Govt institutions under PH free to perform duties without fear or favour, Dewan told

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has no stipulated timeframe to separate the powers of the Public Prosecutor and the Attorney General's chambers but will ensure that they will operate without fear or favour and without interference according to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Hanipa Maidin.
He said that the Pakatan Harapan government had these separations of powers in their manifesto but did not specify a timeframe for when this will happen.
"We did not specify a timeframe even though it was in our manifesto, we are committed to making this happen but the constitution needs to be amended first," he said in Parliament today.
Hanipa was responding to a question posed by Datuk Sri Azalina Othman Said (BN-Pengerang) of when the government will table the Bill to amend the Federal Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Interpretation Act 1948/1967 to separate the powers of the Public Prosecutor and the Attorney General's to ensure the prosecutor is responsible for safeguarding the interests of the public in a neutral manner, consistent with the manifesto of Pakatan Harapan.
He said that to amend the constitution, they will need to follow due process in amending the constitution which will take time.
Wong Kah Who (Ipoh Timur- PH) then highlighted that the Magistrates are under the purview of the Attorney-General which gives a serious conflict of interest, he then asked what are the measures taken by the government to make a policy that the AG and the magistrates are separate.
Hanipa assured that although they are under the government, these institutions will be allowed to carry out their duties "without fear or favour".
"Our record shows that we do not interfere, the speaker of the house is from Pakatan Harapan but he has kicked out a PH member so far from the house," he said.

"This is Pakatan Harapan, we don't interfere in other institutions. If he (the AG) wants to charge anyone, he is free to do so without interference. So trust that we are a government that will let institutions carry out their duties independently and without fear and favour," he added.