Govt procurement law good, but shouldn't have been 'bulldozed' - Rafizi

Summary

• Rafizi Ramli says the Government Procurement Bill 2025 is necessary to ensure accountability in government spending, as existing laws make prosecution difficult.

• However, he criticises the way the bill was rushed through Parliament, agreeing with the opposition that it should have gone through the Parliamentary Special Select Committee.

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Former economy minister Rafizi Ramli said that while the Government Procurement Bill 2025 is good, it should not have been bulldozed in the Dewan Rakyat.

Explaining the matter, he stated that currently, there are no laws to hold the government responsible for its procurements, adding any prosecution must be done under the Penal Code or the MACC Act.

"But it is not easy to prove (under these laws).

"Because of that, this procurement bill is needed so that we have a law that is specific to make accountability clear," he said last night on the latest episode of his "Yang Berhenti Menteri" podcast.

However, the context behind the need for such a law failed to reach the public due to poor government communications, the Pandan MP added.

Last week, opposition MPs staged a walkout after failing to stall the bill, which passed its second reading by bloc vote.

The walkout followed heated arguments from Perikatan Nasional lawmakers, who expressed dissatisfaction with the bill not going through the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) on Finance and Economy.

Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul said the PSSC must first write to the ministry in charge of a bill for it to be referred to the committee.

Sympathise with opposition

Commenting on this, Rafizi said he sympathised with PN.

"I understand why they walked out that day, and I also don't agree with the speaker's response," he mentioned.

He also agreed that the bill should have been brought to the PSSC before its second reading.

Furthermore, the Finance Ministry should have planned the bill out so it wasn't rushed, Rafizi added.

"This is a very important bill for the country, for us to control leakages, to curb the powers of future ministers, prime ministers, all of that. It's very important. Why bulldoze?" he asked.

Besides that, Rafizi said the situation created a perception that the speaker and the government were hiding behind technicalities.

This could cause people to lose faith in PKR and Pakatan Harapan's reformist agenda, he said.

"The reason why - when we were the opposition before - we wanted PSSCs is so that we wouldn't rubber-stamp (and) bulldoze (bills)," Rafizi added.

On Aug 29, reform movement Aliran sounded the alarm over the bill's rushed passage, warning that the sweeping powers it hands to the finance minister and state chief ministers carry chilling echoes of the 1MDB scandal.

Aliran criticised the government for forcing the second reading and vote just three days before National Day, calling the move unbecoming of an administration that came to power on an anti-corruption and good governance platform.

The group stressed that a genuinely reformist government would have held extensive consultations, public hearings, and ensured transparency before tabling such a far-reaching bill, including seeking vetting by PSSC and allowing sufficient time for debate.

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