PKFZ: Reports can be deceiving

Ong Tee Keat, the transport minister seems overly satisfied now that the PKFZ fiasco has been made public by releasing an audit report. As anticipated, business wise PKFZ was a disastrous venture with losses and costs ballooning to RM 4 billion and if nothing real and substantial is done it may shoot up to RM 12 billion of public money down the drain. It also revealed the appalling governance along with conflicts of interests and clear vested interests in the projects and financing as well as political interference. A foreign partner and experienced investor in such port projects left acrimoniously, utterly dejected by the lack of integrity and problems caused by political meddling.

All the hue and cry over the report may be seen as a desperate but calculated move to divert public attention and an act to defuse a wanton scandal. The real scandal is that the project is a colossal failure. The cost to the public is billions of ringgit. Making public an audit of PKFZ’s failures or publicly threatening to go after the corrupt scoundrels do not change this nor does it recover the losses. Nobody in his right mind shall ever think of investing in Malaysian ports for quite a while.

Publicising reports in Malaysia albeit shocking or astounding ones such as the BMF fiasco, Anwar Ibrahim’s black eye, the IPCMC or the Lingam video just simply do not translate to real definite action nor conclusive punitive measures. No lessons are learnt whilst the crooks and offenders are never clearly identified and even if they are, they get away with some light raps on their fingers.

The real report should be the declaration of failure to govern, to manage a strategic project, followed by the acceptance of responsibility and be made accountable. Heads have to fall. True and proper governance must be instilled and established in all government high risk ventures immediately.

An overriding requisite and standing principle must be the strict upholding of integrity. Integrity should be the criteria for undertaking risky public projects.

As spelt out in the quite forthright deliberations of the National Integrity Plan:-

any decision or action taken or carried out by government servants/ public personnel/ authorities should not be for the profit of an individual/ a few/ private companies at the expense of the rakyat, the public.

The rakyat must not be made to lose for the benefit of a few.

We should not privatize profits and socialize losses. Period!