1MDB, MO1 and matters related - the people have most probably already decided on this issue. The question now is that what will be done to ensure that these Government-Owned Private Companies and GLCs in Malaysia do not anymore be used to 'misappropriate' monies of the people and worse still land us all in debt. When the Malaysian government guarantees loans taken out for and on behalf of GLCs - we, the people of Malaysia are the ones at RISK...
Now, as of right the Auditor General must also be auditing all these government-owned companies and GLCs. Now, the Federal Constitution provides in Article 106(1) 'The accounts of the Federation and of the States shall be audited and reported on by the Auditor General...' On the face of it, they will only be looking at the government accounts - Ministries, Departments, Local Councils...
They will not be looking at the accounts of the corporations and the 'private' companies, even if it owned totally or partially by the government. Was that the reason for privatization and corporatisation - to avoid accountability and transparency?
Auditor General's reports MUST be tabled in Parliament so that there will be transparency and accountability...
107 Reports of Auditor General.
(1) The Auditor General shall submit his reports to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who shall cause them to be laid before the House of Representatives.
(2) A copy of any such report relating to the accounts of a State, or to the accounts of any public authority exercising powers conferred by State law, shall be submitted to the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of that State, who shall cause it to be laid before the Legislative Assembly.
Now, the Constitution provides that the Auditor General's report shall be tabled in Parliament - and, this also means that it will become available to the people. The Auditor General is the 'watchdog' of the Malaysian people - they look after our interest to ensure that our monies and property are not being 'misappropriated', wrongly used, stolen, abused...and he is supposed to be independent.
Now, according to the Federal Constitution, the Auditor General is INDEPENDENT - that means he is not controlled by the Prime Minister, Minister, Menteri Besar or Chief Minister...but is he INDEPENDENT? Or is he simply following orders...of the PM?
Maybe steps need to be taken to strengthen further this INDEPENDENCE - we should not be having a Audit DEPARTMENT, which indicates it under some Minister...maybe we should call it the Auditor General's Chambers..and all the staff serving the Auditor General will have only the Auditor General as BOSS...
LAWS also need to be enacted to ensure that state owned private companies or corporations, including GLCs will not just be AUDITED by the Auditor General but that these reports will be tabled in Parliament (or State Legislative Assembly) and also be made available to the public...
* Adding on, maybe there should be laws for all these state owned private companies or corporations, including GLCs - which amongst others will stipulate salary scales. It is absurd to hear that CEOs of some of these GLCs are being paid about half a million ringgit monthly salary. That is even more than the PM gets paid. Salaries of CEOs and Upper Management must be cut down significantly - certainly not higher than the PM or Menteri Besar or Chief Minister...
See related post:-
In the US CEOs are often paid higher than POTUS himself..no problem what as long as it encourages innovation and progress
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