It has been over seven months since the historic 14th general election (GE14). Suffice to say, the euphoria of Malaysia Baru (New Malaysia) has died down as Malaysians grow increasingly frustrated with the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government. Many issues, such as the recent party hopping, rightly deserved the harshest criticism from all quarters.

However, PH should also be credited for having undertaken several crucial reforms. It is not easy to reverse the damage done by Barisan Nasional (BN) over 60 years, and neither can it be done overnight.

Hence, several of the reforms which I list below are, in my opinion, positive steps taken by PH on the long road towards strengthening good governance and democracy in Malaysia.

I am under no illusion that PH is perfect, neither am I patting their backs for a job well-done. Many of these reforms are still half-baked and could very well be abandoned. Therefore, we must continue to push for the reforms to be followed through and implemented more comprehensively, along with the other promises in the PH manifesto.

Parliament

Under the previous BN government,  Parliament was merely a rubber stamp. Numerous legislations, such as the Anti-Fake News Act, and the redelineation report were bulldozed through without any meaningful debate and scrutiny just before the last general election. Also, who would forget (former Dewan Rakyat speaker) Pandikar Amin Mulia’s “bloody fool” remark when he ended the RUU355 debate abruptly and not allowing the then opposition to participate.

In contrast, PH and the new Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Arif Md Yusof have strengthened the functions and roles of the Parliament. Some of these are small but meaningful steps, such as once again allowing journalists in the Parliament lobby and uploading ministers’ replies to questions on its website.

More importantly, Parliament has set up six new select committees and two caucuses. These select committees, comprising MPs from both sides of the divide, will allow more power to Parliament for scrutiny and governance. For example, the new Select Committee on Major Public Appointments will hopefully lead to more transparency in electing the new Election Commission (EC) members.

The opposition should also be credited for forming a shadow Cabinet, which PH had failed to do when they were in the position. Some went further to claim that opposition MPs, such as Ahmad Maslan, have been doing a good job (although I must disagree).

Elections

The government was in the midst of forming a constitutional tribunal to remove the previous Election Commission (EC) members. Thankfully, the EC members decided to resign and save us the trouble. As we bid them good riddance, the new EC chairperson, Azhar Harun, has been a breath of fresh air.

Under his leadership, the EC has made several improvements. The EC has acknowledged the existence of phantom voters and are in the midst of cleaning up the electoral roll. In the recent by-elections, independent observers, such as the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) and the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), finally received official accreditation and were allowed to monitor the by-elections. The EC has also announced that they are studying ways to strengthen campaigning regulations to avoid bribery.

More substantive electoral reform is definitely in the works. An Electoral Reform Committee has been formed to study and make recommendations within two years. Hopefully, meaningful reforms, such as a new electoral system and automatic registration, will be in place before the next general election.

Judiciary and the Attorney-General’s Chambers

In the judiciary, Chief Justice Richard Malanjum is the first from Borneo and is highly respected within the legal fraternity. Consider, in contrast, the former chief justice, Raus Sharif, whose appointment was challenged in court for being unconstitutional.

In addition, the new chief justice recently made a statement asking judges to not worry about rocking the boat and to dissent if there are good reasons to do so. These are early signs that the judiciary is on the road towards greater independence.

In my opinion, the new Attorney-General (AG) Tommy Thomas also deserves more credit. Working behind the limelight, he has worked tirelessly on the 1MDB cases to recover our stolen money. He has overseen the smooth repossession and auctioning of the Equanimity, and in October, the AG’s Chambers filed a case in the United Kingdom courts to relieve Malaysia from having to pay the balance of US$4.32 billion to IPIC because of fraud.

Many of these cases are complex and tedious, involving multiple cross-border transactions and legalities, and they are in the safe hands of the new AG.

Economy

The goods and services tax (GST) has been abolished which will bring some relief to the pockets of the poor. Unnecessary mega projects were amended and cancelled, via tough negotiations, in order to better manage the country’s debt. At the same time, more financial scandals, Tabung Haji and the GST refund, are slowly coming to the fore. None of these would have happened if former prime minister Najib Razak and his cohorts were still in power.

Credit should be given to the finance minister for introducing reforms to the financial and budgeting system. In preparing the recent budget, the government adopted the new zero-based budgeting approach. This is an important step as it compels ministries and government departments to assess and justify what is really needed, as opposed to just increasing the previous’ years template.

The government has also stopped all direct tenders for projects. Under an open-tender policy, there will be greater transparency and competition, which will all benefit the citizens in the long-run.

MACC and corruption

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is slowly regaining its teeth as numerous big fish were charged. Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor have been dragged to court to face numerous charges respectively.

Tailing them, former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman, former Felda chairman Isa Samad, former treasurer-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah, lawyer Shafee Abdullah, Rizal Mansor (a former aide to Najib), former Federal Territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda are all also facing charges relating to corruption.

MPs have also been made to declare their assets. Although there is still room for improvement, MACC and citizens can now track the assets of the MPs for any unexplained and huge increase.

Slowly, MACC is regaining public confidence, but more needs to be done. The announced ombudsman system, for example, would be crucial, and more reforms must be undertaken to ensure the MACC is truly independent.

Chan Tsu Chong is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.