KUALA LUMPUR: The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) welcomed the recent proceedings of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) on Human Rights, Election, and Institutional Reforms, aimed at addressing the need to separate the Attorney-General's role from the public prosecutor's office.
Its chief executive officer Dr Tricia Yeoh said Ideas presented a paper titled 'Separating the Attorney-General and Public Prosecutor: Enhancing Rule of Law in Malaysia' on Oct 26 during a PSSC meeting chaired by PSSC chairman, William Leong.
She said Ideas proposed appointing the public prosecutor to the public prosecutions office and the A-G should be a member of the cabinet, as this approach guarantees both prosecutorial independence and transparency.
"Ideas also recommends adopting the appointment and removal process for the public prosecutor from Canada and the United States.
"Ideas maintains that the strongest path to reform is through amending the Federal Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and the Interpretation Acts," Yeoh said in a statement yesterday.
She hoped for continued involvement in all future discussions related to this issue, including those with the Special Task Force for Comparative Studies and the Special Technical Task Force that were announced by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said last September.
"We hope that the government will provide updates to civil society organisations (CSOs) on the development process, and Ideas remains committed to assisting with the reform efforts.
"We look forward to the speedy implementation of separating the offices of the A-G and public prosecutor, as it is crucial in ensuring institutional independence and reducing political interference in the country's legal process," added Yeoh.