KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) today called for the dissolution of the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), and for Putrajaya to transfer its responsibilities to an Ombudsman Office instead.

The watchdog’s policy and legal research officer Prishanth Linggaraj told the press the move comes as a response to identified parallels in the functions of the EAIC and other regulatory bodies such as the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB).

"We do think that the EAIC should be dissolved and its functions assigned to the Ombudsman. In essence, if we look at what the EAIC does, it investigates misconduct, and the definition of misconduct under the EAIC Act largely mirrors maladministration.

"Currently, both the PCB and the EAIC are performing largely the same functions, resulting in duplication of effort and the wastage of public funds,” he said during the group’s presentation titled "Structuring the Malaysian Ombudsman Office” here.

He added that if the government’s emphasis is on cost-effectiveness, it would be more logical to consolidate the institutions under the ambit of the Ombudsman which could contribute to reducing public expenditure.

Prishant also said the group is calling for immediate reforms in the procedures governing appointments to the Ombudsman office.

He then went on to say that the Parliament, being the democratic institution entrusted with representing the will of the public should possess the authority to oversee both appointments and removals.

"This can be achieved through the implementation of established procedures such as parliamentary select committees and hearings, which need to be employed more efficiently to enhance their effectiveness as integral components of an accountability framework,” he added.

Explaining the areas in which the Ombudsman should be permitted to perform, he said the body should have the authority to conduct thorough investigations, unhindered by secrecy provisions.

He also said that the Ombudsman office ought to be allowed access to essential documents, purposes, and individuals as witnesses to effectively carry out their investigations.

"However, this was an area of intense debate within the office as well with other partner organisations as well. Should the Ombudsman be granted the power to enforce the implementation of its recommendations?

"Now, I think in Malaysia, we have had numerous oversight institutions that we described as Toothless in which they come up with these investigations, they come up with these reports, and nothing has been done,” he said.

Traditionally, he explained that Ombudsman institutions lack enforcement powers and they do not work in an adversarial manner against the government. Rather, they work in a conciliatory manner.

He said the Ombudsman works with the government when they receive a complaint to understand the reasons behind certain actions or failures.

"In the future, I believe that the Ombudsman has the potential to change the way we look at government accountability and transparency in Malaysia.

"As a growing maturing democracy, there is a lot of work to be done in order to really form strong institutions but I believe that this could be a catalyst that helps us shift our perspectives of how we view the relationship between civil society and government as well,” he added.