SHAH ALAM: Three proposals on prominent institutional and legislative reforms will be tabled at the upcoming parliamentary meeting, says the bipartisan All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) chairman Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh.
The proposals include amendments and reforms to the Whistleblower Protection Act and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act.
Syed Ibrahim, who is Ledang MP, said for the separation of powers between the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the group is aware that the minister in charge of law and institutional reforms, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, has said she will need the report from the proposed Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI).
In March, Azalina told the Dewan Rakyat that the Cabinet has agreed to form an RCI on the judiciary and law, with the terms of reference on the issue of separation of powers and others to be set.
“I believe in the process that was started by the minister. However, we don’t want to delay the reforms,” Syed Ibrahim said at APPG’s press conference on integrity, governance and anti-corruption held at the Karangkraf building yesterday.
The second meeting of the second session of the Dewan Rakyat will take place from May 22 until June 15.
On the MACC reforms, Syed Ibrahim said they will only involve amendments to relevant clauses of the Act.
Political and economic expert Dr Edmund Terence Gomez, a member of APPG, said the amendments to the MACC Act will enable more autonomy for the body.
Parliament, too, will be empowered to appoint the advisory members and the chief of the anti-graft body, he said.
“We’re going to propose to take away the power to appoint from the prime minister and put it in the office of the Parliamentary Select Committe (PSC) that comprises both the government and the Opposition,” he said.
Responding to a question from the media, Gomez said he disagreed with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s explanation on extending the service of Tan Sri Azam Baki as the MACC head.
Gomez, in December 2021, resigned from MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel in protest over the panel’s inaction with regard to the shares controversy involving Azam.
In 2022, Azam was cleared by the Securities Commission, which found no breach of laws pertaining to his share trading account.
APPG deputy chairman Datuk Mas Ermiyatie Samsudin, the Masjid Tanah MP from Perikatan Nasional, said she too was surprised with the move to extend Azam’s tenure.
On May 12, Azam, who has reached the mandatory retirement age of 60, received a one-year extension as the MACC chief commissioner.
On May 15, Anwar said Azam’s reappointment was made as the government is satisfied with his work leading the anti-graft agency.
