The Selangor State Assembly Oversight and Government Accountability (Pengawasan dan Akauntabiliti Kerajaan di Dewan Negeri Selangor)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31436/jia.v17i4.916Abstract
It is imperative to ensure that every decision made by a legislative body has the best interest of the citizens at heart. The Selangor State Assembly (SSA) is the legislative body that oversees the government of Selangor, Malaysia. The SSA follows the parliamentary model of government. This paper attempts to examine the effectiveness of the SSA oversight in ensuring the Selangor state government accountability generally, and in relation to the Talam case, specifically. The concept of accountability has two facets – answerability and enforcement. Matching internal and external oversights with the different forms of accountability must have high enforcement or sanctions capacity for the oversight mechanisms to be effective. There are three areas of focus in the study: i) the mechanisms available in the SSA, ii) the effectiveness of the mechanisms used in ensuring the government accountability in Selangor and iii) the challenges in ensuring government accountability in Selangor and how they are resolved. The data of this research paper is mainly from interviews and secondary sources. The conceptual framework of legislative oversight and government accountability of Pelizzo and Stapenhurst (2014) is used as the theoretical guideline of this study. Legislative oversight, if effectively performed, can keep government accountable; a greater accountability can lead to a reduction in the level of corruption. Reduced corruption results in improved economic development and living standards. This study reveals the extent of the SSA legislative oversight effectiveness in ensuring the Selangor state government accountability.
Keywords: Selangor State Assembly, Legislative Oversights, Government Accountability, Corruption Management.
Abstrak
Amat penting untuk memastikan setiap keputusan yang dibuat oleh sesebuah badan legislatif adalah yang terbaik untuk kepentingan rakyat. Dewan Negeri Selangor (DNS) adalah badan legislatif yang mengawas kerajaan negeri Selangor, Malaysia. Model DNS ialah sistem kerajaan berparlimen. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melihat keberkesanan DNS dalam memastikan akauntabiliti kerajaan Selangor amnya dan berhubung dengan kes Talam khususnya. Konsep akauntabiliti memenuhi dua aspek – kebertanggungjawaban dan penguatkuasaan. Padanan mekanisme dalaman dan luaran ke arah mencapai akauntabiliti pelbagai bentuk perlu penguatkuasaan yang luhur atau kapasiti sanksi yang mampu menjadikan mekanisme pengawasan berkesan. Tiga fokus utama kajian ini: i) Mekanisme pengawasan sedia ada di DNS, ii) Keberkesanan mekanisme yang digunakan dalam memastikan akauntabiliti kerajaan di Selangor, iii) Cabaran-cabaran dalam memastikan akauntabiliti kerajaan di Selangor dan bagaimanakah cabaran-cabaran tersebut diatasi. Data kajian ini diperolehi dari temu bual dan sumber-sumber sekunder. Kerangka konseptual oleh Pelizzo and Stapenhurst (2014) dalam pengawasan legislatif dan akauntabiliti kerajaan digunakan sebagai panduan teori dalam kajian ini. Pengawasan legislatif, jika dilakukan secara efektif, boleh mengekalkan kerajaan yang bertanggungjawab; akauntabiliti yang lebih semarak akan memerosotkan korupsi. Pengurangan korupsi mewujudkan peningkatan pembangunan ekonomi dan taraf kehidupan. Kajian ini mendedahkan sejauh mana keberkesanan pengawasan DNS ke arah memastikan akauntabiliti kerajaan Selangor.
Kata Kunci: Dewan Negeri Selangor, Pengawasan Legislatif, Akauntabiliti Kerajaan, Pengurusan Korupsi.
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