Kiandee's position as PAC chair will be reviewed, says Dewan Rakyat speaker

Ronald Kiandee's position as the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will be reviewed, following the latter's exit from Umno, said Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof.

According to him, the position, by convention, is held by an MP from the opposition.

"We will follow the rules, and what is stated in the rules, the opposition must follow.

"We will see how later," Mohamad Ariff said after officiating a lecture series in Parliament, this evening.

Kiandee is among more than a dozen Sabah Umno MPs and state assemblypersons, who earlier today quit the party and pledged their support for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's government.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said that the party would suggest other names to the government to replace Kiandee in the parliamentary committee.

Apart from Kiandee, who is Beluran MP, the other four MPs who quit were Abdul Rahim Bakri (Kudat), Azizah Mohd Dun (Beaufort), and Zakaria Mohd Edris (Libaran). Sipitang MP Yamani Hafez Musa is also said to have left Umno, but he was not present at the press conference held to announce the resignations, in Kota Kinabalu, earlier today. 

Meanwhile, Mohamad Ariff said Yamani, who is also former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman's son, has until Jan 15 to be sworn in as MP. 

"If I'm not mistaken, he has until Jan 15 next year. So he has to come to Parliament to be sworn in before that date. 

"I have given him a date (for the ceremony)," the speaker added. 

Yamani was given a final warning by the Dewan Rakyat earlier this month, to be sworn in by mid-January or risk being disqualified.

His whereabouts are currently unknown. - Mkini