Government grilled by media at first ever AG's report townhall

Journalists were given a treat as they grilled the top officers of Ministries over the Auditor-General’s (AG) report in a first-of-its-kind townhall meeting today.

The director-generals of the 24 Ministries who were present at the town hall session had to clarify the actions which would be taken over abuses and leakages revealed by the latest AG report released yesterday.

The meeting, broadcasted live over RTM, was initiated by ‘transparency’ Minister Datuk Paul Low and coordinated by Pemandu and the Chief Secretary’s office.

Low hailed the meeting as “very significant” which he believed would enable the civil service in briding a “chasm” between the people through the media.

“Perhaps the civil service sees the media as someone quite hostile to the civil service. Quite often we do perceive that whatever we do, they see that nothing good has been done,” said Low.

Saying that the government must change its ways and be more transparent as to be relevant to the people, Low said: “We cannot hide behind laws like the OSA (Official Secrets Act) to shield us from engaging from the civil society.

“Today we have a public who wants to know about how we manage the country’s resources and how we do it. The government is elected by the people to protect the interest of the rakyat.

“We as government believe that we must do the right thing eventhough it might be unpopular. We must be prepared to take the risk and think differently to think differently,” said Low.

He also said that Malaysia in practice have already 'exceeded the norm of accountability for the public sector', comparing Malaysia’s thick AG report to Singapore’s which was only 70 pages long.

During the two-hour plus event, questions posed by reporters included the poor management of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB), issues over government broadcaster RTM not entering into formal contracts, Fama Corporation Sdn Bhd (FamaCorp) paying a company to supply and distribute mineral water bottles.

Each relevant officer, or heads of government-linked entities, were called up to stage by the moderator, Chief Secretary Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, whenever a question was asked in regards to his or her ministry.

However, despite government officers taking pains to explain the issues, some media personnel were left frustrated when other questions that were outside of Series 2 of the AG’s report could not be asked.

Questions on the perceived repeated offences, on the government’s stance on direct negotiations, on the intention to cut out middlemen were all dismissed as inappropriate for the event.

As the event was thought by some to be public, some Opposition politicians and NGOs had ‘gatecrashed’ the event. However, a few Pakatan MPs had to reluctantly leave the event held at Integrity Institute of Malaysia, here, after being told by Low that Parliamentarians are able to ask questions in Dewan Rakyat.

Hailing the event a successful step, Ali vowed that they would work more closely with the media after hearing complaints from several media personnel that the government was slow in responding to negative issues.

“By the time we read newspapers, we have to be defensive. Good stories sometimes won’t come out in the papers, because it doesn’t bring readership. We take up your offer, we will work together with the media,” he said, adding that sometimes the government considers “complaints” in the media “a gift” as it allows them to improve and know what is happens on the ground.