The Selangor assembly has moved to make it compulsory for the state opposition leader to take up the post of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson.

It has passed a motion today allowing the standing orders committee to prepare a report and table the necessary amendments.

NONE “I want to protect the role of the opposition leader, whichever government (is in power). This is good for the people of Selangor...

“Hopefully with the proposal to amend this, the opposition leader can no longer say ‘I don’t want to lead (the PAC)’.

“You have to lead. Now that you are given special allowance as the opposition leader, you have to do the work,” said the speaker, Hannah Yeoh ( right ), at a press conference just after the motion was passed.

She was referring to a recently-passed allowance amounting to RM8,620 per month for the state opposition leader to give him perks similar to a parliamentary opposition leader, including a driver, secretary, and the use of an official car.

She said the standing orders committee that she leads will now have to table a report on the amendments in the assembly’s sitting in March next year, where it will be tabled and passed.

Upon coming into force, Selangor opposition leader Mohd Shamsudin Lias ( below ), who is also the Sungai Burong assemblyperson, will have to take up the post of PAC chairperson.

Yeoh had previously offered him the post, but Shamsudin had declined claiming that the offer was politically motivated.

However, Yeoh reiterated that it is an international practice in democracies for the opposition leader to be made the PAC chief to perform check-and-balance on the government.

Currently, PAC committees at the Malaysian parliament and at state assemblies are headed by a member of whichever political coalition is in power.

NONE “We hope that with this (amendment), parliament and state assemblies will also follow Selangor’s step in moving forward,” Yeoh said.

Another key proposed amendment to the standing orders is to make it mandatory for the assembly’s proceedings to be broadcast live, whether via television or the Internet.

Although this has already been practiced since 2008, Yeoh said the amendment will remove the speaker’s discretion on the matter and help promote transparency.

“In the generations to come, we don’t want to make this discretionary any more. We want to cast it in stone; we want to make it a law…

“From now onwards there is no turning back. Whichever government comes in in the next term cannot say ‘I want to stop this live telecast’,” she said.

There are six other proposed amendments to the standing orders, which Yeoh describes as “administrative”.

Five of these deal with the handling of the assembly’s question and answer sessions.

The remaining amendment allows the task of being a standing committee secretary to be delegated to the assembly secretary’s assistant or representative, instead of being taken on by the assembly secretary alone.