KUALA LUMPUR – All four opposition lawmakers on the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department have criticised certain quarters who have questioned the committee’s prerogative to hold an inquiry into Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Azam Baki’s trading account controversy.
In a joint statement today, the MPs cited reports by Berita Harian, which quoted Malaysia Corruption Watch (MCW) president Jais Abdul Karim and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia lecturer Prof Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmood, who are of the opinion that PSC’s inquiry on the graft busting chief does not comply with Standing Order 83(4) because the Dewan Rakyat has not given its prior approval for a specific resolution to refer the matter to be investigated by the committee.
“The opinion of Jais and Prof Nik Ahmad may perhaps be based on an uninformed reading of the Standing Orders and the lack of familiarity with the parliamentary procedure and practice, particularly the Westminster parliamentary system, which operates based on both written rules and also customs and conventions,” the opposition representatives said.
The four MPs are Khoo Poay Tiong (Kota Melaka-PH), Datuk Mohd Aziz Jamman (Sepanggar-Warisan), Chan Foong Hin (Kota Kinabalu-PH) and William Leong Jee Keen (Selayang-PH).
They explained that the mandate of parliamentary select committee, the custom and convention of the Dewan Rakyat, read together and in harmony with the Standing Orders, is that the House provides a broad and general or overarching mandate to the PSC, and it is for the PSC to decide on and conduct inquiries on specific issues within the general mandate.
This, they added, is the established practice through which the various PSCs have been conducting inquiries into the different areas and issues, from which reports have been tabled to the lower house.
“No prior specific referral was given by the Dewan Rakyat for the PSC concerned to conduct any of these inquiries.
“Since the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) was established, it has conducted inquiries without a specific Dewan Rakyat referral.
“So have the 10 select committees established under the former speaker, Tan Sri Datuk Mohd Ariff Md Yusoff and the nine select committees established under the current speaker.”
Elaborating on the matter, the opposition MPs named a few examples of the parliamentary practice and procedure for select committees to hold inquiries without a prior specific referral from the august house.
“The UK House of Commons Guide for Conduct of a Committee of Inquiry provides that committees choose their own subjects of inquiry, although such inquiries must come within an individual committee’s ‘terms of reference’,” they said.
“It is stated in the book “Law, Principles and Practice in the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) of Malaysia” that the terms of reference of special select committee have been kept broad to allow for matters within their respective portfolios to be brought before the relevant committee, either upon a motion of referral by the House or any member thereof or, in appropriate circumstances, matters could even be considered on their own initiative, from requiring briefing from ministers and civil servants to conducting inquiries.”
The fact that the Parliament does not sit throughout the year and the sittings are time-limited with a packed agenda is why there is a practical purpose for the established practice of the Dewan Rakyat, which is consistent with the best practice of select committees in the Westminster system, they said.
Therefore, they stressed that it is impractical, illogical and against public interest if PSCs are rendered impotent, having to wait for a specific referral from the Parliament before they can respond and undertake inquiries into current and urgent issues and affairs of the country. – The Vibes, January 20, 2022
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