KUALA LUMPUR – Civil society groups have urged Dewan Rakyat to extend the lifespan of nine parliamentary special select committees (PSSC) beyond the expiration of its two-year tenure on November 10.
The Seed Community for a Professional Parliament said that the extension should be implemented within the first week of Parliament convening on October 3 to allow the PSSCs to plan for future works after its supposed termination date.
“While their (PSSC’s) mandate would automatically stop when an election is called, their work would not be obstructed by the election guessing game,” the network of seven non-governmental organisations said in a statement.
The nine PSSCs facing a potential end to their mandate include those in charge of fundamental liberty and constitutional rights, finance and economy, security, agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department as well as agriculture and domestic trade.
The PSSCs on infrastructural development, education, women and children affairs and social development as well as health, science and innovation are also due to expire.
Seed Community said that if these nine PSSCs are unintentionally disbanded because a motion is not passed in time, Item 3.2 of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) on expanding parliamentary committees would be “violated in spirit”.
It urged the ten MPs sitting on the MoU steering committee to ensure the motion is passed to extend involved PSSCs’ tenure.
Another PSSC, on international relations, will not expire before the end of the Parliamentary term on July 15, 2023, as it was formed in October 2021, the groups noted.
Seed Community also called for other reforms to parliamentary committees, noting that nine other ministerial portfolios lack scrutiny. These include environment, human resources, natural resources and national unity.
“The government’s commitment to promote sustainable development goals (SDG) by setting up an SDG centre is not credible when there is not even a PSSC on SDG, environmental protection or social inclusion beyond women and children affairs,” it said.
It added that the parliamentary committee in charge of reviewing each ministry should be permanent, also known as “standing” committees, instead of temporary, so as to enhance the ministries’ accountability as well as improve their policy-making quality.
Another weakness of PSSCs is that each shoulders the task of scrutinising several ministries, which prevents the committee from functioning optimally, Seed Community said.
The “worst” was the PSSC on infrastructural development which covered the Public Works, Transportation, Rural Development as well as Housing and Local Government Ministries.
It also called for a separate PSSC on electoral matters to scrutinise the Election Commission.
The statement was signed by the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, Undi18, Bait Al-Amanah, the Institute for Political Reform and Democracy, Wisdom Foundation, and Engage. – The Vibes, September 20, 2022
