PETALING JAYA: The separation of powers between the attorney-general and the public prosecutor is absolutely crucial in a democracy like Malaysia, the Bar said.
“The AG is also the highest-ranking public prosecutor, and utmost integrity and independence is required in order to maintain public confidence in our country’s governance,” its president, Salim Bashir, said.
He said the Bar was of the opinion that it was imperative that an AG be impartial and accountable to the rakyat.
“It is our stance that the functions of the AG must be separate from that of a public prosecutor to ensure checks and balances in prosecutorial decisions,” he said in a statement.
Salim said the Bar hoped the government’s decision to amend Article 145 of the Federal Constitution could be implemented efficiently and expeditiously in order to uphold the rule of law.
He said this in response to a statement by de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan in the Dewan Rakyat today that a paper on the separation of powers between the AG and the public prosecutor would be submitted to the Cabinet by the year-end.
He said the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) was at the final stages of drafting the paper and urged the opposition to support Putrajaya in amending the Federal Constitution.
He added that the Pakatan Harapan government had given “excuses previously that it needed two-thirds majority before it could table the amendments”.
Takiyuddin said this is reply to a question from Khalid Samad (PH-Shah Alam), who asked the prime minister to state the government’s plans to amend Article 145 of the constitution to separate the powers and functions of the public prosecutor from the AG.
He said as long as there was support from all MPs, the amendment could be passed.
Currently, the AG, who is the chief legal adviser to the government, has also absolute discretion whether to file, reduce and discontinue charges against accused persons. - FMT
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