Barisan Alternative MPs should propose their own candidate to be Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  Chairman in Parliament on Tuesday

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang 

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The Barisan Alternative should have no objection to the appointment of UMNO MP for Tambun, Haji Ahmad Husni bin Mohamed Hanadzlah as PAC Deputy Chairman provided established parliamentary convention and tradition that the PAC Chairman should come from the Opposition is restored.

There are at least six   objections to the reappointment of Jamaluddin as PAC Chairman:
 

• The time has come for the Barisan Nasional government to recognise the significance of 44 per cent of the national electorate who voted for the Barisan Alternative in the recent general election.  Malaysia’s electoral system is very undemocratic or the Barisan Nasional would not have retained two-thirds parliamentary majority in securing over 75 per cent of the parliamentary seats when it netted only 56 per cent of the national vote.
• PAC cannot function effectively as the premier parliamentary watchdog to ensure accountability, transparency and integrity of public expenditures so long as it is headed by a member of the ruling coalition.  This was why PAC reports all these years had been a "yawn" and  had never been able to make the impact like  the reports of  PACs  of other Commonwealth Parliaments  which are invariably headed  by an Opposition MP.
• As Chairman of the PAC of the previous Parliament, Jamaluddin had failed to make the PAC a parliamentary watchdog feared not only by civil servants but also by Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries because of its relentless scrutiny of public expenditures to ferret out  extravagance, waste and even corruption. Jamaluddin’s PAC reports were non-events when they should be highlights of every Parliamentary meeting!
• Jamaluddin as PAC Chairman had failed to provide the leadership to reinvent the PAC  by introducing innovations not only in its modus operandi but also initiate the modernisation of the public accountability system as an important and integral part of the modernisation of government in the new millennium.
• Although Jamaluddin claims to be IT-literate, he did not show he has the IT mind-set as the PAC under his chairmanship had failed to produce its own homepage, giving notices of its business and meetings and where its reports could be easily available - as is the case with PACs in other Commonwealth Parliaments.
• The PAC Chairman should be a senior respected Parliamentarian.  This role does not befit Jamaluddin who, as Chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club, is the leading cheerleader of Ministers and rabble rouser against the Opposition MPs - as borne out by his rowdy conduct in the December Parliamentary meeting.

I will discuss with the Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Datuk Fadzil Md Noor and the DAP Parliamentary Leader, Dr. Tan  Seng Giaw on the question of the Barisan Alternative MPs proposing a candidate as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

Jamaluddin should be prepared to gracefully withdraw his candidature if there is a proposal for an Opposition MP to chair the Public Accounts Committee in keeping with established parliamentary convention and tradition, as well as to demonstrate that the Barisan Nasional recognises and respects the significance of the 44 per cent of the national vote cast for the Barisan Alternative in the recent general election.

(12/2/2000)