The Attorney General as Public Prosecutor in Malaysia: from Quasi-Judicial to ‘Executive’

Abstract

The Public Prosecutor (PP), as the chief criminal law enforcement officer, impacts directly on the public; hence the greater concern for his independence and integrity as exemplified by the security of tenure provision in the 1957 Federal Constitution. This article uncompromisingly holds that the Attorney General (AG) being ‘political’, as he is selected by, negotiates his contract with and may be dismissed by the Prime Minister, should be separated from the position of PP and protected from political interference. This article traces the history of the emasculation of the PP from Independence to the present. It looks at the travails of the AG/PP during the Mahathir years. One is bound to ask: how is the PP, who may be expected to enforce the criminal law against ordinary citizens, to do so against the head of government? It is based on statutory provisions and reported cases which involved the independence, powers and duties and security of tenure provisions and parliamentary debates (Hansard).