LETTER | I refer to your report "Appointment of MACC chief to be done through parliamentary votes - Azam".  

According to chief Azam Baki (above), the government has agreed that the appointment of the next chief commissioner of the MACC is to be done through parliamentary votes.

Azam further added that the matter was decided at the recent meeting of the Special Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corruption which was chaired by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

But a committee by the same name under former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also agreed on the same. In July 2019, The Star, among other media, reported Mahathir as assuring the nation that Latheefa Koya's appointment as the MACC chief would be the last to use existing procedure. 

This followed much criticism against the unilateral appointment of Latheefa by Mahathir, which also divided analysts and political observers alike. (Read, for example, Kim Quek's comments: "PM does not have unfettered discretion to make key appointments")

According to Mahathir, the government had agreed that a parliamentary select committee on major public service appointments would determine the key appointments to four commissions, namely the Election Commission, Judicial Appointments Commission and Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) as well as the MACC chief.

Names would be referred to this parliamentary select committee so that fit and proper candidates would be appointed to these positions.

Mahathir's assurance was followed two months later by another report to the same effect the Pakatan Harapan government had agreed to transfer the power to appoint the MACC chief from the prime minister to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Public Appointments.

According to the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti Corruption (GIACC) director-general Abu Kassim Mohamed, the Harapan government had also agreed that the dismissal or termination of the MACC's chief would also be decided by an independent committee instead of just the will of the prime minister, similar to when a tribunal is formed to dismiss a judge. 

Abu Kassim had said that such a move was already in the pipeline of the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023 which was released in January 2019.

Currently, under Section 5(1) of the MACC Act 2009 (Act 694), the appointment of the MACC chief is made by the king on the advice of the prime minister.

There is no legal requirement to refer the appointment to the cabinet or the Parliamentary Select Committee.

Needless to say, the decision by the government as revealed by Azam should be applauded. But the MACC Act 2009 will have to be amended first.

The PN government will have to deliver on this. It may not have an election manifesto as Muhyiddin conceded, but it is still accountable to the people to amend Act 694.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.