Ministry explains need to hire PR agency for VMY 2014

AN external public relations agency was hired to manage Visit Malaysia Year 2014 events as the scope of work was larger and more comprehensive, the Public Accounts Committee heard.

The Tourism and Culture Ministry told PAC that VMY 2014 required additional work specifications beyond the job scope of Tourism Malaysia’s corporate communications unit.

The ministry also denied that the appointment of third-party public consultant Smascom Sdn Bhd was made because it had no confidence in Tourism Malaysia’s services.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the ministry explained that it wanted to embark on tourism in a bigger scope and centralise VMY 2014 programmes under the ministry by forming its own secretariat.

PAC was seeking explanations from the ministry over findings in the Auditor-General’s Report, revealing that there were similarities and redundancies in the work carried out by the appointed PR consultant and Tourism Malaysia’s own promotional activities.

The A-G’s report had also queried why Smascom was paid more than RM360,000 per month under its 22-month contract when Tourism Malaysia’s in-house services only cost RM39,900 a month.

The PR agency hired for VMY 2014 was responsible for researching and producing e-bulletins, write-ups, editorials and consulting on the campaign’s mega projects, as well as fostering strategic partnerships between the ministry and private sector, Nur Jazlan said.

RM92.67mil was spent on 10 programmes between 2011 and 2013 for VMY 2014, with several weaknesses being identified in regard to their management and monitoring.

Some of the events included Citra Warna 1Malaysia, the Labuan Water Festival, Fabulous Food 1Malaysia, the Malaysian International Shoe Festival and Malaysia Culture Week.

Nur Jazlan revealed that the method of payment to the contractors was alsoan issue.

“The ministry paid these contractors according to a time-based method whihc contributed to inefficiencies on their part,” he said.