PETALING JAYA: The RM85mil cost to develop the Central Database Hub (Padu) has been put on the parliamentary record at least twice, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
The Ayer Hitam MP and MCA president said it was regrettable that despite this, he had been accused of getting his facts wrong.
He took to Facebook on Friday (Nov 8) to state that Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli had given two responses in the Dewan Rakyat that the cost to develop Padu was RM85.27mil.
"On July 1, a written response was provided for Oral Question No. 20 posed by Rantau Panjang MP Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff of Perikatan Nasional.
"Siti Zailah had asked about the development cost of Padu, and the response given was RM85.27mil.
"On July 11, in Oral Question No. 53 from Bakri MP Tan Hong Pin of Pakatan Harapan had asked about the implementation cost of Padu.
"Once again, the same answer was provided: RM85.27mil," Dr Wee wrote.
He said the answers had been provided by Rafizi and were on the official record.
"Rafizi, it is crystal clear that the figure RM85.27mil as the development cost of Padu came directly from you and is now on official record!
"Four months have passed, so why haven't you issued a ministerial clarification to correct the RM85.27mil figure if you believe the number provided to Rantau Panjang and Bakri is incorrect?" asked Dr Wee.
"What’s even more baffling is that Rafizi accuses me of making false statements for saying RM85.27mil was the development cost of Padu.
"You (Rafizi) are the one who answered in writing twice, repeating the RM85.27mil figure, yet in the end, Wee Ka Siong is being blamed?
"Now you’re blaming the officers? As a minister, don’t you check and verify your work? Why is it so easy for you to blame others?
"Next, will you blame the media for publishing the RM85.27mil figure?
"Suara Keadilan also reported the same thing, so will Rafizi blame them too?" said Dr Wee, including screenshots of the reports with hyperlinks.
Dr Wee said he and the media were just repeating a figure that had been put on the official record and should not be blamed for it.
"If there’s been a mistake, just admit it.
"Your (Rafizi) status as a minister won’t be diminished,” said Dr Wee.
On Thursday (Nov 7), Dr Wee urged Rafizi to retract a statement that disputed the cost of developing Padu.
Seeking a ruling from Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul, Dr Wee said the RM85mil cost he cited was reported by several news outlets, including PKR organ Suara Keadilan.
Showing printouts of news reports in the Dewan Rakyat, Dr Wee added that a quick online check showed he had quoted the correct figure.
Dr Wee said Rafizi had disputed the figure, saying a “different officer” had furnished the data, and he only wished to clear his name.
"I am not trying to create problems, but I will defend my good name to the very end," Dr Wee said.
Rafizi recently said it was untrue that Padu was developed with an allocation of RM85mil, saying that only RM31mil had been spent as of September.
According to Rafizi, the RM31mil included RM800,000 on the servers, firewall and network security, RM4.6mil for platform database encryption and other purposes, and RM6.4mil for cloud services.
The heftiest expenditure on Padu, Rafizi said, was RM19.3mil for nationwide registration operations.
