PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the appointment of a new chief commissioner did not mean a “new MACC”, as past appointments had led to justice being deferred and ultimately denied, despite the fanfare that followed when a new top graft buster was named.

Malaysia could not afford to endure a repeat of such disappointments, she said. Real reforms would come through a review of the MACC Act, the strengthening of institutional safeguards and accountability to Parliament.

Without those structural changes, any progress celebrated today “risks crumbling tomorrow”, she said.

Nurul Izzah said integrity “is not a title” but a quality “built in the decisions made behind closed doors, in the cases pursued without fear, in the calls that are not returned because justice cannot be traded”.

She urged Malaysians to rise to the occasion by continuing to press for reforms.

“So here is my call to every Malaysian who has ever been angry at corruption, who has ever felt the sting of a system that protected the privileged and punished the rest. Do not walk away. Do not let this moment pass. Stay engaged. Because change does not happen to us. It happens because of us,” she said in a statement.

Her call follows the appointment yesterday of former High Court judge Abdul Halim Aman, 69, as MACC’s next chief commissioner. Halim succeeds Azam Baki, whose tenure ends on May 12 after three one-year extensions since his initial appointment in March 2020.

Nurul Izzah, the daughter of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, said Halim’s appointment was both a test and an opportunity for the country’s institutions, leadership, and collective resolve.

The public would be watching, she said.