Political appointees purge necessary to weed out graft, says economist

Gan Pei Ling Gan Pei Ling Updated 5 years ago · Published on 13 Jul 2018 7:01PM · 3 Comments

Professor of Economics at University of California, Woo Wing Thye likens the removal of political appointees in GLCs to 'turning a ship from a coral reef'. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Kamal Ariffin, July 13, 2018.

MALAYSIA is right to get rid of political appointees in government-linked companies (GLCs), said economist Prof Woo Wing Thye.

“We have to recognise that the GLCs were vehicles of corruption.

“What we (the new government) are doing is turning (them) around,” the professor of Economics from the University of California, said delivering a lecture on the ongoing China-US trade spat, this afternoon, in Kuala Lumpur.

He was asked him whether the purging of political appointees would sent shockwaves through the companies.

“It’s not a shock but a correction. It’s turning a ship from a coral reef,” said Woo.

He said the Hebatkan Negaraku video that featured top executives openly campaigning for Barisan Nasional prior to the 14th general election demonstrated the rot within the GLCs.

“It’s not normal. Do you sing praises for your boss when you are free? They should (not) be made to sing for their political masters,” he said.

However, he said leadership changes in GLCs alone were insufficient and Malaysia needed to rethink how to make GLCs work when most countries had failed.

“Most people look at GLCs as a management problem. (But) their incentive system makes it very difficult for them to exist as normal companies.

“Their existence makes it difficult for the government not to treat them as ATMs,” said Woo.

Local economist Terence Gomez has highlighted that the Finance Minister wields too much power over the country’s GLCs.

Gomez has suggested that the Dewan Rakyat should set up a parliamentary committee to oversee the GLCs. – July 13, 2018.
 

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Comments

  • Absolutely spot on. A real pity Dr. Terence Gomez is not on the CEP.

    Posted 5 years ago by Azlan Romly · Reply

  • It's cash cows waiting to be abused by their landlords, on this case the warlords who put them there.....Najib and the UMNO warlords.....

    Posted 5 years ago by Crishan Veera · Reply

  • It's cash cows waiting to be abused by their landlords, on this case the warlords who put them there.....Najib and the UMNO warlords.....

    Posted 5 years ago by Crishan Veera · Reply