Bersih suggests a maximum of 16 members in PSSC

SHAH ALAM - The formation of 10 Parliamentary Special Select Committees (PSSCs) comprising nine members each committee is insufficient to involve all government backbenchers and opposition MPs, says the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih).

Its steering committee in a statement said if the Parliament wanted to maintain the 10 PSSCs, 67 MPs would not be in any committee, thus undermining their role as national policy makers at the PSSC and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) level, excluding four committees that looked after the internal affairs in the Dewan Rakyat.

"If these 10 PSSCs are to be maintained, it would be better to increase the composition of each committee to a maximum of 16 MPs.

"Alternatively, the Parliament can establish more PSSCs by breaking some up to reduce the ministries to be monitored by each PSSC and create more focused PSSCs," it said on Wednesday.

The 10 PSSCs which were recently approved in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday comprised Finance and Economy; Security; Health; Domestic Trade, Entrepreneurship and Cost of Living; Infrastructure, Transportation and Communications; Nation Building, Ethnicity, Education and Human Resources Development; Women, Children and Community Development; Environment, Science and Agriculture; International Relations and International Trade and Human Rights, Elections and Institutional Reform.

Bersih wanted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to give an explanation on why only 10 PSSCs were established and why the composition was not maximised for all MPs to have at least one position.

"Bersih hopes that the chairmen and committee members could be announced soon and we suggest as far as possible that opposition MPs be appointed as chairmen.

"The composition in the PSSC also needs to be balanced and reflect the composition of MPs in the Dewan Rakyat," it said.