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PETALING JAYA: A non-governmental organization (NGO) criticized opposition MPs in Kuala Lumpur today for not abolishing the Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP) when the Pakatan Harapan was in power, but calling for it to be closed now.
Save Kuala Lumpur (Save KL) Vice Chairman Mumtaz Ali said that his group, along with other NGOs, had urged Putrajaya to abolish YWP when PH took office in May 2018.
“That was the first thing we asked the former minister of federal territories Khalid Samad and other PH deputies, but they did nothing. They had a chance to disband YWP, so why didn’t they do anything about it?
“They are like the pot that calls the black kettle and should be held accountable to the public,” he told FMT.
MPs called for the abolition of YWP following a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the YWP administration was exposed to conflicts of interest, as the minister of federal territories and the mayor of Kuala Lumpur were the chairman of the foundation and the member of the board of trustees, respectively.
Justifying the call for the abolition of YWP, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh said that the foundation’s main role of looking after the well-being of the people could be carried out by Yayasan Kebajikan Negara, which reports to the Ministry of Women’s Development. , the Family and the Community.
Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng had said the Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL) could establish a separate department directly under its purview to handle welfare-related matters, while Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said that YWP could become a legal body.
Mumtaz also asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the National Audit Department to conduct a detailed investigation of all YWP transactions.
“The Minister of Federal Territories, Annuar Musa, should also be more transparent with matters related to the ministry,” he said.
YWP is a company registered under the Companies Act of 1965 and is not supervised by any authority, including the National Audit Department.
The PAC revealed yesterday that 97 DBKL land sales transactions had been carried out without reference to any POE since 2011, adding that the process was too lax and exposed to abuse of power.
