP must hold a re-election. Their conclusion is not transparent without providing what exactly DAP has done wrong to insist that they hold a re-election but just base on complaints from a handful of members and an unverified anonymous handbook. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP elections: Status quo for top leaders, more votes for Zairil
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid
The Malay Mail Online
September 29, 2013
PETALING JAYA, Sept 29 — DAP delegates sent a clear message to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) by re-electing the same 20 people as the ones chosen in the ‘illegal’ party council polls held last year.
Compelled to re-hold elections by the regulatory body, the opposition party’s grassroots voted in the same central executive committee (CEC) lineup that made the cut in the party’s December polls, which the RoS later declared illegal.
Many more of the 2,000-plus delegates who qualified to vote also chose to cast their ballot for the sole Malay representative on the committee, Zairil Khir Johari, pushing his ranking from the bottom rung in December to 12th spot this time around.
The young politician garnered 1,132 votes or 329 more than the 803 votes in the December 15 party leadership election last year.
“I’d like to congratulate those elected and those who cast their votes because they endorsed the decision made by last year’s congress and they elected the same lineup,” party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng told a press conference after holding a brief meeting with the newly elected lineup here. Read the rest of this entry »
Post-polls, an air of vindication in DAP
by Nigel Aw and Koh Jun Lin
Malaysiakini
Sep 29, 2013
As DAP retained the exact 20-member central executive committee (CEC) line-up from the last election, it was apparent that delegates were determined to send a signal to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) that had created a host of problems for the party.
There was a sense of vindication among DAP delegates after the election results were announced this evening – that there was absolutely no manipulation of its CEC election held last December.
“Basically, it is a slap in the face of the ROS,” a delegate from Selangor told Malaysiakini.
The drama over the CEC election began in January after DAP admitted that there was a tabulation error resulting in Zairil Khir Johari being wrongfully excluded from the CEC. Read the rest of this entry »
PCA has all the characteristics of ISA!
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Pakatan Rakyat, Parliament on Sunday, 29 September 2013, 8:11 am
by P Ramakrishnan
28 September 2013
It is worrying and troubling that the BN government has chosen to return to the days of darkness and abuse.
This is what it means when the government tabled the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (PCA) on Wednesday, 23 September 2013.
On the one hand, the BN government had repealed the Emergency Ordinance (EO) and Internal Security Act (ISA) with the Prime Minister guaranteeing over national television that there would be no more preventive detention.
On the other hand, this hypocritical government is now tabling laws that will bring back with a vengeance the same detention without trial along with the ouster of the court’s jurisdiction over this detention. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s future will be fuller of promise if only Najib could practise in the country the principles and values of moderation that he preaches at international forums
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Human Rights, Najib Razak on Saturday, 28 September 2013, 2:06 pm
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday delivered another “fantastic” speech abroad, stating his belief that many of the world’s current problems can be solved if society subscribed to the whole concept of moderation.
He said if the society and governments used moderation in their actions and policies, then the country would have a much more just, fair and inclusive society.
He said moderation was based on certain principles and sound values, like justice, sense of fairness, and choosing dialogue over confrontation, and negotiation over conflict.
One can easily imagine a national sigh at such a report with the overwhelming reaction from Malaysians the quite unanimous one that the country’s future will be fuller of promise if only Najib could practise in the nation the principles and values of moderation that he preaches at international forums.
If the Najib administration had stayed true to the principles and sound values of moderation in governing the country like justice, sense of fairness, and choosing dialogue over confrontation, and negotiation over conflict, Malaysia will not today be at the critical crossroads some five months after the 13th general elections, struggling to achieve a Malaysian Dream with all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region as equal national stakeholders at a time of unprecedented racial and religious politicking and polarisation, with the well of public discourse continuously poisoned by language of hatred, intolerance and unethical resort to lies and falsehoods. Read the rest of this entry »
Alternative messages to the Malay heartland: Will they be heard?
Posted by Kit in NEP, Razaleigh Hamzah, UMNO on Saturday, 28 September 2013, 9:13 am
Dr Lim Teck Ghee
CPI
27th September 2013
In the last few weeks, with the chorus of chest-beating messages on the need for greater entrenchment of Malay rights and privileges growing stronger ahead of the coming Umno general assembly, there have emerged two Malay leaders who are willing to go against the chauvinistic tide to provide a different analysis of what is wrong with Umno and its political ideology and how to correct the Malay dilemma of poverty or stagnation for its masses amidst unprecedented wealth, power and privilege for its elite.
Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah are no ordinary dissidents. They also cannot in any way be seen as traitors or disloyal to the Malay cause. They have been long-time staunch members of Umno with proven track records of dedicated public service and reputations of higher standards in integrity and honesty than most of their colleagues among our elite.
Their messages to the Malay heartland are sombre and brutal. They will certainly be seen as unwelcome and cruel. But in seeking to drive home the many uncomfortable truths that the contestants jostling for high positions pretend to not see or know about, they are doing the party and its followers much greater service than may be apparent.
Their views and the alternatives offered are important not only for Umno members and other Malays to appraise and debate; they are also important for all Malaysians to reflect upon as we search for the right road to ensure a fair and just future for all. Read the rest of this entry »
Bumi, not booming
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 27 September 2013, 11:24 pm
The Economist
Sep 28th 2013 | KUALA LUMPUR
Politics in Malaysia – The ruling party returns to its old habits of race-based handouts
THE United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) is the dominant party in the coalition that has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957. Only now, however, is it parading its democratic credentials, so far as its internal appointments go. Nominations have just closed for elections to a broad range of party posts, to be decided in the middle of October by 146,000-odd party delegates at local level. Previously, a mere 2,600 members, those who attended the party’s convention, had a say. UMNO’s boosters claim that these new elections will restore vim to an ageing organisation. They say it will make it the most genuinely democratic party in the country. Not bad for an outfit with a past reputation as a ruthless political machine.
Yet what might be therapeutic for UMNO could prove the reverse for Malaysia. For what has emerged during the electoral process is that the so-called “warlords” who run the party are determined to shift the country in a conservative, indeed reactionary, direction. They want to reassert the supremacy of ethnic Malays. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang sues Utusan over claims of CEC manipulation
by Melissa Chi
The Malay Mail Online
September 27, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang filed a lawsuit today against Utusan Melayu over an article alleging he had manipulated the party’s central executive committee (CEC) election — the same day its newspaper Utusan Malaysia printed an apology to the party’s leaders over another article.
His lawyer, Gobind Singh Deo told reporters that the Umno mouthpiece was libelous in an article published on August 18 this year.
“The article in which Utusan used repeated information from the alleged book which quotes one Father Augustus Chen, which we say don’t exist.
“We challenge Utusan to come up with proof to show that Father Augustus Chen exist and to also prove that the allegations that he had made in respect to the 753 delegates did not get notice, proof that, and also the allegation in respect to the fact that there was 500 or more phantom voters from Penang,” he said after the High Court dismissed the bid for injunction against DAP polls.
The 16-page booklet surfaced in Penang sometime last month, claiming irregularities and vote manipulation allegedly to place cronies of both Kit Siang and his son, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, on the powerful CEC, among other allegations. Read the rest of this entry »
