Kuching: ADUN for Padungan Chong Chieng Jen has questioned the accuracy and accountability of the Sarawak government’s budget document after discovering a pagination error in the 2027 Sarawak State Budget’s List of Establishment Posts.
Chong said the document, tabled at the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) yesterday, details the establishment posts for approximately 27,000 state civil servants, with the respective positions specifically listed.
“It was tabled on my desk in DUN Sarawak yesterday. When I studied the document, there was a very low class error in its pagination.
“Upon reviewing the document, I found that page 88 appeared immediately after page 20, while page 21 appeared further into the document, causing the page numbering to move backwards,” he said.
The error raised questions about the quality-control procedures applied to official government documents, particularly one detailing the state civil service establishment.
“If even the pages can be jumbled up, what can we be sure of on the accuracy of the figures therein?” Chong questioned.
He said the incident warranted greater scrutiny of the document’s contents, as elected representatives and the public rely on official budget documents to examine government spending, staffing and administrative commitments.
Chong urged the Treasury Department to exercise greater care in preparing and checking its documents to ensure that such errors do not recur.
The incident also highlights the importance of accuracy and accountability in public administration, where government information must be presented clearly and reliably to facilitate proper scrutiny of the state’s financial and administrative affairs.
