KUALA LUMPUR: The previous government led by Perikatan Nasional denied Parliament the opportunity to examine the 2021 Auditor-General’s Report, says law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said.
In her winding-up speech after the debate on the report, Azalina questioned why the opposition “feared” having it tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.
“If no state of emergency was declared, we could have debated it back then.
“We are discussing this in 2023 because the ones who closed the doors to the ‘house of democracy’ were none other than (PN) themselves,” she said.
On Jan 12, 2021, a state of emergency was declared due to the Covid-19 pandemic until Aug 1 that year. Parliament was suspended during that period.
Earlier today, the opposition refused to participate in the debate on the report, claiming it violated parliamentary standing orders and was unconstitutional.
Azalina maintained that it was legal to debate the report as all MPs had parliamentary privilege, which allowed them to discuss anything in the Dewan Rakyat.
She said the debate on the report was one of the government’s measures to allow for better checks and balances.
She also said more annual reports would be debated in the House in future, and the outcomes of these debates would be raised in discussions at the Public Accounts Committee’s meetings later.
Azalina also said PN missed the opportunity to defend itself and to counter accusations against the coalition following red flags raised in the report by opting out of the debate.
“I can’t understand and accept the opposition’s reluctance to join in the debate. It is upsetting. These issues were flagged by the auditor-general.
“These are issues being asked by the public, the same people who elected us. We can’t deny the voice of the rakyat. It is not our parents’ money, but the taxpayers’,” she said.
She also dismissed current PAC chairman Mas Ermieyati Samsudin’s assertion that the report fell under the committee’s purview, not Parliament.
“Are you saying that only the PAC, which is composed of fewer than 20 people, can debate and discuss matters related to national audits?
“Does this mean that as MPs, we are forbidden from discussing this at all? In my five terms as an MP, I have never heard of this,” she said.
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