No incentives for MPs to join PSCs, says Yii

 

Dr Kelvin Yii says voters see their MPs as ‘welfare officers’ or ‘ATMs’ that churn out money for their constituencies. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii has attributed the reluctance of most MPs to join parliamentary select committees to a lack of political incentives.

He said the MPs’ performances were often judged by how they served their constituents instead of policy-making.

“There is no political gain for MPs to be part of select committees. Most MPs are seen by their electorate as either ‘welfare officers’ or ‘ATMs’, so our effectiveness and ability to function are judged based on how much money we can dish out,” he said.

Yii, who is the chairman of the select committee on health, science and innovation, was speaking as a panellist at the Conference on Necessary Pre-GE15 Reforms jointly-organised by the Bar Council and electoral reform group Bersih.

-ADVERTISEMENT-

Ads by 

Asked about efforts to improve awareness on select committees, he said he was open to meetings being made public via live broadcasts for transparency and public scrutiny.

However, this may lead to less robust discussions as members may feel conscious about being watched.

Yii also called for Parliament’s standing orders, which he described as “the elephant in the room”, to be amended to widen the scope of select committees and to allow for meetings to take place outside of the Parliament.

He added that the standing orders should be revised to compel the government to respond or adopt recommendations by these select committees for “real impact”.

On the number of select committees in the Sarawak state assembly for check and balance of the executive, he said he did not think there were any. Even if there were, they were only ad hoc committees.

He said the Sarawak assembly was “one of the least democratic” as opposition MPs were generally excluded from policy-making, which he called “a symptom of a super majority government”.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturer Sayuti Hassan highlighted many issues involving select committees in Malaysia, including insufficient budget and human resources, as well as the exclusion of some ministries from being scrutinised by the committees. - FMT