The Selangor state assembly oversight and government accountability

Abstract EN

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.