By TK Chua
Frankly, what difference would this annual ritual of presenting the Auditor-General’s report make? What else is new – buying supplies 10 or 20 times the market price, dishing inflated contracts and tenders, building white elephants, leaving projects half completed, buying equipment or apparatuses that are never used, or procuring products and services that have not met the stipulated specifications?
Seriously, why the need to do auditing when we know the causes to the problems are going to be the same year-in and year-out? We are just taking turns to highlight them to show as if something is being done. In reality, nothing has changed.
If we look at all the causes as highlighted, easily 80 to 90 per cent are due to incompetence and corruption. Perhaps 10 to 20 per cent are due to unforeseen circumstances or procedural/control deficiency. Can auditing solve corruption and incompetence problems? How else can we explain buying a product 10 times the market price if not due to blatant corruption or mega stupidity?
We set up outfits like Pemandu and engage high-powered consultants to do transformations. We have lost count of the key result areas being tossed around. But where are the outcomes if the latest A-G report is used as the gauge?
Every year the government spends big – drawing up big budgets, incurring deficits and borrowing heavily to meet spending targets.
But has it ever occurred to us that the big budgets have actually given us small economic impacts because the bulk of the allocations are in the form of “transfer payments” through corruption or overpricing? There is hardly much multiplier effect because big contractors, suppliers and corrupt officials are just hiding their ill-gotten gains here or abroad.
Auditing is good in identifying malfeasance in government departments and agencies but it has little means to solve it. Some public officials have faced disciplinary action, but usually the punishments meted out are far lighter than the gravity of the blunders committed.
We can’t solve corruption and abuse of power by looking at procedures or the modus operandi of an organisation. Corrupt people look for loopholes to circumvent procedures and controls. Corruption needs stringent and relentless MACC action, without fear and favour.
Similarly, there is no cure for stupidity and incompetence unless we change the people in charge.
Do we know what our biggest problem is today? I believe most public officials, contractors and suppliers have no fear of being caught or held to account for misdeeds and corrupt practices. Even if caught, they think it is worthwhile.
TK Chua is an FMT reader
With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s (or organisation’s) personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.