50 years’ talk on ombudsman enough, just do it, says MP

Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin says it has taken three different governments to draft a bill over the past four years.

KUALA LUMPUR: Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong) has called for the government to “just do it” and not delay the tabling of the Ombudsman Bill any further.

She said there had been talk of establishing an ombudsman for 50 years, and that it has taken three different governments to draft a bill over the past four years.

“I really hope the unity government, led by the Tambun MP (Anwar Ibrahim), will cross the finishing line by tabling the Ombudsman Bill in the Dewan Rakyat this year.

“There should be no more delay, just do it,” she said while debating the Supply Bill 2023 today.

Yeo asked the government to provide a status update on the bill, which former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob previously said would be tabled in Parliament by 2022.

In May 2022, the Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) asked the government to explain the delay in tabling the Ombudsman Bill.

C4 reiterated that the establishment of an ombudsman was vital in eliminating corruption and cronyism in the system, and that public complaints against the government could be adequately investigated.

It said Abu Kassim Mohamed, the former director-general of the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption, had stated in 2019 that the ombudsman would come into operation in 2020 if the bill was tabled by December 2019.

However, with the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in February 2020, the plan was delayed and exacerbated by political instability.