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KPI minister, Koh Tsu Koon downplays 1 Malaysia delay as to recent controversy surrounding the Biro Tata Negara (BTN)

PETALING JAYA, Dec 17 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon admitted today a delay in the implementation of the government's 1 Malaysia initiatives, claiming it was because Cabinet members wanted to have a bigger say over national unity.

The minister also played down reports that one-third of the Cabinet members had failed to submit their reports for the Key Performance Indicators (KPI).

He argued instead that the Najib administration was moving faster by “any corporate standard” despite the fact that the prime minister had originally promised a KPI review by October.

“All ministers have prepared their reports,” Koh told reporters after opening the government transformation programme open day here.

He claimed that the delay in submitting the reports was caused by Datuk Seri Najib Razak's tight schedule.

“So there is no question about laggard ministers at all,” said Koh.

The Malaysian Insider had reported that 10 ministers had missed the deadline.

“Even this by any standard is considered, very, very fast, if you ask any private sector, they take a while,” he added, referring to the transformation programme open day.

The government today began a public display of planned initiatives for the six National Key Results Areas (NKRA) in order to get feedback from the public.

The initiatives were developed inside labs which were set up for the NKRAs.

The responses will be compiled as part of a 1 Malaysia road map to be released by the end of next month.

On the 1 Malaysia initiatives, Koh clarified that the delay for public display was because many ministers wanted to be involved in the programmes.

“What happens is this whole thing is 1 Malaysia, the six NKRAs are all 1 Malaysia initiatives,” said Koh.

He said that the planned national unity initiatives did not take into account the role of all ministries.

“It is such a big area. Every minister contributes to unity, in the Cabinet workshop, ministers said we don't have enough, we want more,” said Koh.

“Whatever the source said does not reflect what really happened in making the decision,” he added.

Yesterday, The Malaysian Insider reported that the prime minister had failed to get consensus from Umno ministers in implementing racial unity and national integration initiatives.

The failure to reach a consensus has resulted in the Cabinet deciding to postpone the public preview of the 1 Malaysia initiatives which had been scheduled this week along with the display of his other NKRA programmes.

The Malaysian Insider understands the decision to postpone the public display of the 1 Malaysia initiatives was made at a special retreat of ministers here on Sunday.

As a result, the NKRA open day scheduled for today and tomorrow will not include the initiatives related to the 1 Malaysia concept.

The only element that will be on display will be the general framework of the 1 Malaysia concept.

It is understood that the strongest objections came from Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Rais Yatim.

The recent controversy surrounding the Biro Tata Negara (BTN), which had come under heavy fire for propagating racism against non-Malays, had been expected to be a measure to evaluate the effectiveness of Najib's 1 Malaysia laboratories set up by his handpicked minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala.

But the delay in implementing the 1 Malaysia initiatives will put a crimp on efforts to overhaul the BTN, which had initially been agreed on by the Cabinet, as well other race relation issues.

It is understood that in justifying their decision to delay its implementation, Cabinet members were of the opinion that the 1 Malaysia concept should be expanded to all ministries and not just certain ministries and government departments.

MI
17/12/09

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