COMMENT | Each year, we will read about the billion ringgit “black hole” in the public finances, and we know that in the following year, Auditor-General Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi will announce that the “black hole” has not been plugged but has become bigger.

When will our public officials be rid of the mindset that “it is someone else's money, so why should we care?” What steps will be taken to reassure the rakyat that every ringgit of their money is properly spent?

The national audit will reveal the billions of ringgits of taxpayers' money that has been squandered or lost to fraudsters, corruption, tax avoidance or money that has simply been written off.

This is money which could have been used to...