Paul Low an ‘apologist’ who has sold out to Barisan, says Tony Pua

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low says it is ‘very hard’ to enforce an open tender system for government procurement, a remark which has earned him scorn from the opposition. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, November 18, 2014.

DAP lawmaker Tony Pua has hit out at Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low, calling him a Barisan Nasional (BN) apologist instead of preaching "good governance and integrity" – his portfolio in the Najib administration.

Pua was commenting on Low's statement in The Malaysian Insider on whether a fully open tender system would be implemented for government contracts to replace direct negotiations following the incinerator fiasco.

"It appears that the former respected chairman of Transparency International Malaysia who preached accountability and good governance has completely capitulated to the tainted BN system," the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said in a statement today.

"In the past, he would have supported the Public Account Committee's (PAC) chairman’s stand against direct negotiations without a moment’s hesitation," said Pua.

Low, when asked to comment on the incinerator controversy, had said that it would be a long time before a fully open tender system was implemented for government contracts to replace direct negotiations.

He said it was "very hard" to enforce an open tender system for government procurement, which he had announced in January, adding that it was a "journey" that would take some time.

"We have begun implementing it. But it takes time to change the practice. I don't know when we can fully implement it," the minister responsible for promoting governance and integrity said.

"The government is so huge but it is a journey."

Pua said in jest: "Datuk Paul Low should take a long reflection at the mirror to determine if his own 'journey' as the flag-bearer of transparency and good governance has sadly ended."

The minister, he said, had not even attempted to put up a front to demonstrate Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's "rock-solid" commitment and political will to fight corruption, waste and negligence.

"The 'Integrity' Minister became an open apologist for the BN system of shady direct negotiations and giving feeble excuse as to why it will take a long time to implement open tenders."

"Instead of being able to boast of transformational change in the government to be more transparent and accountable after his surprise appointment to the cabinet 18 months ago, it appears that Datuk Paul Low himself underwent the transformational change."

Last week, the PAC tabled its report on the management of four incinerator projects by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in Parliament, in which PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (pic, left) recommended that the government take action against officials who he claimed were negligent in approving the projects.

They include the urban wellbeing, housing and local government ministry secretary-general; the director-general of the national solid waste management department; and the panel of experts who evaluated the projects.

“The government had decided to award five incinerator projects worth RM200 million on a direct negotiation basis,” Nur Jazlan later told The Malaysian Insider.

“It should have tried one first and see how it performed. The incinerators did not perform as per contracted," he said, adding that an open-tender approach on sourcing for incinerators could have prevented millions of public funds from being wasted on the faulty ones supplied by XCN Technology.

- TMI