Kuala Lumpur, 3 November 2023: The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) is encouraged by the recent proceedings of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) on Human Rights, Election and Institutional Reforms, which commenced on 26 October to address the need to separate the Attorney-General’s role from the Public Prosecutor’s office. 

IDEAS met with the PSSC chaired by YB William Leong and presented our paper titled, ‘Separating the Attorney-General and Public Prosecutor: Enhancing Rule of Law in Malaysia’ on 26th October. IDEAS proposes appointing the Public Prosecutor to the Office of Public Prosecutions and the AG should be a member of Cabinet. This approach guarantees both prosecutorial independence and transparency. IDEAS also recommends adopting the appointment and removal process for the Public Prosecutor from Canada and the United States.

“IDEAS maintains that the strongest path to reform is through amending the Federal Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and the Interpretation Acts. We hope to be involved in all future discussions related to this issue, including those with the Special Task Force for Comparative Studies and the  Special Technical Task Force  that were announced by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Dato’ Seri Azalina Othman Said last September,” stated Dr Tricia Yeoh, CEO of IDEAS. 

“We hope that the government will provide updates to civil society organisations (CSOs) on the development process, and IDEAS remains committed to assisting with the reform efforts. We look forward to the speedy implementation of separating the Offices of the AG and PP as it is crucial in ensuring institutional independence and reducing political interference in the country’s legal process ,” concluded Dr Yeoh.

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