PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was too busy with party matters to attend the Dewan Rakyat sitting during which the House bulldozed through several controversial bills, plus Budget 2016.

"He has a lot of things to do. He is not in the country sometimes," PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan disclosed today.

He said Hadi, who is also Marang parliamentarian, must be excused from Parliament even when the House is scheduled to vote as he had to attend to party matters.

"It depends. When you have some important matter outside Parliament, he must be excused," he said.

Takiyuddin, the Kota Baru lawmaker, pointed out that Hadi often attended sittings when he could and brushed off health concerns as the cause for him missing important sittings.

For this year, the PAS president had missed voting for the Prevention of Terrorism Act ( Pota ) bill and the Sedition (Amendment) bill.

He was also nowhere to be seen when the House passed the second reading of Budget 2016 on Monday.

Hadi, however, refused to divulge the reason for his absence on Monday when the Budget 2016 was passed at the policy stage by 128 votes to 74.

"The budget (vote) is over; it's over. It's over ," he said on Tuesday.

"Hadi was away from town (on Budget 2016 voting night) ," said Takiyuddin.
Meanwhile, Takiyuddin, a new member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), disagrees with chairperson Hasan Arifin for suspending PAC press conferences in future.

"A press conference need to be conducted when the need arises. (PAC) needs to conduct press conferences, but it's up to him if he wants to answer the questions (raised by the media)," he said.

Hasan has announced that PAC will no longer call for press conference in future, given the 'cari makan' flap .

Yesterday, Hasan quipped, " Jangan la, saya pun nak cari makan " (Please don't; I need to make a living, too) when repeatedly grilled on why the PAC would not call Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to assist in its investigation of 1MDB.

Hasan later clarified that he meant he was "looking for food" , as lunch had been served for the media.

To a question if Hasan has lost his integrity as PAC chief by such statement, Takiyuddin said,"I cannot comment, but you can judge him from his comment."