Hajiji’s revamp of GLCs a new dawn for Sabah
Published on: Sunday, June 20, 2021
By: Datuk John Lo
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The GLC mess has been in the making for a very long time. Sabah’s massive investments in GLCs have yielded little return, most of the time, none or negative.
Billions of assets have been lost or wasted. The underperforming/loss making GLCs have been a large millstone around Sabah’s economic neck.
Hajiji’s policy is more than a breath of fresh air, it is a typhoon as per the excellent receptions his policy announcement by Chambers and businessmen. Sorting these GLCs out will herald an economic rebirth for Sabah.
There is so much that can be done for Sabahans under “Sabahans First Policy” when the GLC problems have been sorted out. More than that. The increase in the number of performing GLCs will contribute to Sabah’s economy in many ways especially for Sabahans living below poverty line in the coastal and rural areas.
Why is Hajiji’s GLC Revamp Policy a NATIONAL FIRST? Because economic NGOs KL/Putrajaya are just beginning to talk about such a revamp. So far, it is dead silence in the federal corridor of power! Hajiji has already announced his policy!
Do you know how many GLCs in the Federal Government? Yaa, you’re right. Nobody knows cos the Federal Government has lost track and nobody is worried about it. One unverified source says the number can be as many as 60,000 plus thousands!
Revamping GLCs is an economic management issue.
As Chief Minister, Tan Sri Harris formed many GLCs to expedite Sabah’s economic growth. His intention was noble. GLCs under him were mostly functional and economic contributors. It was never Tan Sri Harris’s intention to form GLCs for political purpose nor were they meant to reward politicians. The GLC rot started cos of involvement of politics and abuses by politicians. The GLC mess is not, I repeat, NOT a political issue. Let us be clear about this. It is an economic issue which all leaders, even those in opposition, must contribute solutions as Sabahans cos we cannot expect non-Sabahans to save us from this mess. We must face it. We must resolve it.
If left unresolved, it will drag Sabah down further. It must be repeated —-all senior political leaders, without exception, have been in government at one time or another. They all know the width and depth of the problems and have done nothing. But Hajiji has decided to act.
May I appeal to all Sabahan leaders to work together with Hajiji to find solutions in the form of constructive ideas. Very healthy if there is competition of constructive ideas rather than the usual personal, “quarrelsome”, “no substance” and “inconsequential” political discourse which has done more harm than good for Sabahans.
We should revert to Harris’ original purpose for GLCs.
Potential benefits of GLC rationalization.
The potential benefits can be huge for Sabah. Imagine if all the 250 GLCs, after rationalization, can save, on average, in a month, say [a] RM10,000 each, total would be RM25m or RM30m a year [b] RM100,000, total would be RM25m or RM300m a year.
Achieving saving of RM10,000 can be done quite simply by tightening expenses and petty abuses which most GLCs can do without efforts. To save RMRM100,000 may require some efforts but not impossible for many GLCs.
Now, how about this idea? Can the GLCs, on average, make extra RM10,000 or RM100,000 per month? Is this achievable? Certainly, it is possible for most GLCs with decent management and sound business plans, many can even double or triple them especially those with monopolies, sweat heart deals from Sabah and Federal Government.
The double barrels of saving and additional profits by GLCs can create tremendous impactful economic synergies on Sabah’s multiplier benefits in the economy and social fabrics, immeasurable sense of confidence and meaningful employments for Sabahans. Like Johor’s SEDCO [KPJ hospitals], Sabah can consider spreading our wings to other states as well. If GLCs from other states can spread their wings into Sabah, why can’t Sabahan GLCs go to other states?
Sabah’s GLCs can stop being economic drags, instead can become our economic booster rockets.
This is why Hajiji’s initiative is an important historical first.
Sufficient Resource Commitment to Implement Hajiji’s GLCs Revamp.
Hajiji’s GLC revamp policy is a huge step forward, a “must act” that Sabah must undertake to extract Sabahans out of our economic black hole. For Sabahans to benefit from this revamp policy, we must devote sufficient authority and resources to the committee which has been tasked with the implementation of this policy, especially brain power.
Most private sector leaders, when giving their enthusiastic support to Hajiji’s revamp policy in the press, have also asked for inclusion of and inputs from professionals and experts from outside the civil service. This is a very sensible idea.
Hajiji’s GLC revamp is an economic dawn.
Committing to GLC revamp requires remarkable political courage and commitment. Once the GLC revamp is underway, I hope Hajiji would train his sight on other areas in the economy with the view of revamping Sabah’s overall economy. There are many dysfunctional major components. Sabah’s economy is in dire need of restructure which is a massive job. We cannot just revamp and rectify, we must expedite economic recovery too. Hajiji has to search for new economic opportunities like mining, ITP [Industrial Tree Plantations] and related downstream industrialization and other new business for Sabah.
For our own sake, we should rally around him in this enormously difficult endeavour.
If Hajiji can revamp GLCs successfully, he can solve most of Sabah’s long perennial economic problems.
I hope Hajiji will produce more NEW policies to solve Sabah’s fundamental economic woes and to seek out new economic opportunities for Sabahans. With more good policies from Hajiji, investments will come to Sabah cos “Investors love good government policies and loathe bad ones”
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