COMMENT | Hey big spender, devote a little time to MACC

COMMENT | On June 2, 2014, I penned these forthright words:

“Deputy Youth and Sports Minister M Saravanan was more than generous with his words after the canvas roofing collapsed at the State Aquatic Centre in Perlis last Thursday.

“The lesson we can learn from this, which, as Malaysians, we probably never will is – be cautious when picking the contractor,” he was quoted as saying after inspecting the venue the following day.

“No one could have been in a better position than Saravanan, for he had spent five years as the deputy Federal Territory minister, where hundreds of contracts were given out. What were the criteria when it came to choosing contractors?

“Did competency, experience and knowledge take precedence over the abang-adik connection which Malaysians have become accustomed to? No, Saravanan, what goes around must come around. When basic principles in awarding tenders are not followed and when people with vested interests award contracts, you can never get the best. This is not a phenomenon. It occurs at regular intervals and as usual, someone will shout until the throat goes hoarse, by which time everyone would have forgotten about the issue.”

Now, six years later and after the change of government twice since, has anything changed? On Wednesday, MACC chief Azam Baki warned that there were several cases of leakage of government procurement involving government agencies and 50 percent of its investigations involved such cases...