Kuala Lumpur: Law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said has hit out at the opposition for failing to separate the roles of the attorney-general and public prosecutor when they were in power.
Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat, Azalina (BN-Pengerang) accused the opposition of inaction when Perikatan Nasional (PN) was part of the federal government for more than two years, first with Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister, and during the tenure of Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
“You not only did nothing, but you didn’t even speak up! I sat here and raised this issue as a backbencher,” she said during her winding-up speech of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) mid-term review.
“This (unity) government is committed to fairer governance. That’s why our hashtag is ‘we walk the talk’. Their (opposition) hashtag, on the other hand, is ‘they don’t walk, they don’t talk’!”
Azalina was responding to opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin (PN-Larut), who raised questions about selective prosecution by citing Muhyiddin’s charges of abuse of power as an example.
Hamzah had also expressed concerns over the AG’s decision to grant deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) in his Yayasan Akalbudi corruption case.
Azalina pointed out that apart from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the AG is the only individual vested with a degree of discretion or authority on the matter as stipulated in Article 145 of the Federal Constitution.
Article 145(3) states that the AG may institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence, other than proceedings before a shariah court, a native court or a court martial.
“This means that every attorney-general has the power to prosecute (individuals) and to release (them),” she said.
“That is why the government is committed to separating the roles of AG and PP, and we have agreed in principle on that matter.”
Political Financing Bill
Meanwhile, Azalina said the Cabinet on Sept 8 had agreed on the scope of considerations for the political financing bill to be referred to the parliamentary special select committee (PSSC) on human rights, election and institutional reform.
She said there were seven considerations of basic provisions for the bill.
Azalina listed the seven provisions as follows:
- the establishment of a new law to oversee political financing;
- an independent federal statutory body to monitor and control political financing at all times, not limited to election periods;
- to regulate the financing of political parties and election candidates, including independent candidates and agents;
- not allowing foreign entities to provide any political financing;
- setting limits on political financing;
- requiring individuals and political parties to declare their financial contributions; and,
- the establishment of a dedicated account for political financing.
The bill was originally slated to be tabled for its first and second reading last November. However, plans fell through following the dissolution of Parliament on Oct 10 last year ahead of the 15th general election (GE15).
