KUALA LUMPUR (June 6): The government’s motion for the Dewan Rakyat to debate the Auditor General’s Report 2021 Series 2 became a point of contention on both sides of the aisle on Tuesday (June 6) as the Opposition said it goes against past convention and may undermine the authority of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Opposition chief whip Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS-Kota Bharu) raised point of order in the lower house after minister’s question time on Tuesday, arguing that the AG’s Report should be reviewed by the PAC based on past convention instead of being brought to debate in the Dewan Rakyat.

“According to the Federal Constitution Section 107(1), [it is] stated that ‘the AG’s Report shall submit his reports to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who shall cause them to be laid before the House of Representatives’. To be laid, not table,” he argued.

Takiyuddin’s view was supported by his opposition colleagues, including incumbent PAC chairman Datuk Wira Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Bersatu-Masjid Tanah), who opined that having the Dewan Rakyat to debate on the AG’s Report would hamper efforts to empower the committee.

Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee (Bersatu-Beluran) also said the government should not table unnecessary motions in the lower house.

“If the government has run out of motions to table in Parliament, move on to private motions, Arau (Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim) has many private motions in waiting,” he said.

However, the government bloc’s representatives asserted that debating AG’s Report in the Dewan Rakyat is crucial to highlighting some of the shortcomings and strengths in public procurement publicly.

“By convention, even if there is no such precedent, it doesn't mean we cannot do it today. Parliament is the supreme platform to us, not for us to debate on trivial issues, but on the country’s finances. We do not have mala fide to make any accusations,” said Hassan Abdul Karim (PKR-Pasir Gudang).

After nearly an hour of argument, Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul ruled that the Dewan Rakyat can proceed with the debate on AG’s report, saying that it is the public will to have such a report being debated openly.

“I have sat there (Opposition bench) over the past 15 years, I heard complaints from the public to have (the) AG’s Report being debated openly. Since PAC chairman and all 12 members are here, hence it is their responsibility to pick up whatever that is being highlighted by our colleagues here [Dewan Rakyat],” he said, before adjourning the meeting for lunch.

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Opposition MPs boycott debate of AG’s Report in Dewan Rakyat

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