Lim Kit Siang is at it again. Practising his favorite past time - playing political doubles.
Recently, he vehemently calls for the resignation of YB Dato Seri Azmi Khalid (BN MP) as chairman of Parliament's powerful Public Account Committee (PAC), citing conflict of interest and in the name of transparency and accountability. He argues that an opposition PAC chairman in Parliament will be able to provide more effective check and balance to the BN government's spending.
I find his call utterly shallow and lacks credibility. I say so for one simple reason - he is not walking his talk when it comes to his own governments.
Since every State Assembly has a PAC, one would assume, given Kit Siang's tenacity in demanding transparency and accountability, that the chairmen of PACs in those Pakatan states are headed by the opposition (BN representatives).
Let's see if he passes his own test in the Pakatan states.
In Penang State Assembly, the PAC is chaired by DAP's YB Jagdeep Sing Deo a/l Karpal Singh. Surprise? And the Chief Minister of Penang is his own son!
Things are not that promising in the other Pakatan states either.
In Kedah, the PAC Chairman is held by YB Ustaz Ahmad I'zzat bin Mohamad Shauki from PAS while in Kelantan, the PAC Chairman is YB Hj Abdul Fattah Bin Haron who is also from PAS. Where is the transparency and accountability demanded by Lim Kit Siang in those appointments? Did we hear Lim Kit Siang calling them to step down and urge opposition to replace them?
Now what about Selangor?
Well, to be fair, there was an offer from Pakatan for a BN representative to take up the post. Unfortunately, the offer was seen by BN Selangor as a superficial attempt to gloss over Pakatan's call for accountability. The offer was only for the post of Chairman while Pakatan insisted that majority of the members must come from its own representatives.
As Selangor is the richest state in the federation, there is bound to be many issues of state spending which need scrutiny by the PAC. In some instances, there could be an impasse in concluding some investigations. To break the impasse, some issues may have to be voted on, and yes, a Pakatan dominated PAC would not necessarily be cooperative.
The reasons above are enough to tell Lim Kit Siang to stop insulting Malaysians with his charade and start walking his talk. He must now demand Pakatan state governments to be more accountable and remove their PAC chairmen at once. We'll see if he has the audacity.
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