Ah, What A Bad Account!

The 2007 Auditor-General's Report has not been much different from those of 2006, or 2005, 2004... Right, only the years are different while the contents are largely similar: Money continues to be misappropriated, companies which lost money continue to lose money, and those who were corrupt continue to be corrupt.

Despite similar contents, the public are still taken aback by the latest AG's report, that the taxes we have been paying over the years have been squandered in the same way year after year. Having said that, the government seems to have taken little heed of the report. In the past, we heard of senior government officials calling for further ACA investigations, but this year, even such calls have been omitted.

Even the Auditor-General himself has preferred to stay silent. He told the media last year he was frustrated that no one had paid any attention to the report. So, this year he prefers to publish only the report, and refuses to make any further statement. Nevertheless, the Auditor-General's office has made some remarkable progress in recent years. In the past, the reports came out once every three, sometimes five years, but now, we can look forward to annual, updated reports. At least the Auditor-General's office has done its job well.

Although the office has done its bid to expose the irregularities in government departments, the report can never be used as the sole evidence to bring any perpetrator before the laws. Government departments can choose to do nothing about the contents of the report, unless the ACA steps in to expose more irregularities and evidences to bring the perpetrators to book. However, the efficiency of our ACA remains much to be desired.

Although the ACA has in the past conducted investigations on the findings in AG's reports, we have yet to see anyone being brought before the laws. ACA has recently made some major moves to catch the "big fish." After the detention of Perak state executive councillors on suspected corruption, a Negeri Sembilan BN state assemblyman was also detained on the national day. Last week, Puspakom staff were also detained and questioned. However, the amounts of money involved in these cases are insignificant compared to what have been squandered by government departments. While they have netted some big and small fish, they still have a strong phobia for the real sharks!

The AG's report not only has exposed the abuse of public funds by a small group of people, but that such irregularities have indeed infiltrated deep into our administrative system. If nothing is to be done to check them, who knows which day the entire administrative structure will come tumbling down.

Since the government has set up such an office to prepare such a report, this shows that it is willing to face the reality and not to hold back anything. However, the government has not truly respected the works of the AG's office, and has never taken the reports and suggestions quite seriously. As a matter of fact, the Auditor-General's statutory status provided under the federal Constitution is not unlike that of the Chief Justice. But in a country where politics comes above everything else, the administration can always poke its hand directly into the judiciary as well as legislative systems.

While government departments and related agencies and companies can choose to ignore the AG's report, and do nothing about it, they must never underestimate the people's wisdom. In the March general elections, the voters not only manifested their disgust with racial politics, but have also cast their votes for the AG's report.

The voters have told the AG's office through the ballots that their effort has been recognised and appreciated. On the contrary, they have also used their ballots to teach those recalcitrant politicians a lesson. While these politicians can continue to brag that they are not bothered about the election results, and could turn a deaf ear to the AG's report, they must realise that the voters' eyes are crystal clear, and they know what to do next time.

In short, the political intervention on many things in this country has come to a very serious stage, and this is one of the major factors that have caused the problems to keep on rising. The government must allow the judiciary and legislative systems to operate independently in order to put things back on the right track while restoring the people's faith in the country's leadership.
(By CHONG LIP TECK/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)
MySinchew
2008.09.02