The replacement for Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed needs to be someone from within the commission to prevent compromising their integrity.

This is what Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan said in a statement today.

"I hope that the successor for Abu Kassim is someone who is from the MACC family," he said.

The MACC had undergone a considerable transformation under the leadership of Abu Kassim, he said, citing the examples of several high-profile cases brought to court, the good relationship the commission has developed with NGOs as well as the friendly rapport they have developed with the public.

"All of this helps to elevate the level of trust towards MACC. This agenda must be continued and the best way to ensure the continuity of this work is to appoint someone from MACC itself as the new chief commissioner," he explained.

Wan Saiful (photo) pointed out that it has been said that two people being considered for the position are Dzulkifli Ahmad from the Attorney-General's Chambers and Noor Rashid Ibrahim from the Royal Malaysian Police.

He said he was worried that if someone from outside the MACC were appointed, their work culture might differ from the culture within MACC which had been built over time.

"This could stifle the transformation that MACC is undergoing," he said.

It is true that the two candidates being named are experienced but with the current political climate, Wan Saiful said that appointing "outsiders" will only damage the reputation of MACC.

"We have to think long-term and we do not want the efforts by the government to fight corruption to be marred by one appointment which will cause the integrity of MACC to be questioned," he said.

The most suitable candidate, he added, would be Mustafar Ali, who is deputy chief commissioner (prevention), as he is currently the third highest-ranking officer in the commission.

Both Abu Kassim as well as his deputy Mohd Shukri Abdull has announced that they will be retiring in August and this month, respectively.