WITH the exception of one or two, government backbenchers are one soft lot. They rarely question the government about anything of material importance.
And when one does, like Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein did on Thursday, ministers rise up in anger. Being defensive is a peculiar Malaysian habit.
They hear, but don't listen. Hishammuddin made two important points. One, a lack of follow-through on promises of foreign direct investments (FDIs).
Two, ministers' lack of interest in the 2024 Budget. Start with the first criticism, the more important of the two. FDIs are headline-grabbing news, especially in this gloomy global market. What should be up is all down and what should be down is all up.
And so when our leaders fly the globe and return home with promises of hundreds of billions of investments, the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) is quick to take to the media to trumpet the number of memoranda of understanding Malaysia has signed.
But when it comes to the status of these promises — MoUs are just promises, some not even legal — a pregnant silence pervades Miti. Not even a word about the controversial MoUs signed by Malaysian companies that did not have good track records. Why take them on a trip with the prime minister?
Doesn't Miti have a mechanism to separate the wheat from the chaff? Miti should not belittle the country like this.
Now back to the billions that Malaysia is said to have attracted. From January to June this year, Malaysia is said to have approved RM132.6 billion in investments, both domestic and foreign.
If the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) figures are right, these are supposed to encompass 2,651 projects, with a promise of 51,853 jobs. Again, these are "approved", not implemented. Miti should know there is a slip between "approved" and "implemented" projects.
So where are they in the project life cycle? As Hishammuddin suggested, the nation has the right to know. It is one thing to say that Malaysia has garnered hundreds of billions in FDI, but another to see them all implemented.
This is Hishammuddin's point. Trumpeting the success of "hundreds of billions" in FDIs is no real success. What amounts to one is the implementation of them all.
Miti, Mida, you name it, seem to be more interested in issuing press releases about the number of MoUs signed or "approved" projects, but not implemented ones. Granted, some projects have a long life cycle, but there is such a thing as progress reports.
If Miti is shy about issuing press releases about project progress, it can disclose this to Parliament. Here, too, its performance is dismal.
Hishammuddin chided the ministers for their lack of interest in the 2024 Budget, our second point. He shouldn't have stopped at ministers and the 2024 Budget.
MPs from both sides of the aisle seem to lack interest in much of the proceedings in the august house. Many choose to be absent as their pleasure dictates. A few may have good reasons to be absent, but not the rest.
Voters elected MPs to be part of the parliamentary debates that shape the future of the nation. Being absent means giving the future a miss.
We want MPs who take their responsibilities seriously. Regular absenteeism is a major sign of irresponsibility. Hope they change before they are changed.
