KUALA LUMPUR - The new Malaysian government has formed a five-member group comprising prominent legal minds to look into institutional reforms in the country.
Called the Committee on Institutional Reforms, its formation was announced by the government-appointed Council of Eminent Persons yesterday.
The committee members will report to the council, which was formed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's administration to advise the government on economic and financial matters.
"Economic reforms on their own cannot bring the desired change unless accompanied by institutional reforms," the council said in a statement.
Over the years, activists have decried the weakening of Malaysian institutions, including the judiciary, the police and the anti-corruption agency, while government ministries have also been accused of being weak on governance.
The new committee is expected to look into these issues.
The five members of the new committee are: Datuk K.C. Vohrah, a retired judge of the Court of Appeal; Datuk Mah Weng Kwai, a retired judge of the Court of Appeal and a commissioner with the Malaysia Human Rights Commission, or Suhakam; Brigadier-General (Retired) Mohamed Arshad Raji, president of the National Patriots Association; Emeritus Professor Shad Saleem Faruqi, a prominent professor of law at Universiti Malaya; and Datuk S. Ambiga, president of the National Human Rights Society, or Hakam.
