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Johor - "As a public administrator, have we done our part in improving the integrity and accountability of the public sector?" asked Deputy Finance Minister Dato' Ir. Amiruddin Hamzah.

According to him, public administrators must reflect and think of how far they carry out the trust in order to comply with the expectations and desires of the people on how to manage public money.

Hence, he said, the Public Sector Finance and Auditing Seminar 2019 (SKPSA2019) provided a platform for public administrators entrusted with the organization's governance to collaborate with academia to create transparent and effective public governance.  In doing so, it would greatly help to improve the quality of the public delivery system to all.

"The country has a good financial and governance system but it can become crippled by its incompetent captain. Therefore, as a government that prioritizes the principle of integrity, it has introduced the concept called CAT short for Competency, Accountability and Transparency.

"The concept will be used in drafting government policies and delivery systems, in fact through this concept also, among the initial things the government has done in reforming the fiscal position of the country to ensure optimum spending, especially in infrastructure projects, is the re-negotiation of mega projects such as ECRL," he said during the Official Opening Ceremony of SKPSA2019 at The Puteri Pacific Hotel, Johor Bahru recently.

He said, adhering to CAT principles and being committed to implementing accrual accounting by 2021, reports made would become more transparent on the amount of debt and liabilities and value of government assets.

According to him, the move was expected to boost investors’ confidence in the country's management, as well as put Malaysia's financial management on par with other developed countries.

"Collaboration with academic institutions also plays an important role in applying the culture of integrity and transparency that begins from the grassroots.

"Aptly themed, 'The Challenge of Public Sector Governance  - Changing Community Culture, Rejecting Corruption, Improving Public Accountability', the seminar should stimulate the mind of the participants who are public administrators to look back and think whether they have performed their roles as it should be in improving integrity and accountability in the public sector, " he said.

Meanwhile, Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Bashawir Abdul Ghani said the theme adopted for the SKPSA2019 this time coincided with the efforts of the government in strengthening the administration machinery to the grassroots level to address corruption problems, as well as to form and improve the public sector delivery system in order to meet the people's needs and expectations.

According to him, the Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad once said that Malaysia and the people of this country can only consider themselves to be developed when they reject bribery and stop the practice.

"According to him again, Malaysia should pay serious attention to the issue of corruption if they want to be in the ranks of developed nation and reappear as 'Asian Tigers'.

"Hence, government administrators need to pledge not to get involved with corruption if they love the country and want the country to be respected by the world community," he said.

Prof. Dr. Ahmad Bashawir expressed his hopes that the opportunity to grasp knowledge, exchange ideas and experiences with each other in the two-day seminar would bring about great benefits to participants.

SKPSA2019 saw participation from more than 150 participants from various departments and agencies throughout Malaysia.  The event was organized by the Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy (TISSA) in collaboration with the Johor Darul Takzim Government Secretary (SUK).

Also present were Deputy Secretary of Johor State Government (Development), Dato' Ramlee A. Rahman representing the Secretary of Johor State Government and Deputy Secretary of Johor State Government (Management), Dato' Dr. Badrul Hisham Kassim.