PAC member: Govt acted on 3 steps towards reform this house session

The government managed to institute three important steps toward institutional reforms in this parliament session, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Sim Tze Tzin said.

According to the Bayan Baru MP, the steps are giving a wider range of powers to the National Audit Department, and having the auditor-general's and PAC reports debated in Parliament for the very first time.

"All these will increase transparency, and accountability and fight corruption.

"The NGOs (non-governmental organisations) often criticise Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for slow reforms. This is not fair," Sim said on X.

"Institutional reform is not sexy. It is actually a slow incremental process," the PKR lawmaker added.

According to Sim further, reforms take many baby steps, some of which may seem insignificant, to achieve the ultimate goal.

The Dewan Rakyat yesterday passed the Audit (Amendment) Bill 2024, aimed at giving greater authority to the auditor-general to enhance governance and accountability in the public sector.

Among others, the report found that the Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp) failed its audit and urged the Human Resources Ministry to refer the entity to the relevant enforcement agencies.

It also revealed that the navy failed to procure new ships as planned and to maintain existing vessels on schedule, resulting in some ships exceeding their operational lifespan due to high-tempo maritime operations.

The Anwar administration has often come under fire for allegedly failing to keep up to its promise of reforms.

Many quarters, including the electoral reform group Bersih, have accused the Pakatan Harapan coalition of reneging on promises made when it was in the opposition.

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