This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 17, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The government’s newly set up Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC) will look into reviewing the prime minister’s power to appoint key government officials, in order to roll back the centralisation of power in the executive.

“We will look at that and see whether it (the power to appoint) can be more independent of the executive,” IRC member Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said in a press conference yesterday after the committee’s first meeting.

This review will be among a number of assessments that the IRC will conduct in order to ensure checks and balances in relation to the abuse of power, Ambiga, who is the president of the National Human Rights Society, said.

Some key institutions would also be examined, including the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Election Commission, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the judiciary and the Judicial Appointments Commission as well as the police force.

On Tuesday, the government’s Team of Eminent Persons announced that it had formed a five-member committee to look into institutional reforms.

It said economic reforms on their own cannot bring the desired change in the country, unless accompanied by institutional reforms.

The IRC comprises retired Court of Appeal judge Datuk KC Vohrah, retired Court of Appeal judge and Human Rights Commission of Malaysia commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai, National Patriots Association president Brig-Gen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji, Tunku Abdul Rahman Professor of Law at Universiti Malaya Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, and Ambiga.

Ambiga also said the IRC would look into recommending the repeal of the Anti-Fake News Act.

“The Anti-Fake News Act is something we will look at. Right now we are looking at having it repealed in toto,” she said, adding that other “draconian” laws affecting civil society would also be looked at.

The IRC has been given two months and will submit its recommendations to the government via the Team of Eminent Persons.

“It’s a tall order but we will do what we can,” Ambiga said, adding that the IRC will not stop anyone from putting forth proposals.