KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found weaknesses in the governance of Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS), which serves as a one-stop centre to manage visa applications by international students.
PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh said among the shortcomings was the absence of a government representative on the board of directors at certain times, including during the appointment of an interim chief executive officer (CEO) on Jan 17, 2019, and the shortening of appointment period for the former CEO on Feb 24 the same year.
He said the PAC found the appointment of interim CEO Shahinuddin Shariff was not in accordance with corporate governance practice because the tenure of the CEO at that time, Datuk Dr Rujhan Mustafa, was still in effect.
“The PAC also found that a senior manager had been appointed by EMGS on a contract basis but administratively placed at the Education Minister’s office as a special officer. EMGS did not receive any benefit from this appointment and bore the salary of RM71,500 for the period of Nov 1, 2018 until April 15, 2019,” he said in a statement today.
The PAC today presented its report on EMGS management based on its inquiry which started in September last year, following the Auditor-General’s Report 2018 Series 1 which was tabled in Parliament on July 15, 2019.
Wong said the PAC also found that the Student Application Registration System (STARS) was weak in terms of data storage especially the check-out memo, resulting in failure to monitor the issue of overstaying students.
“Also, there was negligence in critical and essential data safety regarding foreign students in this country that was managed by a private company without supervision from the Higher Education Ministry,” he said.
Therefore, he said the PAC recommended that government agencies, statutory bodies and government companies ensure there is a government representative on their board of directors so that every decision made is in line with the ministry’s direction.
Wong said the STARS has to be improved in terms of data storage and the Higher Education Ministry has to ensure all data in the system was stored, supervised and owned by EMGS and the ministry, and not given to or supervised by a vendor.
He said the ministry also has to outline a new business model for EMGS since the admission of foreign students to Malaysia needs to be increased to assist public and private higher education institutions, particularly post-Covid-19 pandemic. — Bernama
