COMMENT | Law-drafting process needs improvement

COMMENT | We are members of civil society who seek Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s consideration of the need to amend the process by which laws are written and revised in our country.

We are writing this in an open letter to encourage dialogue and more voices from the ground to be heard. We believe this request is in the spirit of Malaysia Madani.

The current process by which laws are written and revised lacks transparency, accountability, and professionalism.

Many of us have been involved in the process of helping to draft inputs for bills for new legislation or amendments to existing legislation. However, the final outcome is often a “watered-down” version of original civil society aspirations and is not aligned with the international conventions that our nation has ratified.