KUALA LUMPUR – Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will be initiating proceedings into five issues, including the management of airports under Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) and Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s domestic investments.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament today, PAC chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Masjid Tanah-PN) said that the committee will also be looking into the private healthcare ecosystem and its funding methods through medical insurance.
The PAC will also scrutinise the private healthcare sector’s regulatory mechanisms, legal frameworks and the implications of increased private healthcare costs to government hospitals.
She noted that the proceedings will commence during the First Meeting of the Fourth Session of the 15th Parliament, scheduled to take place from February 3 to March 6, 2025.
Additionally, the PAC will also be probing land development in Kuala Lumpur under the Federal Territories Department and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) as well as the acquisition of electric trains via a 30-year lease worth RM10.7 billion.
Mas said that the committee will convene when Parliament resumes to determine who will be called as witnesses for the proceedings.
She added that the PAC will present to the Dewan Rakyat six reports during the upcoming parliamentary meeting, including those on the management of the Sabah and Sarawak rural water supply project and 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s commitment to financial guarantees.
The other reports are those on the management of the implementation of the Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) project, the acquisition of the Foreign Workers Central Management System (FWCMS) as well as the handling of national water and the rice planting programme.
Mas also highlighted that the PAC had held 148 meetings this year and presented 22 reports in the Dewan Rakyat, consisting of 11 initial reports and 11 follow-up reports. The figure is a significant increase compared to only 64 meetings held in 2023, followed by the tabling of just 13 reports.
“Governance and legal compliance issues were the main problems detected in most ministries, government departments and agencies. This shows that there are still structural and procedural weaknesses in government institutions as a whole.
“Financial management and investment issues are also often a challenge for agencies attempting to ensure effective strategies while controlling an organisation’s internal resources,” she added.
She also said that the PAC found that the management of projects, infrastructures and contracts was crucial in improving the effectiveness of public development programmes as a whole.
Other issues detected, she added, were conflicts of interest in an organisation as well as operational sustainability. – December 12, 2024