Setback for reforms if PSCs dissolved, says Kit Siang

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang says Parliament should set up a select committee on health and social care in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

PETALING JAYA: Parliament will be putting the clock back on reforms by dissolving the present 10 Parliamentary Select Committees (PSCs) and replacing them with one master committee, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said.

He said Parliament should, in fact, immediately set up a PSC on health and social care to provide oversight and scrutiny of government action during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Lim asked Takiyuddin Hassan, the minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, to clarify whether the Perikatan Nasional government proposed to replace the 10 PSCs with one master committee.

He said Takiyuddin had been quoted as saying yesterday that only government matters would be prioritised during the one-day sitting of Parliament on May 18, and that the government matters included the appointment of a select committee to replace the existing PSCs.

The PSCs set up under the previous Pakatan Harapan government are the Consideration of Bills Committee; the Budget Committee; the Rights and Gender Equality Committee; the Major Public Appointments Committee; the Defence and Home Affairs Committee; the Federal State Relations Committee; the Election Committee; the International Relations and Trade Committee; the Human Rights and Constitutional Affairs Committee; and the Science, Innovation and Environment Committee. - FMT