Rompin MP Hasan Arifin’s refusal to hold further press conferences has put his ability to carry out his role as the new Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson into serious doubt, said DAP.

Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang said as Hasan has shown he is afraid of the press to the extent of declaring a total ban on press conferences, it is questionable if he could discharge his principal role to uphold government financial accountability and integrity.

"All over the world, the public accounts committees are holding their sessions in public, but in Malaysia, PAC is not only still a very secretive conclave, we now have a PAC chairperson so averse to the media that he has banned all PAC press conferences," said Lim in a statement.

"Hasan has already given a rather knavish connotation to his position as PAC chairperson when he disarmingly admitted that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak would not be called as a witness to the PAC," said Lim.

The decision, he pointed out, had further been made without consulting other PAC members.

"It can only attract the question whether this is how he ‘cari makan’ as the new PAC chairperson, when everybody knows that any investigation into (1MDB) which does not summon Najib is a farce and an utter waste of time," he said.

Hasan, upset with media reports that carried his ‘cari makan’ quip, yesterday announced that the PAC will no longer hold press conferences starting from its next meeting on Nov 23.

Parliamentary reform, not

Lim said this development shows Parliament is suffering a “serious case of schizophrenia”, taking a side swipe at speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia’s earlier claims of aspiring to reform the parliamentary process.

"We talk on the one hand of parliamentary reforms to catch up with developments all over the world to become a first world Parliament, but our parliamentarians, including the speaker, is deeply stuck with a third-world parliamentary mindset.

He said in the first week since the Dewan Rakyat resumed its sitting after a one-week break for Deepavali, at least two opposition MPs were threatened with censure from the parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee.

Lim said, "If anybody should be referred to the parliamentary committee of privileges for bringing Parliament into public contempt, ridicule and odium, it should be the new PAC chairperson."

"Would Hasan apologise for the ‘cari makan’ remark and make a solemn undertaking that he will not be guided by any ‘cari makan’ mindset in carrying out his duties as PAC chairperson?" asked Lim.

The DAP lawmaker himself is serving a six-month suspension from Parliament for allegedly having disparaged Pandikar in the House over the 1MDB issue.

Meanwhile, both PKR Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen and PKR Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, threatened with censure, have apologised for their statements.