remarks Her Ladyship said that we need to have an independent Law Reform Commission to undertake reforms of our laws. has been made for over a decade now. In the last decade alone, the call for an independent LRC has been made by an academic , a former Court of Appeal judge and now lawyer and a former deputy minister and former lawyer — that is, across the legal fraternity.
Like Datuk Mary Lim, all of them have called for revision of our laws. Not the type of revision under that “little-known Act called the Revision of Laws Act of 1968 or Act 1”, which in essence is an exercise, as explained by Datuk Mary Lim — herself a former Commissioner of Law Revision — “of updating our laws and keeping in our treasury only those laws which are still in force with language in tandem with current legislation.
There is more to an independent LRC. “R” is for reform and not mere revision. The former is the “systematic development and reform, including the elimination of anomalies, the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary [legislation], the reduction of the number of separate [legislation] and generally the simplification and modernisation of the law.”
Act 1 is archaic, as much as provisions on coercion [section 15 of the Contracts Act] are, as said by Datuk Mary Lim.Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said is pictured at Parliament, Kuala Lumpur July 28, 2021. — Bernama pic It’s now over to the prime minister’s adviser on law and human rights, former deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said to *This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of
To be seen as progressive is somewhat wrong but to be seen as a blind and ever eager minion of a hapless govt is seen as somewhat right. Thats just the starting position.
The powers that be and their minions think otherwise. They rather clamp down than regulate reform and make relevant our laws to this time.