RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE: Ruslan showing the documents to The Borneo Post at his office in Kuching yesterday.
KUCHING: It was supposed to be a straight forward case of getting paid for doing your part of the bargain.
But that was not the case for Ruslan Bujang, a local Bumiputera Class A holder and managing director of Kejuruteraan Rasshin Sdn Bhd, who had been waiting for the outstanding payment for the project which he completed in 2006.
Ruslan claimed that the Ministry of Education (MoE) had not been fair to him for letting him wait for so long to be paid so that he could close his long outstanding account.
“I would personally like to request Minister of Education Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to settle this matter soonest possible as I have been running to Putrajaya for the last six years.
“The last time I went to Putrajaya was in March this year when an officer of the MoE assured me that my claims would be settled soon,” Ruslan
told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He also urged Muhyiddin to walk the talk by addressing the matter urgently.
Ruslan also said he was losing his patience in dealing with MoE as it had taken extraordinarily long for his claims to be settled.
“I can understand if it takes two or three years for my claims to be settled but it had got into my nerves when it already reached its seventh year now,” added Ruslan.
He stressed that he would not hesitate to report the matter to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as a last resort if MoE was still quiet about his claims.
Ruslan revealed that the total amount he was claiming from MoE was RM1.2 million.
He also revealed that if the claims were not made, it would be impossible for him to close the project account which was awarded under the 8th Malaysia Plan.
The project involved 44 units of teachers’ quarters in three secondary schools in Limbang.
Ruslan also took a swipe at the ministry because it would have blamed the contractor if the latter could not do the job according to specifications.
“In this case, I personally supervised the whole project for two years and I am still keeping all the documents. So I have nothing to hide,” said Ruslan, adding that there were other contractors facing the same predicament.
He also urged the auditor-general to scrutinise MoE in its annual report.