On April 3, a news outlet reported that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim plans to grant another extension to MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki’s tenure for six months once his tenure ends in May this year.
If true, this would follow two prior one-year extensions despite Azam having passed the mandatory retirement age of 60.
The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) wishes to reiterate once more the criticism levied in the wake of the first two extensions in its media statements dated May 17, 2023, and May 14, 2024, and in particular urges the government to take this opportunity to implement critical reforms to the MACC.
The appointment process of the MACC chief commissioner has long been a subject of criticism.
Given that Article 40 of the Federal Constitution renders the advice of the cabinet binding upon the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for most of his functions under law, the discretion to appoint and remove the chief commissioner under the MACC Act 2009 is effectively held by the prime minister as the leader of the cabinet.
This obviously creates an inherent risk of political considerations influencing the decision of who heads the national anti-corruption investigative body.
Hence, calls to reduce the prime minister’s discretion over the decision have been long-standing.
For instance, in 2015, the Malaysian Bar, C4 Center, and several other civil society organisations released a Joint Memorandum for the Reform of the MACC, which, among other recommendations, called for the appointment of the chief commissioner to be made via an independently appointed Anti-Corruption Service Commission based on strict criteria.
The National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023 seemed to provide a possible solution by proposing a Public Appointments Bill to “regulate the exercise of executive power in respect of public appointments to certain constitutional and statutory offices”, which presumably would cover the statutory office of the MACC chief commissioner.
However, this NACP initiative was never implemented.
Under the current National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2024-2028, an initiative calls for “relooking” the requirements for the appointment and dismissal of the MACC chief commissioner as a long-term substrategy, with an anticipated period of four to five years for implementation.
Do Malaysians have to wait until 2029 for a change to be made to the appointment process of this key public institution?
MACC appointment process
Anwar stated in Parliament on March 28, 2023, that the implementation of an alternative process for appointing the MACC chief commissioner would depend on progress made by Parliament – in the event such a mechanism is decided upon and studied by the relevant stakeholders before the end of Azam’s tenure, he would have no issues with it.
The Malaysian government has also committed on the international level in June 2024 by notifying the UN Human Rights Council of its support for Recommendation 55.93 received during the Fourth Universal Periodic Review, which called for the creation of “permanent independent bodies, such as parliamentary select committees, to oversee appointments to anti-corruption and all oversight institutions, with sufficient resources and independence to perform their function.”
Despite this, no publicly known progress has been made in this regard and the government has not announced any plans of developing an alternative appointment process.
C4 Center maintains that institutional capacity to combat corruption and uphold good public governance in Malaysia shall remain inadequate without sufficient devolution of the powers, which have been centralised in the hands of the prime minister.
The MACC plays an extremely important role in detecting and investigating allegations of corruption, and is granted broad statutory powers in order to accomplish this goal.
Therefore, it is imperative that sufficient protections are put in place to ensure the body operates autonomously and in the interests of justice.
Reappointing the same individual – without an independent appointment process – to lead the MACC only serves to entrench a singular mindset and perspective, and brings forth a risk of personal connections or interests influencing the chief’s decisions.
Although amendments to the governing legislation will take time to enact, there is nothing preventing the government from taking preliminary steps to decentralise and democratise the appointment process, such as through the introduction of an open call for candidates and receiving input from opposition MPs and civil society representatives.
This is a key opportunity for Anwar to show his commitment to upholding good governance and combating corruption by initiating reform, and we hope his administration does not squander it. - Mkini
C4 CENTER is an anti-corruption watchdog and non-profit entity with a mission to foster open government policies, primarily through public sector reform and enhanced citizenship governance.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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