A DEAFENING silence with only some reforms done by Putrajaya has become a concern for the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC), which completed and sent its recommendations months ago.

It also said the reforms implemented were not necessarily the result of its recommendations as they were changes that were going to be made anyway, citing the example of the new parliamentary speaker.

Putrajaya should not sit on the report any longer but make it public immediately, IRC member Mah Weng Kwai told The Malaysian Insight.

Mah was earlier reported as saying: “I would most certainly be very disappointed if this is treated as another exercise (where) everyone thinks we are doing something about it but then it gets shelved.”

The IRC gathered feedback from civil society groups and other stakeholders on how to achieve a corruption-free society before compiling them into a report and submitting it to the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) chairman Daim Zainuddin in July.

The committee received more than 1,000 submissions over a two-month period after the May 9 elections. The CEP then presented the report to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“We have not heard anything official after that,” said Mah.

Mah, who is also a human rights commissioner and retired Court of Appeal judge, said several reforms have already been carried out, particularly in Parliament.

“Changes have been made but not necessarily as a result of our recommendations.”

Work on some other key recommendations have already begun, including parliamentary reform, restructuring the judicial appointments and repealing the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 in Dewan Rakyat, which was later blocked by the opposition-controlled Dewan Negara.

Mah added that the main thrust of the recommendations would involve reforming the eight key institutions – namely Parliament, elections, the judiciary, law officers and legal service, anti-corruption, police and immigration, communications media and information, as well as human rights institutions and law.

“We are seeing some changes in addition to the new speaker. There’s a new EC (Election Commission) chairman, new members of JAC (Judicial Appointments Commission) were appointed. Some changes, but as I’ve said, they would have happened anyway.”

Mah also reiterated an earlier call for the report to be made public by the government.

“We’ve been asking for it to be made public. And we’ve not received a word on it yet.”

Besides Mah, the committee comprised Hakam president Ambiga Sreenevasan, retired Court of Appeal judge K.C. Vohrah, National Patriot Association president Brig-Gen (R) Mohamed Arshad Raji and Universiti Malaya law professor Shad Saleem Faruqi.

Arshad told The Malaysian Insight the IRC proposed hundreds of recommendations, six or seven of them were on institutional reforms.

“One of the major reforms currently taking place is in Parliament. The CEP wanted me to be part of the parliamentary reform committee but I declined,” Arshad said.

“That is a major issue that the IRC is currently handling and I am happy with how things are moving,” he said.

Arshad, however, said that he wanted to see reforms taking place in the police force.

“I want to see reform in the police force. The culture (corruption) in the force is deep. Corruption is the main issue.

“The IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission) needs to be put in place soon so that people know that changes are taking place.

“It is also for the good of the police officers.”

Shad Saleem, meanwhile, urged the public to be patient, saying that just five months of reforms cannot undo the damage done by 61 years of uninterrupted rule of a single government.

He said there has been some progress in parliamentary reform: “There are parliamentary reforms for example. The PAC (Public Accounts Committee) is now headed by the opposition leader.”

“Several new faces were also introduced. New A-G (attorney-general), new chief justice and new Election Commission chief. But we need to give the government some time. To prepare the papers is easy but to engage with stakeholders will need some time.

“It is not fair to criticise because we’ve had a 61-year-old rule of unlimited power and things can’t be changed in five months,” he added.

The other priorities of the IRC’s recommendations include vetting processes for key public appointments with the aim of achieving a corrupt-free society, the abolition of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act and other draconian security laws, reforms in enforcement and government agencies and limiting the concentration of executive power of a single individual, especially the prime minister. – November 8, 2018.