KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 – Rompin Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Hasan Arifin was selected as the new chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after a motion was passed in Parliament on Monday afternoon. His selection was valid after it was agreed by the majority members of the Dewan Rakyat following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s motion to appoint Hasan as the new PAC chairman in place of Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who was appointed as Deputy Home Minister.
The motion was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman at the Dewan Rakyat sitting Monday. On May 5, Hasan won the Rompin parliamentary by-election by defeating PAS’ candidate, Nazri Ahmad, with 8,895-vote majority.
Nur Jazlan, who is Pulai MP, was appointed as Deputy Home Minister, during the Cabinet reshuffle announced by Najib on July 28. Earlier, a commotion broke out when several opposition MPs, including Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS-Kota Baharu), Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar (PKR-Tumpat) and Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (Amanah-Sepang) questioned the importance of appointing a new chairman for the PAC and the postponement of PAC meeting due to the vacancy.
Kamarudin and Takiyuddin, among other, used the Standing Order 77(3) to touch on the PAC meeting process without the presence of the chairman or vice-chairman, which according to their perception, could still be held with the composition of other members.
Mohamed Hanipa, on the other hand, claimed that the tabling of the motion for the appointment was unclear as it did not state the Standing Order used for the motion. In solving the disputes, Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia described both Kamarudin and Takiyuddin as using their own interpretation and that it was not in line with the Standing Order.
“Regarding the Standing Order 77(3), what was mentioned by the Kota Baharu MP was during the absence of the chairman and vice-chairman. That is just a normal situation. For instance, if during a meeting, Nur Jazlan could not be present due to illness or traffic congestion, the vice-chairman can take over,” he said.
“But in a situation where a chairman was not appointed, then the Standing Order 77(3) states that in the absence of the chairman or vice-chairman due to illness or for any other reason whatsoever, the committee shall elect any one member to act as a chairman to preside over the committee’s meeting is not applicable. That is my interpretation, which was supported by all, including by the Attorney-General’s Chambers,” he said.
As such, the Speaker said if there was no chairman named by the Council, there should be a new chairman selected by the Council. He said that is why the motion was brought on Monday. In the meantime, Pandikar Amin also stressed that although at certain time the PAC chairman’s seat was vacant, the committee’s investigation into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case remained ongoing.
“…the investigation is still ongoing, probably being postponed for a while just like a court case when a lawyer filed a protest due to a technical glitch, but the investigation and trial are still ongoing,” the Speaker said. When winding up the motion, Azalina rapped the opposition MPs, describing them as having ill intention for labelling the government for dilly-dallying the appointment of the new PAC chairman and for trying to cover up the investigation.
“If it is true, why would the government table the motion for the appointment? The government is not afraid of the investigation in the 1MDB. The functions of the PAC are to carry out investigations, submit the findings to the Speaker to be tabled to the Dewan Rakyat. The opposition MPs had not looked at the Standing Order 77(3) in its overall context, including the word ‘absence’ which requires the vacancy to be filled,” said Azalina.
