PARLIAMENT | Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said took the opposition to task over their objections to a motion by the government to debate the 2021 Auditor-General’s Report.
Azalina referring to Perikatan Nasional chief whip Takiyuddin Hassan's arguments in objecting, said the standing order cited did not prevent MPs from debating the audit on federal expenditures.
"Actually, the standing order is our source of power as MPs in the House.
"The standing order is (provided for) under the federal constitution and so it cannot be argued that it supercedes our powers as MPs to debate anything," said Azalina in her winding-up speech.
Earlier, 13 MPs debated the Auditor-General's Report 2021 Series 2.
The government motion was listed as the first order of the day after Question Time ended this afternoon.
Takiyuddin's objection sparked chaos that lasted nearly an hour until Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul ruled to allow the audit report to be debated after lunch.
The Kota Bharu MP questioned the government's motion, claiming it goes against Article 107 of the Federal Constitution, and had never been done in the Parliament.
Public Accounts Committee chairperson Mas Ermieyati Samsudin, who supported Takiyuddin, also questioned the relevance of the motion, saying it was the committee that has been given the full authority to look into the audit report.
Fail to understand
Azalina, however, said she failed to understand the opposition's refusal to debate the report.
"When listening to the debates (on the audit report), the criticisms were made on the auditor general's investigations.
"The MPs are representing the voices of the people to raise issues on questions asked by the people who put us here in Parliament," she said.
"It can't be that we deny the voices of the people and only place them through the PAC that comprise less than 20 people," she added.
Azalina said the government has proposed that the Auditor-General's Report be debated in detail as part of reforms to improve auditing efficiency, effectiveness and quality.
She said the initiative is to enable all parties to pay attention to the requirements of the law to create better public sector governance.
Azalina said the debates by 13 MPs covered three areas: activities that focus on achieving programme objectives, activities and projects implemented by ministries, departments and federal statutory bodies by emphasising the concept of 3E - economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
“Secondly, the audit compliance assesses non-compliance with laws, regulations, contracts and/or financial procedures that result in extravagance, wastage, irregular payments and losses further leading to public money leakages,” she said.
Meanwhile, Azalina said the Auditor General's Dashboard (AGD) system was developed to display issues and the status of the latest actions on remarks or issues in the Auditor General’s report.
AGD portal access
She said the current status of remarks or issues in the report can be accessed through the AGD Portal by all, including the public and stakeholders, to find out what actions have been or are being taken.
She said at the federal level, as of May 31 this year, there were 5,164 issues raised in the Auditor-General's Report 2011 to the 2021 Series 2 regarding federal government ministries, departments, agencies and companies.
Of this, 4,912 issues (or 95 percent) have been resolved, while ministries, departments and federal agencies are still acting upon 252 issues (or five percent), she added.
Besides follow-up actions through the AGD System, the Auditor-General's Report Action Committee (JTLKAN), a platform to determine steps and discuss solutions so that the same issues do not recur, was established administratively in 2012 under the Government Transformation Programme 2.0 (GTP 2.0) initiative.
Based on the Auditor-General's Report 2015 until the Year 2021 Series 1, Azalina said data on disciplinary action updated by the Public Service Department as of May 10, 2023, showed that 310 civil servants had been subject to disciplinary action.
Among them include warnings, surcharges, fines, postponement of salary movements, salary reductions and dismissals. - Mkini
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