KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional (BN) will propose another candidate to replace Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee following the move by the leader from Sabah to quit Umno today.
Speaking at a media conference here today, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pix) said this was because the Pakatan Harapan manifesto stated that the post of PAC Chairman was specially allocated to the Member of Parliament from the opposition.
Kiandee was reported as saying that he could not step down from the post of PAC Chairman although he had decided to quit Umno until Parliament had made a further decision on the matter.
Kiandee and many other Sabah Umno leaders left the party today resulting in the party being almost crippled.
In another development, Ahmad Zahid said the Cameron Highlands Parliamentary seat would still be contested by the MIC in the coming by-election.
The MIC was today reported as saying that it would not appeal the decision of the Elections Court that declared the victory of BN which represented the party in Cameron Highlands in the 14th General Election as null and void due to the practice of corruption.
Meanwhile, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof said the PAC Chairman must be an opposition Member of Parliament, in line with the Pakatan Harapan manifesto in the 14th General Election.
“We have to follow what is stated in the regulations. If we follow the regulations, he/she must be an elected representative from the opposition, so we have to follow regulations,“ he said when asked to comment on Kiandee’s position following his move to quit Umno, today.
He disclosed this to reporters after officially opening the Speaker’s Lecture Series. Held for the first time, the topic of the lecture was: Parliament and Civil Society: The Voice of the Rakyat? delivered by the Founding President of the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), Tunku Zain Al-Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz.
When asked to comment on the position of Yamani Hafez Musa who has yet to take his oath as the Member of Parliament for Sipitang, Mohamad Ariff said the son of the former Sabah Chief Minister, Tan Sri Musa Aman had up to Jan 15 next year to do so.
“We have given him several dates. He has to attend the oath-taking in Parliament before the stated date if he doesn’t want to lose his entitlement,“ he said.
On the public lecture series, Muhammad Ariff said it was a reform towards empowering the Malaysian Parliament Reformation Agenda as an open legal body in the practice of parliamentary democratic system in Malaysia.
“Parliament, like democracy, can mean many different things to different people. Some, for example, may see it principally as a system in which the citizens can participate in political decision-making through their elected representatives.
“Some others may see it more as an institution to check and balance the executive in a system of responsible government. Some may still believe that Parliament serves as an expression of the collective wisdom and will of the citizenry,“ he added. — Bernama
