No one is barred from HR Ministry, says Sim

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry's door is always open and no one is prevented from entering, says its minister Steven Sim.

“I don’t know if anyone was blocked from seeing me. My door is also always open. Maybe you haven’t (been able to meet) me yet,” he told a press conference in the Parliament building here on Wednesday (July 17).

Sim urged for patience among those who wished to see him as he had been busy with ministerial affairs for the past six months since being appointed to the post in December.

“We (pushed through) five big pieces of legislation under the ministry.

"There are also various issues that need to be resolved. I apologise if anyone cannot get an appointment.

"But my door is always open and no one is barred from meeting me or the ministry's top officials," he said.

A reporter had asked Sim to clarify claims that a certain individual from the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp) was “blocked” from the ministry.

Sim said the ministry had also taken drastic measures to comply with recommendations in the Auditor General’s report over the HRD Corp issue.

He also said his ministry had cooperated with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its probe of HRD Corp.

It also set up a special task force to look into HRD Corp which met recently.

“The second meeting will be held after Parliament ends this week, because we have been busy with things here.

“After this, the special task force will meet to decide on follow-up actions,” he said.

Previously, the Public Accounts Committee revealed that HRD Corp had invested RM3.77bil in levies collected from employers for training development programmes.

The Auditor General’s Report, meanwhile, found that HRD Corp’s Gerak Insan Gemilang (GIG) training programme had incurred costs amounting to RM51.69mil, with some participants attending it up to 16 times.

On Thursday (July 11), the MACC called in 10 individuals to give their statements as part of its HRD Corp probe.