Table white paper before bills on AG-PP split, NGO urges govt

Projek Sama urged the government to prioritise tabling a white paper on the separation of the attorney-general and public prosecutor roles in Parliament ahead of other bills.

The NGO said the white paper should go into detail about the proposed new structure, similar to how it was done in the United Kingdom.

“This would enable meaningful debates in the public and Parliament over the constitutional amendments to Articles 42, 145, and 183, an omnibus Legal Reform Bill (Public Prosecutor) which would amend the Criminal Procedure Code and 18 related Acts, as well as a new Act on remuneration,” it said in a statement today.

On Wednesday, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil announced that the cabinet has agreed to fully separate the powers of the AG and public prosecutor through amendments to the Federal Constitution.

The development came after a two-year study and a cabinet review of several models to divide the roles.

Fahmi said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said gave a presentation to the cabinet on the process, and it had been agreed to in principle.

Paper will enhance transparency

Commenting further, Projek Sama praised Azalina for carrying out several consultations and overseas study tours, which led to the cabinet’s green light.

However, the NGO said the consultations were held separately with certain stakeholders, limiting dialogue among them and excluding wider public participation.

It said a white paper would provide a comprehensive platform to present the findings from consultations and overseas study visits for the public while guiding further refinements.

“As there is no one single model of independent public prosecutor, the Malaysian public and parliamentarians deserve to know - not just only in the first reading of the bills - the design of the new system and its logic, amongst others, (in) the appointment method of the public prosecutor director, the power relationship between the AG, solicitor-general, and the public prosecutor director, and impacts to the criminal procedure,” it added.

It warned that a lack of transparency and participation in drafting the bill risks unintended consequences and undermines the government’s reformist credibility.

In a statement, Azalina’s office said the separation will be enforced through constitutional amendments.

In response to the announcement, the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism said such plans must include a rule requiring the public prosecutor not to be appointed by the prime minister to ensure independence from the executive.

Similarly, DAP Women’s legal bureau head Sangeet Kaur Deo called for safeguards to be put into place.

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