The Malaysian Parliament must take a stand on Monday whether it wants to have a “cari makan” Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), especially as it is poised to continue its “derailed” investigations into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.
PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin has compounded his faux pax with a ban on all PAC press conferences on the ground that he is victim of a diabolic plot by the media to present him in the worst possible light.
Why should the media have such an animus towards him and not others, as no other UMNO/BN leader, whether Minister or other parliamentary personality, had ever lodged such a serious complaint of collective bias against the parliamentary media.
Does the fault lie in the media or in Hasan himself?
If Hasan’s political skills are so lacking that he could be such a disaster in so short a time when handling the parliamentary media, what could one expect of him as PAC Chairman when the PAC is probably facing its greatest test in 58 years since Merdeka in 1957 when not just Malaysians, but the world, will be watching PAC’s every step in its resumption of its “derailed” investigations into Najib’s twin mega scandals!
In fact, the question whether there should be a ban of all PAC press conferences about its inquiries to uphold government financial integrity and accountability should be decided by the PAC as a whole, and not by the Chairman alone – unless the PAC Chairman has assumed the powers of a dictator in PAC.
Members of Parliament should use this weekend to ponder whether they want to have “cari makan” PAC Chairman, and if not, what they could do to purge Malaysian Parliament of such shame and stain.
Members of the PAC should also use this weekend to ponder whether they could allow the PAC Chairman to unilaterally and arbitrarily shame the PAC and PAC members in making Malaysians and the world think that the Malaysian PAC is nothing but a “cari makan” PAC, and what they could do to immediately and effectively purge the PAC of such shame and stain of being such a spineless and soulless mercenary creature.