Press Releases

The CSO Platform for Reform extends its warm congratulations to the newly appointed Chairs of the ten Parliamentary Special Select Committees (PSSC), as announced by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul on 6 June 2023. As an organisation dedicated to advocating for institutional reform and good governance, we recognise the significance of these appointments in addressing the pressing issues affecting our nation and its citizens.

While we appreciate the establishment of the PSSCs, we urge the Speaker's office to allocate sufficient budgetary resources that would enable these committees to operate beyond the confines of parliamentary sessions. Currently, the PSSCs are limited to convening exclusively during parliamentary sittings, which may hinder their ability to effectively fulfil their intended roles.

We call on the Finance Ministry to add extra allocation to ensure the PSSC are adequately funded for our PSSC to work inter-sessional, like other good parliaments the world over. The present format of squeezing in meetings only during parliament sitting is not the most effective way to run PSSC.

By securing adequate funding, the MPs involved in the ten PSSCs will have the necessary resources to delve into critical matters, ensuring they can effectively address issues and provide essential checks and balances to enhance the government's administrative efforts. We firmly believe that this step is crucial in propelling meaningful reforms to the forefront and fostering a governance framework that benefits the nation and its people.

The CSO Platform, a coalition comprising over 60 CSOs, focuses on parliamentary and state legislative assembly reform, key law/policy reform, governance leadership reform, and institutions reform. We express our interest in actively participating in relevant PSSC meetings and request to be invited as observers, positioning ourselves as strategic partners. Leveraging our expertise and experience, our CSOs can provide valuable insights and contribute to the overall effectiveness of the PSSCs.

We are confident that by involving the CSO Platform in the PSSC meetings, we can offer substantial value-added inputs to the deliberations. Together, we can play a more influential role in driving the reform agenda and contribute significantly to our nation-building endeavours, fostering a stronger MADANI governance framework.

Note:
The CSO Platform for Reform is a coalition of 60 CSOs, based in Malaysia, focusing on institutional reforms.

Back