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MP SPEAKS | Since the presentation of the federal government budget for 2021, the revival of Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas (Jasa) has drawn public attention and been widely criticized. Although the majority of Barisan Nasional leaders agreed with the move to revive Jasa, they were hesitant to allocate the astronomical sum of RM 85.5 million to the agency amid this Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
Many of them criticized the allocation for Jasa as too large compared to those given during the BN administration. However, the truth is that we may have been misled by what is shown in the budget documents.
Former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak spoke with his own justice in his parliamentary debate last week on the allocation of 85.5 million ringgit to Jasa. He claimed that the four-fold increase, compared to BN’s Jasa, is unjustifiable and therefore angered people.
At the beginning, I also believed at the time that Perikatan Nasional (PN) had increased Jasa’s budget by many folds compared to RM30 million in the 2018 Budget, which was presented by BN. However, a thorough investigation revealed the truth behind the figures and numbers written on the budget documents.
The Pakatan Harapan government dissolved Jasa in October 2018. According to media reports at the time, around 300 permanent employees would be absorbed by other agencies as they were career civil servants. Meanwhile, Umno’s man, Faisal Ismail Aziz, who led Jasa after Mohd Puad Zakarshi stepped down as director, claimed that around 800 contract employees lost their jobs following Jasa’s dissolution …
