KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition MPs have denied the Dewan Rakyat a chance to scrutinise the Audit Report 2021 Series 2, which highlights the irregularities during Covid-19 pandemic, says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (pic).

The Minister in the Prime Minister Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) said that she was baffled by the Opposition’s refusal to debate the motion which matters pertaining to the audit report were raised by the public through their lawmakers.

"I cannot accept, understand and even baffled when they (Opposition) refused to debate the report.

"The Members of Parliament represent the voices of the people who raised issues related to the report.

"Are we going to deny the people’s voices as their representatives or do we just leave it to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) who has less than 20 MPs to represent the people?" the Pengerang MP said during her winding-up speech of the debate at the Lower House on Tuesday (June 6).

Azalina also said the debate on the audit report would only point out the findings by the Auditor-General in 2020 in which the country was heavily impacted by the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Are the frontbenchers, backbenchers and the Opposition unable to discuss at all about the report because the money spent is not our money or our parents’ money.

"We are just debating the 2021 audit report because Parliament was closed by the government, which was under the (Opposition) administration at that time," she said.

On Jan 12, 2021, an Emergency was declared due to the Covid-19 pandemic until Aug 1 that year. Parliament was suspended during that period.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Opposition refused to participate in the debate on the report, claiming it violated parliamentary standing orders and was unconstitutional.