Awang Tengah criticised

KUCHING – Sarawak Opposition leaders and activists today criticised Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management for asking the Auditor General to amend its Annual Report for 2008 as the report cited Sarawak along with Kelantan, Pahang and Johor to have poor forest management that led to river pollution, erosion, landslides and destruction of flora and fauna.

The report which also mentioned illegal logging, logging in forest reserves or national parks and poor enforcement as some of the factors responsible has made the minister unhappy and demanded that the report be corrected.

A DAP leader Voon Lee Shan, who is the Batu Lintang State assemblyman said that Police and MACC reports should be made against the minister for trying to influence the Auditor General to change the report.

“This is an abuse of power and intimidation against the Auditor General. Police reports as well reports to MACC should be made,” he said, pointing out that the AG made the report based on the principle of authority and accountability.

The AG, he said, should be firm and should not be influenced by any quarter.

A PKR Sarawak leader and State Assemblyman for Padungan Dominique Ng accused Awang Tengah of trying to fiddle with the report. The AG, he said, has certain procedures and guidelines to follow in making their reports

“Unless the Sarawak Government is saying that the reports are without any basis and are wrong, then the minister is questioning the credibility of the AG.

“The Sarawak Government should spend time and effort to find out the truth instead in a denial mode. Didn’t they also deny the Penan rape cases?

“They are only trying to cover up atrocities now being committed in our lands,” Ng stressed.

Harrison Ngau, chairman of Sarawak Indigenous Lawyers Alliance (SILA), said that Awang Tengah should not attempt to question let alone dictate how the AG which is an independent body carries out his works or functions.

“If Awang Tengah wants the AG to change or amend its reports on the subject of forest management in Sarawak, other parties such as the native communities who live within or around the logging areas would also want their views to be included in the AG reports.

“I would also want to suggest to the AG to look into the reasons why environmental impact assessment study on loggings in Sarawak as required under the Natural Resources and Environment Ordinance was never carried out by the logging companies in the State?

“I wish also to challenge Awang Tengah to furnish to the AG copies of all the areas in Sarawak which have been licensed out for logging since 1981 and to reveal the names of the companies granted the licences.

“He should disclose all these to the AG to enable him to also study and annex the maps and the names of the companies in the AG reports so that the public can also make their assessment and give their views to the AG concerning the management of our forest in Sarawak.

“If Awang Tengah is so confident that AG was wrong in concluding that the management of our forests is poor, he should therefore have the courage to disclose all these,” Harrison said.

The Secretary General of Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Nicholas Mujah called on MACC to investigate Awang Tengah as there seems to be fishy elements on his call on the AG to amend his report.

“MACC must look into Awang Tengah’s call,” he said.

Meanwhile, Awang Tengah who is the most powerful minister after Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, demanded the Auditor General to make correction with regards to its reports on Sarawak’s sustainable forest management as it was misleading and incorrect.

“The Auditor General has to make the correction for fear that outsiders may use the report to tarnish the image of the state,” he said, adding that the final report was based on their (AG’s) own interpretation and not based on the reports, findings and comments from the Forest Department.

“If they want the interest and image of the State not to be affected internationally, they should make the necessary correction,” he said.

He said that the National Audit Department had actually requested for comments from the various departments before the AG made the final report.

“But in the final report they simply set aside whatever comments that we have gathered. The Forest Department was even not consulted when the final report was published.

“We do not question their competency on financial management such as how projects are implemented as that is their expertise. But to comment on certain things like sustainable forest management, I don’t think they have the expertise. They cannot come to the conclusion based on their own observation. For instance just because the water is muddy they blame it on illegal logging and pollution. You can’t make that kind of conclusion,” said Awang Tengah angrily.

“If they have the expertise to make the comment, it is okay, but I believe they don’t have it,” he said, pointing out that Sarawak had been practising sustainable forest management since the formation of the Forest Department and had been credited by international organisations, ITTO, and the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has announced the setting up of a high powered task force to study the 2008 Auditor General report and initiate appropriate actions against those responsible for financial irregularities and abuse of power mentioned in the report.

“The committee will not only look at the abuse of power and initiate action against those found involved in financial irregularities but also take administrative actions against those found guilty but could not charged in court fro various reasons,” he said.

The task forced to be headed by the Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Sidek Hassan would also include the Finance Secretary General Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah, Public Services Department Director General Ismail Adam and the Auditor General Ambrin Buang himself.

They would have the power to rope in Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail and the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) if the need arose, he said.

Following Awang Tengah’s complaints against the AG, don’t you think Awang Tengah or someone from the Forestry Corporation to be interviewed by the task force for possibly abuse of power? - The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com