On 9th of June 2020, I have written to the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat, YB Tan Sri Dato’ Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof to seek for his permission for the Public Account Committee (PAC) to resume proceedings. The Speaker of Dewan Rakyat had earlier vide his letter dated 9th of April 2020 instructed all the proceedings for PAC and all other Parliamentary Select Committees be postponed in view of the Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed by the Government.
We were orally informed by the Speaker Office that the request was turned down as new members are required to be appointed into PAC and the Selection Committee has yet to be able to sit on the matter after the change of Government. I am still waiting for the formal reply from the Speaker Office.
The PAC only managed to have 9 meetings in the first six months of the year, the last of which was on 9th March 2020, compare to a total 23 meetings during the same period last year. We have Four (4) reports which are in the stage of Housekeeping (finalization of the reports) and were initially planned to be tabled during the Parliament session in March 2020. The tabling of the reports cannot be done as the Parliament session was postponed after the change of Government in March.
We were expecting the appointment of new members into the PAC during the May 2020 Parliament Session after Five (5) members of the Committee had been appointed to the Executive. The appointment shall be effected during the Parliament sittings with the tabling of Selection Committee‘s report to the Parliament.
The appointment of the new Selection Committee was originally scheduled in the Parliament session on 18th of May 2020 but it was later removed from the agenda of the sitting together with all other Government proceedings as the Prime Minister had instructed for the Parliament to be adjourned after the Royal Address. No decision was made by the Selection Committee and no replacement members can be appointed to the PAC until at least the next Parliament session which is scheduled to commence on 13th July 2020. There will be further delay if the Government postpones the sitting again.
We have to perform the duty entrusted by the People and Parliament, to check and ensure the accountability in the administration particularly the financial operations of the Government. Sadly, we are not able to do it now.
The Muhyddin’s Government had killed off the spirit of Parliamentary Democracy since its inception in March and literally paralysed the functioning of the Parliament Public Account Committee (PAC) and all other Parliamentary Select Committees. The Government’s actions and decisions will continue remain unscrutinised by the legislative arm. This is a big step backward for the nation.