KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should split up into two separate entities with disparate oversight and operations duties, the Malaysian Bar and four other civil society groups said today.
To ensure an independent fight against corruption, a new body called the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (IACC) should be created through a new provision in the Federal Constitution to carry out monitoring functions, the groups suggested.
Malaysian Bar president Steven Thiru noted that the MACC is currently under the Prime Minister’s Department, which would inevitably lead to perceptions of interference during probes, adding that the new IACC would be more independent from the executive arm of the government.
“And an anti-corruption agency must have independence from the executive because the executive themselves could be at the very end of anti-corruption investigations, so the executive must not be in a position or be seen to be in a position of either interfering or influencing the anti-corruption agency,” he told reporters here.
Emphasising the importance of the proposed IACC, Steven said the MACC is a statutory body formed under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, which would make it vulnerable to legal changes with a simple majority vote in Parliament.
But with the IACC formed under the constitution, it would have greater independence as any changes to its powers and functions would have to be done through a two-thirds Parliamentary majority, Steven said.
“We have in mind that this independent commission to have full power in the fight against corruption in this country and because of the constitutional position they enjoy, they will have that degree of independence from the executive and their powers and functions cannot be easily altered by amendments,” he said.
Tricia Yeoh, from the think-tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) that worked with the Malaysian Bar on the proposed reforms, said the new IACC should have a maximum membership of 15 that should be appointed in two batches to ensure continuity.
Yeoh said these members should be proposed and put up for voting in Parliament by a Parliamentary Select Committee, with at least 40 per cent to be from civil society and meeting certain criteria.
Both Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara should vote on these commissioners before the submission of their names through the prime minister to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong for appointment, she said.
To enhance independence, the IACC members should be given security of tenure with a maximum appointment of two terms and with each term lasting a maximum of three years.
IACC members should have their dismissals decided by a special tribunal, with the decisions to be approved through a two-third Parliamentary vote, she said.
As part of the reforms, the IACC chairman would be appointed for a term of six years, which may be renewed once, the groups said.
The groups suggested the role now held by the MACC’s Special Committee on Corruption — one of its five independent oversight panels — to be replaced by a parliamentary select committee, and for the remaining four to continue as part of the IACC.
The current MACC should be rebranded as the Anti-Corruption Agency and handle operations such as the probing of corruption, the groups said.
The reform proposals were submitted to the MACC on July 28, which Steven said was received positively by the anti-graft body.
The proposals came as a result of the joint collaboration between the Malaysian Bar, IDEAS, Transparency International Malaysia, Citizen’s Network for a Better Malaysia and the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism.
