Malaysian Bar welcomes setting up of institutional reforms committee

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar welcomed the new government's move to set up the Institutional Reforms Committee comprising prominent legal minds to look into institutional and political reforms in the country.
Its president, George Varughese, in a statement here today said the formation of the committee by the government's Council of Eminent Persons was an important and commendable step towards the realisation of such reforms.
"The broad ambit of the reforms required by our country points to the onerous and difficult mission faced by the committee.
"The Malaysian Bar stands ever ready to assist the government and the organs of state — including the Committee — to achieve their reform objectives and will, to this end, make available all the expertise and resources we can muster," he said.
George added that effecting genuine and substantial reforms require considerable time and effort, in order to ensure the government takes the appropriate measures from the very outset of the process.
Chaired by retired judge of the Court of Appeal Datuk K. C. Vohrah, the other members of the committee are retired judge of the Court of Appeal and Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai; president of the National Patriots Association Brig-Gen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji; Professor of Law at University of Malaya, Emeritus Prof Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi; and National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president Datuk S. Ambiga. — Bernama