The Attorney-Generals Chambers today said it has opened its doors for special interest groups to sit on its new ad-hoc committee to review and amend relevant laws.

Letters have been sent to the Bar Council and the Sabah and Sarawak Bar Committees informing them of the move to solicit public feedback on the countrys law reform process.

AGs Chambers Law Reform Commissioner Salmah Abdul Rahman said plans were underway to include relevant non-governmental organisations and academics for expert input on particular areas of law reform.

We have not worked out the actual mechanism yet but whenever we review any law, we will need in-depth and expert input from NGOs like womens interest groups, she said during a forum on the Creation of a Law Commission in Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

Salmah, who presented a paper titled Law Reform in Malaysia - The Present and The Future, said the ad-hoc committees role was to conduct in-depth research on different areas on a case-by-case basis.

However, she said that the committee was an additional feature to the AGs Chambers and not an alternative to the present law review system.

The present system of law review and reform remains, which means proposals for amendments are still raised through the parent ministry, she added.

The half-day forum was organised by the Bar Council Law Reform and New Legislation Committee to gather feedback on its proposed legislation for creating a Malaysian law commission.

According to the Bar Council, the law commission, which is independent of the government, is to review existing laws with the view to update them in keeping with the changing times.

Commission necessary

Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Dr Rais Yatim, when delivering his keynote address at the forum, said the move to form the ad hoc law review committee was in line with the restructuring of the AGs Chambers law revision division.

He said that the law commission proposal would depend on the progress of this ad hoc committee.

Rais, who is also defacto law minister, said the government must be convinced that an independent law commission was necessary due to the inadequacies and ineffectiveness of the existing system or when it does not meet its aspirations and needs.

Soon, the Bar Council will be directly involved in the law reform process [through the ad hoc committee]. We will also include Syariah (Islamic law) representatives to consider the conflict with civil laws.

Meanwhile, Bar Council chairperson Mah Weng Kwai welcomed the opening up of the law reform process to public feedback and described it as a step in the right direction as there were many experts among its members.

Outdated laws

However, former High Court judge Prof Visu Sinnadurai, who delivered a paper titled The Need to Have a Law Commission, had a different approach to the creation of the law commission.

He said there were many outdated and outmoded laws still being used today, and the only way to influence the government to consider the proposed law commission is to work closely with the AGs Chambers.

He said some of these laws dated back to more than 100 years.

There are also laws which were borrowed from the United Kingdom in the past. Today, the host country has a brand-new law for itself but we are still using the old one, he added.

Visu agreed that it was time for a law commission but stressed that the government will not accept it because making and amending laws are its prerogatives.

The Bar Council will have to work closely with the AGs Chambers because it is the gatekeeper for this countrys laws, said Visu, who was also a former dean at Universiti Malayas law faculty and a former law revision commissioner in the AGs Chambers.

Furthermore, he said it would be better that way because the government may be more willing to consider the outcome.