DAP pushes for urgent Parliament meeting to appoint new PAC chief

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang says there must be an emergency parliamentary sitting to appoint a new chairman for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) so that investigations into 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) can proceed. – AFP pic, August 10, 2015.

DAP today urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to hold a special meeting in Parliament before August 31 to appoint a new chairman for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The party’s parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said Najib, who meets his Cabinet this Wednesday, should look into this urgently.

"PAC cannot continue its probe into 1MDB for at least two and a half months. We need to call for an immediate parliament sitting to appoint a new chairman for the committee," he said, adding that even Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBBC) chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad shared the same view.

"Shahrir is also supportive of the need to have an emergency parliament meeting for the purpose, so that PAC can restart its work immediately," Lim said in a statement today.

The Gelang Patah MP said various national institutions have been under attack, including the Parliament, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Attorney-General's Chambers and the press, all in relation to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

He said the Parliament had been "attacked" with the elevation of four PAC members into the Cabinet, which caused the PAC proceedings to be frozen until a new chairman could be appointed to replace Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who is now deputy home minister.

"There are no reasons for further delays. The meeting should be held before Merdeka Day. All the 80-odd MPs from DAP, PKR and the New Hope Movement (GHB) are on standby for this special meeting at Parliament," he said when speaking to reporters at a press conference today at the DAP headquarters in Penang.

Kit Siang also urged members of the Cabinet, namely Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, Datuk Paul Low, Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar and other ministers who wanted to be seen as open-minded on the matter to help ensure that the meeting took place.

Tony Pua who is a member of PAC, called on Najib to announce on Wednesday the designated candidate for the PAC chair, and also the date when Parliament would be called to vote on the chairmanship.

"This is extremely important because it was Najib himself who said he had nothing to hide and he had asked the PAC to investigate 1MDB.

"We are well into the probe but we cannot continue our work now, even with enough members in the committee who are able to proceed," he said.

Pua said there was now a concern that there would be no PAC chairman appointed for the next six or nine months.

The Dewan Rakyat speaker has ruled that PAC cannot move as long as no chairman from Barisan Nasional is appointed to chair the committee.

- TMI