Press Statement
PH government must make IRC reports public and initiate serious institutional reforms, with immediate effect
24 January 2019
We refer to law minister, Hanipa Maidin’s parliamentary written reply stating that the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC) reports containing recommendations for institutional reforms, are currently being overseen by the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption (GIACC).
Firstly, it is surprising and incomprehensible that the government still refuses to make public the contents of the IRC reports containing 233 recommendations relating to governance, integrity and corruption prevention.
Even several members of the IRC itself have urged the government to make public the report.
Public knowledge and discussion of the recommendations would only benefit the process of reform and change in which the new government is currently engaged in.
The recommendations cover nine critical institutions which are of great public interest and concern, namely the Parliament, the Election Commission, the judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the MACC, the police, the Immigration Department, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).
Continuing to keep the contents secret may only serve to create unhealthy speculation in various quarters and retard the process of legislating and realising these reforms.
Secondly, we urge the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to initiate with urgency, serious institutional reforms on key institutions, such as the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), Judiciary, police force, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Election Commission (EC).
The government must fulfill its promise to institute institutional reform and entrench human rights as promised in the PH election manifesto.
They must not backtrack on the commitments made. It is time they complete their mission to build a clean, accountable and capable government that is committed to institutional and political reforms to protect the rights of all races and improve the quality of life of Malaysians.
Released by:
Latheefa Koya
Executive Director
Lawyers for Liberty