KUALA LUMPUR: Public Accounts Committee (PAC) proceedings, including those related to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit report, can only be made public once Section 85 of the Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat is amended.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof said: "We first need to amend the Standing Orders and then see what is best to adopt - either open it up completely or open it up in confidentiality in general,” he told reporters here today.
He was asked to comment on a proposal by PAC chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee to make its proceedings and reports public.
Mohamad Arif was speaking to reporters after delivering his keynote address at the Roundtable on Electoral Reforms: The Way Forward For Free and Fair Elections in Parliament here today.
Last month, Kiandee said the public may be given access to PAC proceedings soon.
“The law states that no documents and statements can be made public or released by PAC before the official report is published and presented to the Parliament.
"However, logically speaking, the Parliament sessions are open to the public. Based on this, it is time that PAC opens up its doors to the public,” Kiandee was quoted as saying.
On DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang's proposal for Parliament to refer former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for alleged tampering of the National Audit Department's 1MDB report, Mohamad Arif said it is up to the PAC to act on the request.
"I don’t interfere in PAC matters and they have a large say.
"That’s how the system works or else it will be messy,” he said.
On the proposal for a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to vet candidates for judicial positions, Mohamad Arif said there is an existing system for the appointment of judges.
"Of course, you don’t anticipate or expect the select committee to call up the judges and we go along the line of American rules in appointing judges," he said.
Earlier today, former Malaysian Bar president Ambiga Sreenevasan today warned against the proposal, saying this would go against the doctrine of separation of powers.
Instead, she suggested that the status of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) be raised to a constitutional body in the appointment and promotion of judges to the superior courts.
Meanwhile, during his opening speech at the roundtable, Mohamad Arif said there are pressing areas of electoral laws and practices that required attention and change.
He added that the May 9 general election was "a limited testimony to the soundness of the Malaysian electoral system", where a large voter swing resulted in a change of government.
He also said bribery of any kind during elections was “outlawed by law” and that it was an offence to directly or indirectly influence an elector to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate.
Mohamad Arif made it clear that electoral reforms were not just about ensuring a clean, free and fair election.
"It is imperative to have a robust multiparty democracy. It is not enough that we believe in democracy. We must make democracy work. We must make multiparty democracy work. This point cannot be understated,” he stressed.
Present at the roundtable were Election Commission chairman Azhar Azizan Harun, Electoral Reform Committee chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, Bersih 2.0 chairman Thomas Fann, Chairman of United Kingdom Election Commission Sir John Holmes, and Kofi Annan Foundation president Alan Doss.