Gerakan Youth thanks the government for meting out punishment against chief executive officers of government-linked companies (GLCs) over failed Key Performance Indicators (KP1s) but hopes more can be done to prevent wastage of public funds.

Gerakan Youth secretary-general Dr Dominic Lau said it is only right to take disciplinary action including sacking the errant officers but more importantly there must be a good mechanism to monitor regularly the officers’ performance from the early stages.

“We should not wait for the damage to be done, particularly after a heavy financial loss to the GLCs concerned, by which time it may be too late to recover the losses,” said Lau in a statement.

Lau said the monies of GLCs belong to ratepayers and thus there should be greater transparency, accountability and responsibility.

“At best, what the public expects is be informed of the performance and status of the GLCs at regular intervals and the steps or measures taken by the government to address any non-compliance of KP1s or deviations,” he said.

Lau said as a deterrent, incompetent CEOs should be removed from their posts without any delay and appropriate legal action taken against them.

He said the public should also be informed of the errant GLCs.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin told Parliament yesterday that all government-linked companies would face appropriate punishment, including the possibility of sacking chief executive officers, if Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were not met.

He said already two CEOs under the G20 cluster of GLC companies have lost their jobs for failing to meet their 57 KPIs.

“This is the kind of action we will take because if we have KPIs or targets set, we must be held responsible to them. We cannot have KPIs but we do not care if they are achieved or not,” he said in response to a question from Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) during question time. However, Awang did not name the GLC’s concerned.