KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul has allowed the Auditor-General's Report 2021 Series 2, which highlights irregularities during the Covid-19 pandemic, to be debated in the Dewan Rakyat despite strong objections from the Opposition.
Johari said he had received feedback from many government officials as well as the people, asking for the audit report to be debated in the August House.
"What is happening at the moment is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has come up with its own report and inquiry but unfortunately, many of the points mentioned by the PAC are not reported to the public.
"I have met with the current and former PAC chairmans as well as government officials that had worked on the report. God willing, I think that the report should be discussed in the Dewan," he said Tuesday (June 6).
"I want to use my powers under Standing Order 100, that my decision is final
"So later this afternoon, we will come back to discuss this report," added Johari.
Earlier, chaos had erupted in the Dewan Rakyat following the move by Perikatan Nasional MPs to object to the motion to debate the audit report.
Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Baru) said the move to debate the report had never been done before and the report was previously only laid on MPs' tables.
"Based on our check, this has never happened before that the audit report is open for debate.
"I believe that the motion to debate the audit report could be against the Parliament's Standing Orders and the Federal Constitution," he argued.
Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (PN-Masjid Tanah), who is also PAC chairman, said the motion to debate the audit report was not relevant.
"Will the ministers come here to answer all of the questions raised?
"Are you aware that the position of the Auditor-General has not been filled since February this year.
"If the position is not filled, how can we debate the report?
"The person is the one responsible for the audit report," she asked.
She also pointed out that all the questions raised in the report had been answered by the respective ministries.
Hassan Abdul Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang) then stood up to support the motion, saying that although it is not a convention, there should be no problem to debate the audit report.
"Why are you so afraid of the audit report being debated? We need to be transparent in our spending," he said, before several shouts from the Opposition bench were heard saying that they were not worried
RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong) also questioned why the Opposition do not want to debate the audit report.
"Is it because there were some leakages when the Emergency was declared?" Rayer asked.
A shouting match then ensued asking Rayer to withdraw his remarks.
