Nurul Izzah rejoins PAC, Kiandee quits
KUALA LUMPUR: Nurul Izzah Anwar (Lembah Pantai-PH) rejoined the Public Accounts Committee after quitting the committee close to a fortnight ago while PAC chief Ronald Kiandee (Beluran-PH) quit.
“The structure of the PAC which provides checks and balance is crucial to the country,” she was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian.
“I decided to rejoin the PAC after discussing the matter with Pakatan Harapan chief whip Johari Abdul, and getting the approval of Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohd Ariff Md Yusof.”
She had quit the PAC on March 22 when Ronald Kiandee was retained as PAC chairman despite becoming a backbencher after getting into the committee on a Umno ticket.
Today the government gave in to the pressure of the backbenchers and opposition and replaced Kiandee with Noraini Ahmad (Parit Sulong -BN) via a motion by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In a related development, Kiandee confirmed that he is quitting PAC altogether.
“How can I still be in PAC? If the chairperson is replaced, it means I’m out. It’s very clear. I can’t be a regular member, can I?” he told reporters.
As PAC chief, he chaired 30 PAC meetings and handling seven issues.
“As long as I was the chairperson, I made sure that the committee members did not represent their parties and only the Parliament. There was no issue of being biased against anyone, we conducted probes fairly, and according to facts,” Kiandee said.
Pakatan Harapan had pledged an opposition led PAC as part of its parliamentary reform efforts.
