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Dear Secretary-General of the Domestic Trade, Consumer Affairs and Co-operatives Ministry,  Every year, the advertising industry honours, among others, individuals and corporations that excel in their field. The judging panel goes through scores of print advertisements, TV commercials and below-the-line advertising campaigns to recognise and reward their creators. The annual Kancil Awards night is a "must" for all in the industry and those associated with it. The next time around, there should be a "Worst Advertisement Category" where a "Sour Mango Award" (thanks to former colleague K. Sugumaran who created the award when he wrote his column in The Sunday Mail. I am nominating your ministry to be inaugural recipient of this dubious award. If you have not yet read the half-page advertisement in the New Straits Times on Monday (8th March), you should get to read it. By the way, it’s on Page 36 and it is an indictment on your ministry and a vindication of my stand three months ago. I am in no mood for a chest-thumping exercise though. The advertisement is supposed to extol the virtues of the co-operative movement and was placed by the Suruhanjaya Koperasi Malaysia which is under your purview.  Click Picture to enlarge With all the grammar and spelling mistakes, don’t you think it is a waste of taxpayers’ money? Don’t you think the agency that created this advertisement screwed up? Do you accept the fact that there was a dereliction of duty on the part of your officers by not vetting the copy before it was sent for publication? Don’t you think the advertisement has caused major embarrassment to your minister, the deputy prime minister (who is also the education minister) and your goodself in your capacity as the chief executive officer of the ministry? Don’t you think you owe all Malaysians an apology for wasting their hard-earned money on an advertisement which has no fewer than 50 mistakes? And don’t you think that the advertisement is an insult to a well-informed society? Don’t you think you should take responsibility as your ministry’s logo appears in the advertisement? Datuk, when you initiated the communication and kept open the channels for interaction, I felt that you eschewed and supported the views and policies of the Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, who wants replies to issues raised in the press to be sorted out within 48 hours of publication. But as much as I tried to elicit a commitment from you, the more difficult you became by the choice of words and language. In the end, it was obvious that despite the words "good governance and transparency must underpin the selection process of the advertising company(s)" what you preached was not practised. Therefore, now with one big boo-boo, you are left with no choice but to come to terms with the fact that when selection is not made on merit or made on terms of "you scratch my back, I scratch yours", it will be difficult to justify. The error-filled advertisement speaks volumes of who gets to spend our money on advertisements. It’s not small money. The government spent RM225 million on advertising from January to September last year. You owe a responsibility to taxpayers to tell us who created the advertisement and how much was spent. You can no longer use the Official Secrets Act or other rules or procedures to remain silent or ignore the request for information. As I write this, I was told that Sidek had just addressed the civil service convention and urged civil servants to be responsive to their environment, which includes replying their emails promptly. "Prompt action is closely related to swift communication. I am happy many senior officers of the civil service use email as their medium of communication in giving response, views or decisions. I think the time has come for the usage and response to emails from other parties be made an important factor in the rating and assessment of secretaries-general and heads of department," he was quoted as saying. More need not be said. Will a response drop into my Inbox today? I wait with bated breath. R. Nadeswaran is yet again vindicated that his demand for transparency in government spending is justified. He is editor (special and investigative reporting) at theSun and can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it LET me refresh your memory by referring to the exchange of a series of email last December. Of course, you thought you won the battle by sealing your lips on the name of the advertising agency or agencies that produce commercials for the ministry. I did not throw in the towel after you did several about-turns after your note which among others read: "The Ministry agrees that publicity campaigns need to show results. Only then can it be justifiably said that it was money worth spending. It also goes without saying that good governance and transparency must underpin the selection process of the advertising company(s) and this is normally achievable through an open tender system. Finally, there has to be an evaluation process that will measure the outcome of these campaigns." This article first appeared in theSun newspaper on March 10. Trackback(0)
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i gave up reading it after the first sentence, but could not help but wonder if the image of the dpm, who is also minister of education, reflects why the government just can't seem to set things right again |
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Dear Citizen Nades, Thanks, thanks and again thanks. This letter deserves applause! I would also like to know the cost of this ad and who did it. Please tell us! A taxpayer |
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