THE administrative capital has been the epicentre of various activities since day one of 2017.
It is a Herculean task to list down everything that the ministries based in Putrajaya have done throughout the year.
When the prime minister declared 2017 as the year of delivery, everyone in Putrajaya hit the ground running, especially the enforcement agencies.
The agencies that stood out in 2017 were the Immigration Department, the Customs Department and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The Immigration Department was relentless in operations to hunt down illegal immigrants, syndicates as well as its own staff involved in the smuggling of illegals and employers who harbour illegal foreign workers.
Director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali is on the media list of highly sought- after persons for updates on all manner of immigration offences.
He is known to be firm in decisions regarding illegal immigrants, including making it clear there will be no extension of the programme to legalise illegal foreign workers.
This had triggered a last-minute rush to the department involving thousands camping outside the building in the last few days before the deadline for the E-card programme.
For the Customs Department, it has been a case of intercepting illegal consignments ranging from cigarettes, drugs, ivory to pangolin scales worth millions of ringgit.
The department’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport branch had called a press conference each time it seized illegal items at the country’s main entry point.
Last month, the Customs Department had prevented an attempt to smuggle 20.4 tonnes of firecrackers and fireworks.
The KLIA Enforcement Division and the Customs Operational Battle Force Response Assault (Cobra) tactical unit seized a consignment of firecrackers valued at nearly RM1 million, which included unpaid taxes.
In November, the department had seized a whopping 337kg of pangolin scales worth more than RM4 million.
The MACC, too, had its moments.
In 2017, MACC’s investigation and intelligence gathering were mainly focused on the public sector, government-linked companies and banking institutions.
Deputy chief commissioner Datuk Seri Azam Baki vowed that the graft buster would give special attention to the public sector’s procurement sector and enforcement agencies due to the propensity for corruption in these sectors.
And that is what MACC had been doing in the year that was. Almost every week MACC brought a steady stream of people to the court in Putrajaya to be remanded, even on weekends and public holidays.
MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad had recently pledged that the commission would continue investigating or recommending for prosecution at least one case a week in 2018.
Aside from upping the enforcement of the law, those in the administrative capital have been cracking the whip to get input for the National Transformation 2050, popularly known as TN50.
The TN50 roadmap, which was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is a policy to map out Malaysia’s direction for 30 years after the end of Vision 2020.
Almost every ministry conducted its own TN50 dialogue to collect input from a wide spectrum of people throughout 2017.
The year 2017 also saw Putrajaya going big on the Internet of Things with the launch of the Digital Free Trade Zone, giving Malaysia and its business community the competitive edge to fully capitalise on the power of the digital world.
The administrative capital’s Putra Mosque, too, grabbed the world’s attention recently when Malaysia held a mega rally there protesting against the move to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Thousands, including non-Muslims, turned up at the Solidarity Rally to Save Jerusalem and the prime minister decided to continue holding the rally nationwide every third Friday of the month.
Putrajaya was busy, too, rolling out the red carpet for foreign leaders, including Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud and then French President François Hollande.
If things were hectic in Putrajaya in 2017, one can be sure 2018 will be equally fast-paced, especially with the general election just around the corner.
Azura Abas aveteran journalist with a masters in Counselling Psychology is Putrajaya bureau chief.