The Institutional Reforms Committee has submitted its “Report of the Institutional Reforms Committee” dated 16 July 2017 to the Council of Eminent Persons. The Committee will be meeting the Council this week to brief them on the recommendations made. The Report contains recommendations pertaining to seven key institutions as well as reforms to laws that impinge upon fundamental liberties. These recommendations are what we consider to be necessary steps for the reforms that the country needs. The areas of reform we examined are:
1. Parliament
2. Elections
3. The Judiciary
4. Law Officers and Legal Service
5. Anti-Corruption
6. Police and Immigration
7. Communications, Media and Information
8. Human Rights Institutions and Laws
In the course of the Committee’s work, we also made several immediate recommendations to the Council of Eminent Persons on matters which we considered to be urgent, most of which have been incorporated in the Report.
In preparing the Report, the Committee benefted from the representations of many individuals and organisations who provided us with written and oral submissions. This gave us vital information and shaped our thinking on the ills that required remedial measures. The Committee received about 1,000 submissions, letters and e-mails from the public. We thank everyone who took the time and trouble to make submissions to the Committee and those who attended dialogue sessions with us.There were many written submissions which, while not connected directly with the scope of our study, raised issues which require attention. We are referring these to the relevant government agencies for their action.
There were several areas of national importance which could not be sufficiently dealt with in this short period of time. We have recommended that further studies be conducted on these issues.
There were representations of a personal nature which we could not deal with as they are beyond the ambit of this Committee. The Committee would like to acknowledge the privilege of having been assigned this work in the context of a new Malaysia. We are also thankful to have the assistance of a very able volunteer support team and an efficient Secretariat.
Institutional Reforms Committee
17 July 2018
Dato’ KC Vohrah (Chairperson)
Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan
Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai
Brig Gen Dato’ Mohamed Arshad Raji (Rtd)
Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi
