KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Malaysia’s audit of federal agencies demonstrates exceeding accountability vis-a-vis Singapore, whose national audit report was “only 70 pages” long, a federal minister asserted today.
Datuk Paul Low, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of integrity, said the Auditor-General’s Reports in Malaysia that consisted of thick volumes, were very detailed in comparison.
“Look at Singapore’s audit report, it’s only 70 pages, so in that sense, the practice we have today exceeds the norm of accountability for the public sector,” Low told a press briefing on the AG 2013 Report (second series) here today.
He also pleaded with the media not to bring politics into the mix, pointing out that today’s press briefing allowed them to question the secretaries-general of the various ministries on the government audit report.
“The media and the government are partners and we’re here together to make changes for the betterment of the country,” said Low.
Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa, who was also at the briefing, similarly praised the length of the AG reports.
“We go into the nuts and bolts,” he said.
When asked why financial mismanagement and procurement problems kept plaguing government ministries over the years, Ali said that total perfection was impossible.
“We can’t be perfect 100 per cent. There’ll be glitches, but we are trying to be perfect,” said Ali.
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said it would call up five ministries over mismanagement problems highlighted by the AG’s 2013 report (second series) that was released yesterday.
The departments in question are the Education Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Federal Territories Ministry, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, and the Home Ministry.
PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said yesterday the police force had incurred the biggest losses in the report, due to the 16-month delay in the construction of the Sentul district police headquarters that had cost the Home Ministry RM73,512 in rent for six months.
- The Malay Mail -
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