Who wants to be a millionaire?- The Malaysian Insider
March 4, 2011 — What would you do if someone knocked on your door and gave you a million ringgit to spend on the welfare of the people? I know what I would do. I am also part of the people, so helping me would come first. If there was anything left after my welfare has been addressed, maybe some others would benefit.
Both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have given a million ringgit to their representatives, MPs in the case of BN and Aduns from Selangor in the case of PR, for “constituency projects.” While most of the debate has been about both coalitions using taxpayer’s money to play partisan politics, such as the DPM’s announcement that the flight costs of students (but only those from BN-controlled states) going back to Egypt would be paid by the government, it seems astonishing that nobody has questioned what exactly this money is meant for.
According to The Malaysian Insider, in 2008 BN assemblymen in almost all of the 54 constituencies, minus two seats held by DAP, were found to have used up their annual allocations in the two months prior to the general elections. This gave rise to allegations that allocations meant for small projects had been misused for political campaigning.
Not surprising in the least when you consider that the general public has no yardstick of accountability to judge what constitutes “public welfare” the funds are meant for. After all, what could be more in the public welfare than to re-elect their beloved public representative?
Another thing that seems strange is with 29 Federal ministries covering everything from unity to co-operatives to sports and a civil service of 1.2 million people, the Federal government feels that it needs to directly allocate a million ringgit annually to its MPs to help their constituents. In Selangor, PR have 35 representatives which translate to RM35 million being spent directly at the discretion of these representatives, bypassing all government welfare delivery mechanisms.
In both cases these representatives are from ruling coalitions at the Federal and state levels respectively. There should be no scope for complaints that projects are being deliberately held up because of partisan politics.
Either we have faith in our delivery mechanisms or we don’t. If we do, then where is the need for this allocation? The representative merely needs to identify the project and leave the execution and handling of the money to the relevant government department. After all, we have a civil service which constitutes nearly 10 per cent of the total workforce. They should surely have more expertise when it comes to calling for tenders, choosing contractors and ensuring that deadlines are met in time, at cost and at the desired quality.
If we don’t, then why is the money not being spent to strengthen these institutions rather than undermining them by giving development allocations directly to these representatives? Are our representatives lawmakers or are they bureaucrats? Are they elected to set policy or supervise the construction of park benches?
Even if we believe that our representatives are as pure as the driven snow, do they really have the time, the competence and the expertise to spend this money judiciously? And if they do, why is there not more transparency in the system for the rakyat to be able to judge whether this money is being spent wisely. Public cynicism with politicians being what it is, it is hard to imagine there being no suspicion of what we euphemistically call “leakages” in the system.
Whether it is BN or PR, the fundamental question remains one of transparency. There needs to be a clear explanation of why lawmakers need a million ringgit to execute welfare projects outside the ambit of the government. And if they do, there needs to be a transparent system of checks and balances to ensure that the money is put to its officially intended use. Otherwise it will just come to be seen as an officially sanctioned tool to play money politics with at best and to enrich oneself personally at taxpayer expense at worst.
After all, who doesn’t want to be a millionaire?
Both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have given a million ringgit to their representatives, MPs in the case of BN and Aduns from Selangor in the case of PR, for “constituency projects.” While most of the debate has been about both coalitions using taxpayer’s money to play partisan politics, such as the DPM’s announcement that the flight costs of students (but only those from BN-controlled states) going back to Egypt would be paid by the government, it seems astonishing that nobody has questioned what exactly this money is meant for.
According to The Malaysian Insider, in 2008 BN assemblymen in almost all of the 54 constituencies, minus two seats held by DAP, were found to have used up their annual allocations in the two months prior to the general elections. This gave rise to allegations that allocations meant for small projects had been misused for political campaigning.
Not surprising in the least when you consider that the general public has no yardstick of accountability to judge what constitutes “public welfare” the funds are meant for. After all, what could be more in the public welfare than to re-elect their beloved public representative?
Another thing that seems strange is with 29 Federal ministries covering everything from unity to co-operatives to sports and a civil service of 1.2 million people, the Federal government feels that it needs to directly allocate a million ringgit annually to its MPs to help their constituents. In Selangor, PR have 35 representatives which translate to RM35 million being spent directly at the discretion of these representatives, bypassing all government welfare delivery mechanisms.
In both cases these representatives are from ruling coalitions at the Federal and state levels respectively. There should be no scope for complaints that projects are being deliberately held up because of partisan politics.
Either we have faith in our delivery mechanisms or we don’t. If we do, then where is the need for this allocation? The representative merely needs to identify the project and leave the execution and handling of the money to the relevant government department. After all, we have a civil service which constitutes nearly 10 per cent of the total workforce. They should surely have more expertise when it comes to calling for tenders, choosing contractors and ensuring that deadlines are met in time, at cost and at the desired quality.
If we don’t, then why is the money not being spent to strengthen these institutions rather than undermining them by giving development allocations directly to these representatives? Are our representatives lawmakers or are they bureaucrats? Are they elected to set policy or supervise the construction of park benches?
Even if we believe that our representatives are as pure as the driven snow, do they really have the time, the competence and the expertise to spend this money judiciously? And if they do, why is there not more transparency in the system for the rakyat to be able to judge whether this money is being spent wisely. Public cynicism with politicians being what it is, it is hard to imagine there being no suspicion of what we euphemistically call “leakages” in the system.
Whether it is BN or PR, the fundamental question remains one of transparency. There needs to be a clear explanation of why lawmakers need a million ringgit to execute welfare projects outside the ambit of the government. And if they do, there needs to be a transparent system of checks and balances to ensure that the money is put to its officially intended use. Otherwise it will just come to be seen as an officially sanctioned tool to play money politics with at best and to enrich oneself personally at taxpayer expense at worst.
After all, who doesn’t want to be a millionaire?
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