PARLIAMENT | Chaos erupted in the Dewan Rakyat this afternoon when Perikatan Nasional (PN) MPs objected to a motion by the government to debate the 2021 Auditor-General’s Report.
Government MPs were heard crying “takut takut!” as PN MPs stood up in support of their chief whip Takiyuddin Hassan, who first raised the objection.
Takiyuddin questioned the motion, claiming that it goes against Article 107 of the Federal Constitution, and had never been done in the Parliament.
“The opposition is arguing that the Auditor-General's Report needs only to be placed on our table.
“This has been done on Feb 16,” said the Kota Bharu MP.
The motion was listed as the first to be debated after Question Time ended this afternoon.
It was listed as a motion by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, which calls for “all to unite in supporting the government so that findings and recommendations in the document will be acted upon seriously by those involved in order to overcome weaknesses that have been identified, and thus prevent further leakage of public funds.”
Adding further in his objection, Takiyuddin (PN-Kota Bharu) said it has never been a practice in Parliament to debate the national audit report.
“When there is no written rule (on a matter), then convention should be followed. And we have such a convention in Parliament, which is that the Auditor-General’s Report has never been debated in the Dewan Rakyat, and this has become a rule and law.
“Thus, the opposition proposes that this motion should not be debated,” he said.
Several other opposition MPs, including Ronald Kiandee (PN-Beluran) and Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (PN-Masjid Tanah), had also stood up to support Takiyuddin’s argument against the motion.
Ronald cited Standing Order 77, which stipulates that a national audit report should be examined and acted upon by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
He claimed that by proposing for the report to be debated in the Parliament, the government has undermined PAC’s role.
“I agree with Kota Bharu that the government should not move forward with this motion,” he said.
Mas Ermieyati, who is the current PAC chairperson, also questioned the relevance of the motion, saying that it was the committee that has been given the full authority to look into the audit report.
She queried who will be responsible to answer all questions regarding the report should it be allowed to be debated, as the auditor-general position has not been filled since its former office holder retired about four months ago.
“I want to ask what is actually happening here. This has never been done before. But today, the Madani government wants to do something unprecedented.
“And even sadder, they (National Audit Department) have no leader. And under Articles 105, 106, and 107 of the Federal Constitution, the provisions all stipulate the role of the auditor-general, not the minister,” she said.
‘Are you scared?’
In response to the objection, Hassan Abdul Karim (Pakatan Harapan-Pasir Gudang) then stood up to debate why the Dewan Rakyat should allow the report to be discussed.
Hassan said the motion should not only be supported by all MPs, but they must also debate on it.
However, chaos started soon after when several MPs from the opposition tried to disrupt Hassan, who then questioned why they were scared to debate the report.
“Give me the chance to explain. Why are you scared of this national audit report being discussed in Parliament?
“Why are you scared? Parliament must be transparent,” he said.
This did not go well with the opposition, including Mas Ermieyati, who immediately stood up and shouted: “Siapa yang takut, YB? Siapa yang takut YB?” (Who is scared, YB? Who is scared?)
RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong) then added in the heated argument, alleging that the opposition objected to the motion because there was corruption during the Covid-19 emergency when the country was under PN rule.
This led to a shouting match between MPs from both sides of the divide and prompted deputy speaker Alice Lau, who was presiding over the session, to order calm.
Lau then made a ruling allowing the motion to be discussed by Parliament.
This then led Takiyuddin to propose that the government motion be passed without a debate, saying that the opposition fully supported it, which did not sit well with government MPs and led to another round of shouting matches.
Speaker Johari Abdul then took over to preside over the session, before another round of argument on the motion ensued as Takiyuddin once again brought up the matter.
He was supported by several other opposition MPs, including Radzi Jidin (PN-Putrajaya) who said that they were opposing the motion not because PN was scared to debate the audit report.
Mas Ermieyati also took a swipe at the government, alleging that they were pushing for the motion as the government has no other important bills to table.
Adding to it, Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau) told Dewan Rakyat that the national audit report covers many areas, and it was allegedly being proposed only to make sure that the time would be spent so that other motions by the opposition cannot be discussed.
He also suggested that the opposition will not be participating in the debate since they have expressed support for the motion.
Johari then also ruled to allow the audit report to be debated later in the afternoon.
“This is my ruling. I am also a former civil servant and I have listened to grouses from many including government servants and the rakyat, who want to see the audit report being discussed openly.
“So, as the speaker today, I believe that this report has to be discussed in this Dewan Rakyat.” - Mkini
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