10 bipartisan panels to act as check and balance

THE Dewan Rakyat has set up 10 bipartisan Special Parliamentary Select Committees (SPSC), with Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said tabling a motion to establish the committees.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) announced the respective SPSC would cover finance and economy; health; domestic trade, entrepreneurship, cost of living and agriculture; infrastructure, transport and communications; nation-building, education and human resource development; women, children and community development; environment, science and plantations; security; international relations and trade; and human rights, elections and institutional reforms.

“The committees will serve as a check and balance mechanism towards the respective ministries,” she told Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Apart from the 10 committees, she also announced that the select committee had agreed for the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia (APPGM) to continue.

Set up in 2019, APPGM is a platform to discuss common topics among parliamentarians and senators, as well as stakeholders comprising academicians, professionals, NGOs and other partners.

The motion, which was seconded by her deputy, Ramkarpal Singh, was passed unanimously by the House through a voice vote.

The 10 committees were selected by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), chaired by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul.

Members of the PSC include Azalina, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Transport Minister Anthony Loke, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli, Opposition chief Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, and PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.