KUALA LUMPUR: Parit Sulong MP Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad of the Barisan Nasional (BN) is the new chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the first woman to hold the post.
She takes over from Beluran MP Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee who resigned from Umno on March 15 and joined Bersatu.
After the motion was tabled, she received the unanimous support of the House.
Noraini replaced Kiandee in keeping with a promise of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto that an opposition MP should be the PAC chairman.
At a press conference at the Parliament lobby, Noraini said she hoped for the support of all the PAC members in discharging the trust impartially.
“I express my thanks to the Opposition Leader (Bera MP Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) who proposed my name and the opposition bloc as well as the other MPs who accepted the motion unanimously,” she said.
She said it would not be easy for a woman to head the PAC but she hoped for good cooperation from the other members to discharge her duty well.
The experience she has garnered since joining the PAC as a member in December last year would come in useful, she said.
At the same press conference, Kiandee said he hoped that Standing Order 85 could be amended to provide for the PAC proceedings to go live.
He also said he hoped that an amendment would be made to allow the PAC reports tabled in the Dewan Rakyat to be debated by the MPs.
Kiandee said he wrote to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof last October on the matter but had yet to receive a response.
Meanwhile, Noraini said that the PAC hearing of the transactions of land owned by Kuala Lumpur City Hall on April 23 will also see the attendance of Attorney-General Tommy Thomas and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull. – Bernama
