KUALA LUMPUR: It is important that the Major Public Appointments Committee be allowed to scrutinise appointments to top posts of government agencies to ensure public trust, said MPs from both sides of the divide.
DAP’s Klang MP Charles Santiago said today the executive branch of the government should give a heads up to the committee before announcing an appointment.
“This would allow the select committee to have a frank discussion with candidates about their views in issues involving their agencies and raise concerns of the committee members,“ he told theSun.
“We had in our Pakatan Harapan manifesto promised to make these reforms therefore it is out duty to see them succeed.”
Santiago pointed out that the appointments made by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad cannot be changed or challenged by the committee.
The committee can only have a talk with the appointees, he said.
He said this issue had come to the fore because of the appointment of Latheefa Koya as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner.
PKR’s Subang MP Wong Chen said the committee will simply monitor public servants.
“At the present the prime minister has absolute discretion to appoint officers to head government agencies.”
Wong Chen said it would have been better if MPs had been informed about the senior appointments that Mahathir had planned to make.
BN’s Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Parliament speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof had decided to appoint six select committees as part of the reform agenda but for now they have no teeth.
He said there is a need to enact a law such as the Parliament Administrative Act to give the committees power.
He also said the committees will need more rooms in the Parliament building to hold their meetings.
