Nurul respects Kiandee, but maintains stance on PAC leadership

Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar today maintained that her stance on the leadership of the Public Accounts Committee needing to change has nothing to do personally with current chief Ronald Kiandee.

“I have a lot of respect for Kiandee. We worked very well with him, but at the end of the day, the structure must prevail.

"It is not about individuals, it is not about who sits where, or the personality. 

"It has to be about the structure put in place to be the bulwark against excesses," she said at a press conference in Parliament today.

Deeming the PAC one of the "hallmarks of institutional reforms," Nurul today said her resignation from the committee was necessary to "take a strong position."

This, she said, was because Pakatan Harapan PAC members had already written to the government on keeping to its word and replacing the committee chairperson.

"I think I just reiterated my position, and I had to take a strong position on this, because like it or not, we will need to check the possible excesses of the executive, and the main function of the PAC is to address that.

"Remember when BN was in government, we used to have the head of the PAC coming from the government, but the vice-chairperson or deputy was from the opposition."

Harapan had pledged in its election manifesto that the position would be reserved for an opposition lawmaker.

With Kiandee (above) joining Bersatu earlier this month, and with DAP's Wong Kah Woh serving as deputy chief, it is the first time since 2004 that the top two posts in PAC have been held by government MPs.

Putrajaya's failure to replace Kiandee led to Nurul stepping down from the committee.

BN, meanwhile, had nominated Parit Sulong MP and PAC member Noraini Ahmad as Kiandee's replacement. 

But after the proposal purportedly received no response, three BN and PAS members of the PAC resigned yesterday – Noraini herself, Jasin MP Ahmad Hamzah and Kota Bahru MP Takiyuddin Hassan.

Betong MP Robert Lawson Chuat of GPS remains the sole opposition lawmaker in the committee. - Mkini