FIXING the country’s institutions is more a journey than a destination, said Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi, a member of the newly appointed committee tasked with carrying out those reforms.

Shad Saleem, an expert on the federal constitution, was describing the difficult road ahead for the committee as it helps the Pakatan Harapan administration fulfil a cornerstone promise of its election campaign.  

“It is a heavy responsibility and not easy. We have to reconcile conflicting interests and temper idealism with efficiency,” he said, adding that the committee has to take an honest look at a wide range of views in order fulfil its role.  

“We are not starting from a blank slate as these institutions are already there. But they have been abused and fell victim to executive dominance,” he told Malaysia Decides.  

“So, we have to work with what we have and repair them. It cannot be done overnight,” said Shad Saleem, who is Universiti Malaya’s Tunku Abdul Rahman professor of law.

And although the committee and administration may be successful in putting in place a good system, what also mattered were the people appointed to head these bodies, he said.

“They also have to be good people with good values.”

One the committee’s priorities will be to propose a return to checks and balances in the country’s institutions.  

The committee will review existing laws with the aim of recommending new ones or amending them in order to make bodies, such as the anti-graft agency, judiciary and Election Commission independent and professionally run.

A source in the PH administration said the new government aims to carry out these reforms within the first 12 months in office.  

The institutional reform committee was formed under the Council of Eminent Persons headed by former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, which is aimed at reforming the economy.

Proposals from the committee will be submitted the council which will then forward them to the prime minister for further action.

Besides Shad Saleem, the other members are retired Court of Appeal judge K.C. Vohrah; former judge and Suhakam commissioner Mah Weng Kwai; National Patriots Association chairman Brig-Gen (rtd) Mohamad Arshad Raji; and former president of the Malaysian Bar Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Institutional reforms comprise one third of PH’s Buku Harapan, which lists every policy the coalition wants to carry out while in government.

These include the 10 promises it said it will implement within the administration’s first 100 days, such as abolishing the goods and services tax and introducing Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions for home makers, and starting the Peduli Sihat medical scheme.

There are 18 policy plans under Buku Harapan’s chapter on institutional reforms.

These include separating the role of public prosecutor from that of the attorney-general and making the EC, judiciary and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission free of cabinet interference.

Also planned are repeals of draconian laws, such as the Sedition Act and Anti-Fake News Act, making government spending more transparent and creating a fair funding mechanism for political parties. – May 16, 2018.