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Friday, November 7, 2014

C4 ‘crowdsources’ to highlight wastage, leakage in public sector

Centre to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) director Cynthia Gabriel says the crowdsourcing initiative that C4 will launch on Tuesday will focus on public spending, especially on wastage leakage and corruption in the public sector. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Zhafri Azmi, November 7, 2014.Centre to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) director Cynthia Gabriel says the crowdsourcing initiative that C4 will launch on Tuesday will focus on public spending, especially on wastage leakage and corruption in the public sector. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Zhafri Azmi, November 7, 2014.
To keep public pressure going following the release of the auditor general's report on wastage, leakage and corruption in the public sector, a civil society group has come up with a crowdsourcing initiative to let the government know that taxpayers will not just sit by and let these irregularities go unchecked year after year.
The campaign by the Centre to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4), named “biting the bullet on public spending and government accountability”, is aimed at keeping up the momentum after the AG report is presented three times a year, and to reverse the trend of media frenzy and public furore over the revelations dying out within a week.
"Financial accountability of public monies has been a constant bane in Malaysia where lack of transparent policies and poor budgetary controls have left a gaping hole in public confidence over fiscal governance and management.
Crowdsourcing is the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community.
She said that the plan was to help the public digest the bulky reports and putting it out in an easy-to-read format.
The website, www.combatcorruption.my, will go “live” on Tuesday, a day after the third series of the AG report is tabled in Parliament and will feature a section for citizens to give their comments.
She added that the top 100 to 150 informed and constructive comments would be collated in a citizens’ report and presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for further action.
There is also a section on encouraging whistleblowing, which Gabriel described as the “most dangerous job to do in Malaysia”.
"The current climate is that if you irk those in power, they shoot the messenger and not investigate the complaint.
"So we would also need to talk to the government to provide and promote greater ways of whistleblowing."
Gabriel also said the new initiative was an effort to connect the public with information on how the public sector functions and how taxpayers’ money was spent.
"And we know millions have been lost to wastage and leakage, and with higher cost of living upon us, we tend to ask if it could have been avoided if the government had been more prudent in spending," she added.
Another C4 director Richard Yeoh said that the AG’s report for the past 30 to 40 years had always been detailed, critical and analytical and, therefore, the initiative would take it to a higher level in galvanising the public to follow up on it.
"Every time these reports come out, they are in the media and raised in Parliament, but after a while people forget and the following year the same issues come up.
"So this initiative will take matters more seriously and I'm sure the auditor general himself will welcome it, as present and past AGs have always been lamenting the lack of action and public interest in their reports," Yeoh said, adding that it would help to highlight the work of the unsung heroes in the AG's Department who come up with the detailed reports.
- TMI

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