COMMENT | For the past three years, Malaysians have repeatedly been told that institutional reform is finally here.

We have been promised a Government Procurement Act to combat corruption, a Freedom of Information Act to strengthen transparency, an Ombudsman to improve accountability, and the long-awaited separation of the attorney-general and public prosecutor to reinforce the rule of law.

On paper, this appears to be one of the most reform-minded governments Malaysia has seen in decades. Yet behind the impressive headlines and carefully crafted announcements, a troubling and dangerous pattern is beginning to emerge.

Rather than dismantling the structures that enabled abuse of power under previous administrations, many of these so-called reforms merely redesign them. They retain...