KUALA LUMPUR – Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has called on the government to be transparent about the status of various stimulus packages that have been rolled out since early last year, when the country was first hit by Covid-19.
The anti-corruption group’s president, Muhammad Mohan, said that the government has been rolling out various stimulus packages both for fiscal and non-fiscal spending worth more than RM500 billion.
He stressed that the government should table information about the roll-outs in the upcoming Parliament sitting for debate to ensure good governance, transparency and accountability.
“The government should demonstrate greater transparency, integrity and accountability by making public how all these huge stimulus packages were disbursed,” he said in a statement today.
“It should allow the opposition and the public to question the decision-making and distribution process for the betterment of the nation and, particularly, those in need in these troubling times.
“The Public Accounts Committee should also be allowed to scrutinise these huge expenditures,” he said.
The statement was issued in conjunction with the release of TI-M’s report titled “Covid-19 & Malaysian SMEs: A study on the effectiveness and transparency of government aid” today.
The study revealed that 64% of respondents from SMEs expressed confidence in the transparency, integrity and accountability in the federal government’s aid process.
“However, 52% of the SMEs acknowledged that they had diverted the Prihatin and Penjana funds to sustain the business and to pay for other operational expenditures, apart from the reasons allocated for.
“The research also finds that, while the SMEs are generally aware about the federal government aid, 65% of the respondents were not aware about state government aid.
“Among the challenges and effectiveness of the aid disbursements, as cited by SMEs, it was mentioned that procedures were not clear, criteria too rigid and quota too limited,” he said.
The study also revealed that 8% of the SMEs claimed that bribery and corruption were necessary to obtain the Penjana and Prihatin assistance, with the involved parties mainly from banks, the federal government, agencies and local government.
“The lower level of corruption could be due to the online application method used by the government instead of direct contact between the SMEs and public officials.
“Thus, the government should continue to encourage the public to use online applications to mitigate any risk of bribery and corruption, and, at the same time, improve internet connectivity throughout the nation.”
Ways to improve future aid delivery
Based on the study, Muhammad said the government could look into ways to improve future aid delivery to the public.
In the same statement, he said the government should loosen qualifying criteria and reduce bureaucracy, besides engaging more with trade associations and unions to comprehend issues faced by SMEs on the ground.
“Subsidies and aid should be centralised and have similar processes or mechanisms to avoid confusing members of the public.
“Public communication channels, such as social media and mainstream platforms, should be utilised to convince the people and businesses that aid programmes and assistance are consistently monitored and audited,” he said.
To date, Putrajaya has unveiled eight economic packages worth RM530 billion in total to address the crisis since the virus outbreak hit Malaysia. – The Vibes, July 8, 2021
