ASEANSAI Remarks on the Importance of Supreme Audit Institutions’ Independency
38th ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary General Assembly in Manila Filipina
ASEANSAI delegates consist of Mr. Sophat Chea (Head of Administration Function) and Mr. Wahyudi (Head of International Cooperation Division), led by Mr. Hendar Ristriawan, Secretary General of Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia and the Head of ASEANSAI Secretariat attend the 38th ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary General Assembly from 15 to 17 September 2017 in Manila Filipina. This event was attended more than 300 delegates from 10 parliament institutions ASEAN countries and from 9 countries outside the ASEAN and three other institutions as the observer such as Korea, Japan, Russia, EU, China and Belarus. Indonesian Parliament was represented by Fadli Zon, Vice Speaker for Politics and Security, the House of Representatives of The Republic of Indonesia.
The event was officially opened by H.E. Pantaleon D. Alvarez as the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Philippines and President of ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA). The head of delegates and guests was also invited to the courtesy call with the President prior to the opening session. At the first plenary session of the AIPA General Assembly, ASEANSAI was invited to convey the speech on the importance the independency of the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) especially in ASEAN region, to encourage the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community year 2025.
In his speech, Mr. Hendar Ristriawan emphasize that ASEAN should embody the synergy among government stakeholders and private through strengthening the governance and transparency. In this case, SAIs has the important role in encouraging the good governance practices and transparency in public sector.
In running its function, SAI support the efficiency, effectiveness and economic in sector public altogether which leads to to improved decision-making of the government and this is how public sector auditing is an important factor in making a difference to the lives of citizens, this is in accordance with the basic principal of the ISSAI (International Standard Supreme Audit Institutions) 12. SAIs can accomplish their tasks, only if they are independent, effective and credible, as essential component in a democratic system where accountability, transparency and integrity are indispensable parts of a stable democracy. To achieve this critical objective, it is indispensable for a healthy democracy that each country have a SAI whose independence is guaranteed by law, in accordance with the constitutions and legal system applied in each country.
Mr. Hendar Ristriawan highlighted that that good cooperation between Parliaments and Supreme Audit Institutions is essential to promoting good governance and public sector transparency. The benefits of ensuring SAI independence, as well as ensuring Parliamentary oversight, are sustainable benefits that ultimately serve as a safeguard of the bountiful future we all wish to pass on. Parliament may support SAIs to be more functionally and organizationally independent through promoting awareness among parliaments on the essential for SAI independence, through supporting the establishment and protection of the SAI’s mandate with a strong constitutional and legal framework and through ensuring the actual application of the provisions of the framework. When a Supreme Audit Institution is both empowered and required by the Constitution to report its findings annually and independently to Parliament or any other responsible public body, the following extensive distribution and discussion will ensure and enhance opportunities for enforcing the findings of the Supreme Audit Institution.
In this event, ASEANSAI initiate to have cooperation with AIPA to socialize the SAI Independence principles to the parliaments in Southeast Asia region (AIPA members). AIPA was established in 1977and aimed to facilitate the achievement of the goals of the ASEAN leading to the realization of an ASEAN Community based on three (3) pillars: ASEAN Security Community (ASC), ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). The cooperation between ASEANSAI and AIPA was initiated since 2011. Chairman of ASEANSAI, represented by the Vice Chair of BPK Hasan Bisri, was invited to deliver speech at the 33rd AIPA General Assembly in 2012 in Lombok, Indonesia.