9 JULY 2024
PRESS STATEMENT
The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) welcomes the acceptance in full of several key recommendations on institutional reform by the Malaysian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland last Friday. These recommendations were among a total of 348 received on a broad range of topics during the 4th cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process in January 2024. The acceptance here signals the Malaysian government’s support for these recommendations and that they are either being implemented or shall be implemented during the fourth UPR cycle (2022-2027).
The UPR process involves an assessment of a nation’s human rights situation over a five year period by other Member States of the UNHRC. In the months leading up to the review, C4 Center together with fellow members of the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the UPR Process (COMANGO) engaged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and delegations of other UNHRC Member States to push for a progressive rights-based approach when examining Malaysia’s human rights record.
During the review, the Malaysian delegation cited the planned creation of a Malaysian Ombudsman office as a key accomplishment by the government towards improving Malaysia’s human rights standards. Fittingly, Malaysia accepted recommendations to establish an Ombudsman office to ensure improved public service delivery, as well as a recommendation to establish permanent independent bodies to oversee appointments to oversight institutions – both of which were put forth in the pre-review advocacy by C4 Center with COMANGO.
This development follows encouraging announcements by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran in Parliament on the current status of the Malaysian Ombudsman, which indicate that the reform is at an advanced stage. The announcements also suggest that the Government is approaching this reform agenda with recognition of opinions and perspectives from civil society and academia.
The Ombudsman – an independent body tasked with oversight of the public service primarily through the management of complaints received from members of the public – forms an integral part of this Government’s push for institutional reform, as targeted in the National Anti-Corruption Plan 2018-2023 and the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2024-2028. This new entity is meant to replace the existing Public Complaints Bureau (PCB), which suffers from a lack of statutory footing and structural independence from the Executive.
Previously slated to be tabled in Parliament at the end of 2023, the Ombudsman Bill was delayed due to similarities and redundancies with other oversight agencies such as the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) – an important point emphasised by C4 Center in its report titled “Structuring the Malaysian Ombudsman Office”, published earlier this year. It is therefore very promising to see YB Kulasegaran confirm that the Government is considering a model of the Ombudsman office which merges the EAIC and the PCB, thereby avoiding duplication of function and wastage of resources, in line with C4 Center’s recommendations.
YB Kulasegaran also noted that the introduction of a parliamentary process for the appointment of Ombudspersons may be considered. The democratisation of appointments to key oversight institutions by utilising parliamentary processes is another reform which civil society has long advocated for. For many institutions in the country, the power of appointments for key positions is held by the Prime Minister, which creates an inherent risk of bias and conflict of interest.
This year, we have seen the disappointing continuation of Executive appointments to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Election Commission, and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, with the Government showing no concrete signs of pushing for any changes to these appointment processes. With the creation of a new oversight institution, the Government must ensure that an alternative, more democratic appointment process for Ombudspersons is included e.g. by relying on parliamentary votes, Parliamentary Select Committees, or introducing open calls for candidates.
Over the past year, C4 Center has continuously engaged with stakeholders within civil society as well as Government to push for an autonomous and effective Ombudsman model aligned with international best practice. In this regard, the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department (BHEUU) must be commended for their consistently progressive approach in developing reforms. By centering the opinions of academics, experts, and civil society representatives, they ensure that the development of reforms is guided by a holistic and reasoned understanding of all relevant considerations.
C4 Center shall continue engaging with the Government and other relevant stakeholders on the development of the Malaysian Ombudsman in the coming months. The role of an Ombudsman office as a catalyst for change within Government administration and the public service is sorely needed to uphold transparency, accountability, and good governance. In order to accomplish these lofty goals, the office must be granted autonomy, adequate resources, and structural safeguards against interference. C4 Center is cautiously optimistic that the commitments made on the international stage during the UPR process offer promise for this reform, especially as Malaysia presently sits on the UNHRC.
Therefore, C4 Center urges the Government to:
- Continue developing the draft Ombudsman Bill in line with international best practice with due regard for the importance of autonomy and structural safeguards against executive interference;
- Ensure that the Ombudsman office shall be granted adequate resources to function effectively, especially considering that it shall be the creation of a merger of two federal agencies; and
- Continue engaging with civil society and academics on the development, implementation, and reassessment of key legislation, policies and reform agendas.
END OF STATEMENT
Issued by:
Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Center)
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