The parliamentary special select committee on the amendments to the Constitution pertaining to anti-party hopping laws should be headed by the most qualified member across political lines, says a former Dewan Rakyat speaker.
Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof said that having Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar as the committee chairman should not happen to ensure independence.
He said that the special select committee should be led by someone with expertise in the subject matter, regardless of their political leanings.
“If someone from the Opposition is good in the particular area, make him the chairman. What’s wrong with it?
“It’s not that we don’t have a precedent, we are already doing it now under the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), whose chairman is from the Opposition while the vice is from the government to strike a balance,” he said.
Ariff was speaking in an online forum organised by the British Graduates Association Malaysia (BGAM) to discuss his new book entitled ‘Parliament, Unexpected’ on Saturday (April 16).
The book entails his journey as the Dewan Rakyat speaker from 2018 to early 2020, which he coined as “the critical period of parliamentary history”.
“The beauty of the special select committee is if you do it properly it should consist of members who have the expertise, vision and correct temperament who will do their work in the national interest,” he added.
Ariff added that the committee can meet to deliberate on the issue while inviting experts on the subject matter to get their views.
“The (anti-hopping law) special committee can meet and deliberate among themselves, call in whatever experts they may.
“Then, the nitty-gritty of the law can be formulated and drafted carefully before reporting it to the minister to be debated in the House (Dewan Rakyat),” he said.
The Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) member also said that Malaysia should emulate countries that have successfully implemented independent select committees at their parliaments.
“It’s been proven effective in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia as well as in the Asean region including in the Philippines and even Vietnam,” he said.
In August 2018, Ariff announced the implementation of a select committee system to enhance parliamentary oversight on the executive branch of the country.
Since then, there are 10 select committees, which consist of bipartisan members, which have also undergone several restructuring.
The retired judge said that Parliament should also have some control over the members’ selection of the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) to enhance the check and balance system.
“Parliament must have control over the choice of the members of MACC. And MACC should eventually be fully accountable to the Parliament.
“The commission should come under parliamentary purview and to add further force and enhance the check and balance system,” he said.
He, however, said that the commission should still be left to be fully independent while executing its tasks.
A full-fledged ombudsman was also in the making during the Pakatan Harapan’s administration, only to be trashed when the “Sheraton Move” took place, Ariff said.
