KUALA LUMPUR: The Finance Ministry should disclose which other ministries had required allocation adjustments after exceeding their original spending limits, says Datuk Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (pic).
The Tampin MP said such adjustments were a normal part of public financial management and should not be portrayed as wrongdoing.
He was defending the Rural and Regional Development Ministry after DAP lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the ministry's alleged RM2.1bil over-expenditure on rural road projects between 2023 and 2025.
"If allocation adjustments are considered an offence, then the Finance Ministry should table a list of other ministries that have gone through the same process so that DAP can continue lodging MACC reports against them," he said while debating the Budget 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 20).
Mohd Isam said the issue should not have been prolonged after the Finance Ministry, through the Treasury deputy secretary-general, confirmed on Oct 1 that the technical matter involving the allocation adjustment had been resolved.
He questioned why DAP proceeded to lodge its MACC report on Oct 6, five days after the ministry's explanation.
"This is no longer about transparency. It is clearly another cheap political gimmick by DAP to create a negative perception of the ministry leadership, which has been working hard to develop rural road infrastructure," he said.
Mohd Isam said the ministry submitted a full report on procurement records and allocation adjustments involving the Rural Works Department to MACC on Oct 7, a day after the report was lodged, to show that there had been no irregularity or misconduct.
The controversy followed remarks by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Rural and Regional Development Minister, over delays in payments to contractors involved in the ministry's projects.
Treasury secretary-general Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican subsequently said most of the ministry's allocation for rural roads for the year had been used, resulting in delayed payments to contractors.
He said the ministry had consistently exceeded its approved allocation for rural road projects, with cumulative over-expenditure of RM2.1bil recorded from 2023 to 2025.
Separately, Mohd Isam questioned the government's projected federal debt of almost RM1.4 trillion in 2027, compared with RM741bil in 2018.
He said the government should not focus solely on a decline in the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio while the absolute level of federal debt had almost doubled in less than a decade.
"Is a figure of RM1.4 trillion measured with a different yardstick from that used in 2018?
"Why was rising debt once described as a disaster for the country, but RM1.4tril is now normalised as an ordinary matter of administration without any sense of responsibility to the people?" he asked.
Mohd Isam said the government must account for every ringgit of public money and ensure that allocations provided delivered tangible benefits to the people.
