OPINION: When our national airline shops for aircraft, it goes straight to the giants -- Boeing or Airbus -- choosing based on need. But when the Health Ministry shops for medical equipment or pharmaceuticals, it does not go to the source. In most cases, purchases are made through a middleman.
That middleman -- let’s call him Ahmad for want of a better-known name -- may not even know which end of a stethoscope belongs in the ears. Yet he pockets a cut from every deal, doing nothing.
And Ahmad is hardly unique. There are hundreds of such individuals and companies. This rent-collecting culture, like cancer cells, has manifested itself across ministries and agencies, legitimised by policy and shielded by entitlement.
The government created this monster, and under the creed of “what you give cannot be taken away,” taxpayers are forced to fatten parasites who supply everything from thermometers to baggage conveyor belts.
In a case that made headlines worldwide about 10 years ago, two companies linked to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) were convicted of bribing Malaysian officials for the contract to supply polymer RM5 currency notes between 1998 and 2004.
A former assistant governor of Bank Negara (BNM) and a middleman (also said to be an arms dealer) were implicated.
The BNM officer was accused of taking bribes from a middleman, named only as Abdul Kayum, who was based in Kuala Lumpur, where he ran a company called Aksavest.
Australian media said the company’s former website showed Kayum worked for a Pakistani weapons supplier, Air Weapons Complex, which sells laser-guided bombs.
In 1999, the RBA hired Kayum to help it win contracts in Malaysia to turn its RM5 notes from paper to plastic.
The question to ask is: Why were there no government-to-government arrangements between BNM and RBA without involving middlemen?
Which is why the Chief Secretary to the Government, Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar’s claim this week that procurement weaknesses stem largely from “non-compliance with established procedures” is not credible. The rot runs far deeper.
The real culprits, he said, sit on Procurement Board Committees and in offices where ignorance of procurement principles is the norm.
As Shamsul himself admitted: “Weaknesses occur due to insufficient understanding of procurement procedures and our own internal shortcomings.”
But what procedures can be followed when rent-seekers work to dominate the system? When monopolies are entrenched and when non-compliance is tolerated, the procurement process itself becomes the gateway to corruption.
Why should assault rifles for the defence forces be supplied by the likes of Ahmad, who marks up the price to include kickbacks? Why the reluctance to buy direct from manufacturers?
At the opening of this year’s Parliament session on Monday, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim lamented the state of corruption.
“I am disappointed that there are corruption cases in the military, up to high levels. It appears that I may need to appoint a sergeant as the head of the armed forces.
“This is the tip of the iceberg – I am sure there are more out there, in the customs and immigration departments, police, and others. And perhaps even those in this Dewan Rakyat,” he noted.
It was a royal rebuke that came with a warning to civil servants: Please remember that if you abuse your power or help those who are corrupt, you are a traitor to your country.
So, what happens next? Will the Madani government, which has been vocal about combating corruption, have the courage to eliminate the rent-seeking monster that was created more than 50 years ago by the Umno-BN government in the name of helping Bumiputera entrepreneurs?
Of course, there will be loud protests from individuals and political parties who have benefited and continue to benefit from such arrangements, but come at a high cost to the country and its people.
The rent-seeking monster is no longer a tool of empowerment. It has become a parasite that drains the nation’s lifeblood. For decades, middlemen have thrived under the guise of policy, feeding off inflated contracts while taxpayers foot the bill.
The royal rebuke was not just a cry; it was a call to arms. If the Madani government, which has been shouting hoarse about corruption, is serious about reform, it must undo the arteries of corruption at their source.
Monopolies must be dismantled to end the middleman culture and restore direct, transparent procurement. Anything less can only be described as complicity.
Citizen Nades (citizen.nades22@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
