Prof: Greater transparency, accountability needed for GLC reforms
KUALA LUMPUR: Greater transparency and accountability is needed for reforms at government-linked companies (GLCs), said Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs senior fellow Professor Dr Edmund Terence Gomez, here, on Saturday.
He questioned why GLC reforms had yet to take off and pointed out the silence on the issue of reshuffling GLCs from one ministry to another.
“We are well into six months of the administration. Since the presence of the GLCs was a major problem in the economy, it is one of the first reforms that should have been done.
“Why haven’t they introduced reforms as Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir described the GLCs as ‘monsters’,” he said on the sidelines of the Youth Economic Forum 2018, here.
In April, Dr Mahathir said the GLCs had grown to become monsters and were not serving the purpose originally intended — which was to reduce the disparity between the rich and the poor.
He also said that some GLCs were created to ensure money rested with them and held shares for the Malays, but without proper supervision, had become monsters.
According to Edmund, the government has to be clear as to why the GLCs were set up.
“The GLCs became an important process through which you could channel out concessions and procurement that clearly need transparency,” he said.
He also questioned the reshuffling of GLCs between ministries such as the Finance Ministry (moF) and Economic Affairs Ministry.
“Why should companies under the MoF be transferred to the Ministry of Economic Affairs?
“Why should some GLCs, under MoF, be put under the Prime Minister’s Department? Here, I am talking specifically about Khazanah. Why is the shuffling going on?