Endless possibilities in auditing Putrajaya

Syahir Sulaiman

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home – Confucius

The Auditor-General’s Report revealed an annual series of endless possibilities of corruption and wastage, except that it depicts different projects for different years, albeit the need to strengthen fiscal prudence in Malaysia as the deficit gap and debt level heading towards single direction, skyward.

The report highlighted to the rakyat that behind the wall of bureaucracy in Putrajaya, the possibility for any projects or purchases by the government being ruined by mismanagement and fraudulent tender process is endless.

A clock or a screwdriver which cost you less than a hundred could cost the government more than a thousand. A high impact project planned to improve the socio-economy of your state and constituency might end up being awarded to an incompetent-connected contractor which will enjoy the margin and left the project stalemate.

A ministry might spend our tax money on buying things they don’t know how to use or on things they can’t use due to failure in specification, and the list is not exhaustive.

We know that fiscal policy is key in driving GDP growth, and it denotes the significant balancing of tax revenue and prudent spending resulting into a high multiplier effect to the society, under a confined budget and resources in hand.

We know that our federal government debt is on an upward trend reaching 55% of GDP, household debt is deepening towards the brink of insolvency, inflation is eminent under the subsidy rationalisation programmes, and cost of living is pushing the man on the street to stretch their earnings on high price of homes, car, fuel, food and education.

Now, how do we move forward and open a new chapter to end these bad possibilities? It should be simple: Follow the right procedure.

It’s about time for the government to undertake bold reform measures, to explore new source of revenue and gradually reducing its high dependency towards petroleum-based income, to introduce a more investor-friendly and people-friendly tax climate, to have a better and effective distribution of welfare and subsidies, as well as to cut inefficiency and leakages via open and transparent tender system.

Malaysia has to put a stop to the abuse of favouritism and protectionist policy that seems to breed a generation of know-who that surpassed the quality of know-how. Needless to say on how acute are the perception towards corrupt practices among Malaysians, as infamously depicted that, “Those days – on the table. Later days – under the table. Nowadays – including the table!”. Corruption, and crime should not be tolerated.

As denounced by Sayyid Qutb, a prominent Muslim social activist, “Islam as a comprehensive political and social system insures social justice for the masses that would cure all social ills because it stands against corruption, oppression, and luxury. It is a force of liberation, and it is also a concrete social force”. A fiscal policy full of integrity, is vital for Malaysia.

Much efforts are being made by the solemn auditors to highlight their findings and recommendations, yet the thick report will end up being another dust collector.

My ending note, I hope that the Endless Possibilities campaign launched this year won’t appear in red for next year’s Auditor-General’s Report. Malaysia Boleh!