Foo Ngee Kee
KOTA KINABALU: The Small Medium Enterprise Association of Sabah (SME Sabah) supports the revamp of the Corporate Policy and Governance Monitoring Committee for all State Statutory Bodies (BBN) and Government Linked Companies (GLC) to strengthen and enhance their supervision and corporate governance.
Its President, Foo Ngee Kee, said it is imperative that BBNs and GLCs be accountable for the use of the public resources.
This is especially so since the State Government has limited resources to help Sabah to survive the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said in a statement Monday.
He was commenting on the announcement made by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Haji Noor Sunday who had also said the BBNs and GLCs must be duty-bound to create and produce shareholders’/stakeholders’ value as part of their business plans and corporate responsibilities.
“This has always been the case for all private business and non-business organisations,” said Foo.
He said the Board of Directors (BOD) of BBNs and GLCs must be competent, have integrity and be prudent in their financial management.
BODs must ensure that the policies promote operational efficiency, transparency and accountability in the management, he said, adding promotions and recruitment must be based on the merits
of the applicants and the positions as approved in the annual business plan of the BBNs and GLCs.
“We are hopeful that with the revamp, BBNs and GLCs can be managed by competent professionals of integrity to produce appropriate returns on the State Government’s investments,” said Foo.
He said the State Government should consider seeking out qualified and proven professionals to join the BOD of the BBNs and GLCs to assist in and expedite the revamp of the BBNs and GLCs.
“These professionals can use their knowledge and experience to make quick and effective enhancements to the operations and corporate governance of BBNs and GLCs to the benefit of the State Government.
“Government can then get dividends from these BBNs and GLCs, instead of pouring monies into these BBNs and GLCs to keep them going,” he said.
