Education Minister Musa Mohamed must explain several inconsistencies in the process of awarding tenders for the school computer labs project. If he does not do so within seven days, he should resign, PAS Youth tsaid oday.

In a three-page memorandum, its chief Mahfuz Omar said the minister should start by explaining how the project contracts were awarded to companies, which are computer hardware suppliers and not building contractors.

"We are disappointed with Musa's remark (last Wednesday) that the computer labs issue is over just because the government took over the project. The issue of abuse in the contact awarding process has not been addressed." he said in the memorandum.

"If the minister fails to give a written explanation within a week's time, we will call for his resignation as education minister."

The memorandum was accepted on Musa's behalf by his special officer Amir Hamzah at the minister's office in Kuala Lumpur.

The controversy over the multi-million ringgit project to equip every school with computer laboratories erupted after Deputy Education Minister Aziz Shamsuddin revealed that only 40 percent of the labs had been completed more than a year after the May 2001 deadline.

Following this, Works Minister S Samy Vellu said that, out of the 600 labs built in the eastern zone (Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu), 574 failed to meet building specifications or were in a dangerous condition.

Unanswered issues

In the memorandum, Mahfuz listed several unanswered issues concerning the computer labs scandal, among others, the credentials of the companies selected for the project.

"Why did the government award the contracts to build the first phase of 2,135 computer labs to companies which were mainly computer equipment suppliers?" he asked.

"Why didn't the government refer first to the Public Works Department (PWD) to establish whether the contractors had the ability to undertake the projects?"

The Youth chief also asked why the contracts were not awarded via an open tender process but through a tender runding (negotiation) process which is vulnerable to problems such as embezzlement, abuse of power, crony practices and corruption.

He also took issue over the appointment of QSC Projects Sdn Bhd as the management consultant when such works should have been undertaken by the PWD.

"How much was QSC Projects paid for the job and how much will they retain even after failing in their obligations to ensure that the labs were built to the right specifications? What are the costs now for the government to take over the project?"

'Inspect all labs'

Mahfuz also urged the minister to close all computer labs built under this project until the safety standards of the buildings could be verified.

"We urge the PWD to carry out surveys at all labs built throughout the country to ensure that these are safe for use. Out of the 600 labs built in the eastern zone, 81 percent were unfit for use. There is a likelihood that the same problem will affect the labs in other zones," he said.

Last Friday, DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock also criticised Musa for failing to 'tell all' as he had earlier promised and avoiding several key issues.

Five companies were awarded the contracts for the first phase of the project in 2000. The companies are Pintar Teknologi Bumiasia JV for the northern zone, Prima for the central zone, Bell Grand for the eastern zone, CS Tech Venture for the southern zone and TimeCom holdings for Sabah.

Another company, Telekom Smart School declined a contact for Sarawak, while Bell Grand was fired last week over the fiasco.

According to a report in the New Straits Times yesterday, the contracts for the Peninsular Malaysia zones were worth more than RM100 million each. The total contact value for the first phase of the project was estimated at more than RM600 million.