Cart before the horse

Poser over Tourism Ministry tender for glamour London flower show

TERENCE FERNANDEZ

TOURIST MAGNET: This year’s Chelsea Flower Show in London — Getty Images

PETALING JAYA: Tourism Malaysia is in the centre of a storm for controversially “announcing” it has awarded a RM3 million contract for the show garden designer for the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show 2012. Questions have been raised over Tourism Malaysia’s alleged practice of putting the cart before the horse when it announced tenders to design the Malaysian Garden at the show in London next year. This is because on June 6 this year, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen was reported as saying Sarawak-born James Wong would be designing the Malaysian Garden at next year’s edition of the international event.

This came after Amphibian Designs and its founder, Wong, won a consecutive gold medal at the show for designing the Malaysian exhibit. It won the same medal for Malaysia’s entry last year.

Following criticisms, the ministry threw tender procedures out the window in its haste to award the £600,000 (RM3 million) contract to Wong and his partner, David Cubero, Tourism Malaysia recently announced a “tender” for the Show Garden Designer for next year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

The announcement (below right) was made in various UK dailies — including  e Evening Standard — on Aug 10, where it called for interested parties to submit to design, construct, supply, deliver and dismantle the Tourism Malaysia Show Garden.

The ministry’s sincerity in adhering to this tender exercise is in question as the tenders closed at noon on Aug 17.

But here is where it gets interesting: Tender documents sighted by The Malay Mail reveal the Tender Committee has to decide on the winning bid the same day tenders closed as the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which organises the Chelsea Flower Show, requires the stand design to be submitted on Aug 18!

So the question is: “Whose name was submitted to the RHS?”

Botanists and designers in Malaysia and London were skeptical one could put together a comprehensive value for-money proposal within eight days. “For something as big as the Chelsea Flower Show, we would need about two months to present a decent proposal that is within budget,” said a London designer contacted by The Malay Mail. He said Wong’s winning “aquatic courtyard garden” at this year’s show would have taken him about a month to conceptualise and another month to execute.

Tourism Malaysia tender process questioned

A Malaysian designer in Kuala Lumpur also said it would be a waste of time to bid.

"Bona fide designers would not waste their time on this. Coming up with something in eight days for a major event like this is beyond even the best designers."

When contacted, Tourism Ministry Secretary General Datuk Dr Ong Hong Peng (pic) said Wong had yet to be officially appointed as the designer.

"If you ask me, I can categorically say that James Wong has not been awarded the contract. But who the eventual winning bid goes to will be decided by our London office."

Ong said he was unable to comment further on the details of the tender and respond to the issues raised as he did not want to be seen as interfering with the tender exercise.

"It would be inappropriate for me to say anything more at this point."

In a statement to coincide with the flower show in May, Tourism Malaysia had said its participation was aimed at promoting Malaysia as "a destination that offers beautiful sights and natural beauty through its parks and gardens, particularly to nature enthusiasts and horticulturists", and had identified 22 parks and gardens in Malaysia to be promoted to as tourist attractions.

Wong has yet to respond to emails although sources say he threw a celebration party after being "awarded" the contract for next year's event. Ng, who is currently in Russia, was unreachable for comments.

-the malay mail.