Although “Performance Now” is one of the three overarching mottos of the Najib Cabinet, it has very little real meaning to the Cabinet Ministers.
The MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat is no exception.
One of the first things he promised a year ago as Transport Minister was to “tell all” about the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal.
Up to now, he has told nothing!
Early this month, Ong evaded responsibility for the public release of the PriceWaterhouseCooper report on the PKFZ, saying that it now lies with the Port Klang Authority (PKA).
It is a sorry sight for the past year that Ong had not been able to answer the five questions about the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal which I posed to him immediately after his public pledge to “tell all” about PKFZ, particularly about the history of impropriety in land transactions, illegal issue of Letters of Support, Cabinet bailouts and retrospective ratification of illegal decisions by the two previous Transport Ministers, Tun Ling Liong Sik and Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy although he had all the answers without having to await the outcome of the PricewaterhouseCooper audit report.
The Edge weekly in its cover story today reported that PKFZ costs are believed to have ballooned to RM8 billion.
Malaysian taxpayers are entitled to the full details as to why the PKFZ scandal which started as a RM2.3 billion scandal under Liong Sik, became a RM4.6 billion scandal under Kong Choy has now ballooned to be a RM8 billion scandal under Tee Keat as the three successive MCA Transport Ministers?
There should be no more delay in the publication of the PWC report on the PKFZ and if Ong is not prepared to “tell all”, the Cabinet at its meeting next Wednesday should overrule Ong and direct the immediate public release of the full PWC report on the PKFZ to honour the pledge of accountability, transparency and good governance given by Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he became Prime Minister three weeks ago on April 3.