BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
Analysts whom CNA spoke to said that the government would have learnt its lesson from Monday’s debacle and thus decided to defer the Bill on the proposed separation of the attorney general and public prosecutor roles.
Even before the Bill was tabled, a group of 10 PKR MPs led by former economy minister Rafizi Ramli had threatened to withhold their support because they believed the Bill’s current draft did not provide enough “checks and balances”.
On Tuesday, de-facto law minister Azalina Othman Said moved to refer the separation of powers Bill to a newly formed bipartisan special select committee for further scrutiny.
Azalina said that the 12-member bipartisan committee will rigorously scrutinise the Bill – specifically focusing on the accountability mechanisms for the public prosecutor – and is expected to recommend necessary amendments within a three-month window.
Hisomuddin believes the deferment underscores the need for broader and more intensive stakeholder consultation.
He said that institutional reform Bills – especially those touching prosecutorial independence – require inclusive engagement with legal bodies, civil society, opposition parliamentarians and constitutional experts.
In recent years, politicians across both sides of the aisle as well as senior members of Malaysia’s legal fraternity have called for the separation of the attorney general roles as both the government’s legal adviser and public prosecutor, citing what is perceived as an inherent conflict of interest.
As for the defeated Bill on the prime minister’s tenure, Syaza believed it could be salvaged because it was short of only two votes.
“The government needs to further its negotiations because a consensus for such an amendment is important. We don’t want the narrative of ‘bulldozing’ it,” she said.
The government has at times been accused by civil society organisations of fast tracking laws without proper consultation.
For now, the government is technically barred from reintroducing the prime minister’s term-limit Bill in its current form for the remainder of the year.
Under standing orders of the Malaysian parliament, a defeated Bill cannot be retabled during the same parliamentary session unless it undergoes substantial changes.
A parliamentary session is the annual cycle of parliament that begins with an opening ceremony by the King and continues through several months of meetings until it is officially ended to make way for the next year’s cycle.
Constitutional lawyer Joshua Wu told CNA that the government could, in theory, bypass the session-long ban by moving to suspend the Standing Orders, allowing it to retable the Bill even within the current session.
“If that happens, then theoretically, the government could retable the … Bill during this current parliamentary session. For example, during the upcoming second meeting from June to July or the third meeting from October to December, according to the Dewan Rakyat calendar,” he said.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil – who is also the government spokesperson – was reported to have said on Wednesday that a motion to reintroduce the Bill will be tabled in June.
Fahmi said Deputy Prime Mininster Fadillah Yusof, who serves as government chief whip, had briefed the Cabinet on the eight MPs who were absent.
“Only two of them have submitted written explanations to the chief whip. We are still awaiting the remaining six,” the Edge reported him as saying.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-anwar-ibrahim-pm-term-limit-attorney-general-public-prosecutor-reform-agenda-5967791
