Govt backbenchers to focus on AG's report

Govt backbenchers to focus on AG's report by B. Suresh Ram BARISAN Nasional Backbenchers Club chair man Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad has given notice that government backbenchers will direct the limelight to the Auditor-General's Report for 2004. He said members of parliament would raise the issues contained in the report, and that the Public Accounts Committee ? of which he is chairman ? would examine the report thoroughly. Shahrir said the report would be discussed during the debate on the Supply Bill 2006. Speaking to reporters at parliament lobby, he welcomed the statement by Transparency International Malaysia president Datuk Param Cumaraswamy urging MPs to focus on the issues contained in the report. Cumaraswamy had described some of the matters raised in report as damning and mind boggling. The report has led to a number of headline-grabbing newspaper reports. Shahrir said: "We will do it while at the same time go through other issues of interest. "Obviously, there are issues being raised now that are of importance too, such as the KL-Putrajaya Highway. "It is not an issue of alignment, but of the whole project itself. It is an issue of govern ment procedure. "When you plan, how does the government plan, how does it take into account issues from, let's say, the residents' perspective." He said the perspective of MPs is no longer just how much money is allocated and which projects will be approved, "but we want to see how decisions are made and how they are implemented". Shahrir said the government had acted on the feedback contained in the AG's report, describing it as a continuous and ongoing process.