THE ROLE OF THE PEOPLE IN POST LEGISLATIVE SCRUTINY: PERSPECTIVES FROM MALAYSIA AND AUSTRALIA

Sarah Petronella Moulds; Ying Hooi

Pengarang

Sarah Petronella Moulds http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3246-0987 ##orcid.unauthenticated##
Ying Hooi

Abstrak

The purpose of this article is to critically examine the role of the people in the process of reviewing the implementation and effectiveness of existing laws, described in the emerging literature as â€˜post-legislative scrutiny or â€˜PLSâ€™. Examining the options for citizen engagement with legislative review is critical for all parliamentary democracies grappling with the challenge of rebuilding trust between citizens and institutions. This is because reviewing the content and purpose of proposed and the implementation and impact of existing laws is a way for parliamentarians to give effect to their democratic promise. The methodology employed is qualitative in nature with a tiered approached to identifying and examining the extent to which individuals and non-government actors can contribute to parliamentary review processes in two Westminster-inspired parliamentary democracies: Australia and Malaysia. Using case study examples and examining both structural and cultural features of the systems of legislative review in both systems, this article directly challenges some of the assumptions previously associated with PLS in the existing literature. Experiences of different â€˜ad hocâ€™ forms of PLS in both Australia and Malaysia suggest that there could be substantial benefits for lawmakers and citizens by moving toward a more deliberative, â€˜bottom upâ€™ approach to PLS in the future.

Biografi Pengarang

Sarah Petronella Moulds

Dr Sarah Moulds is a lecturer at the University of South Australiaâ€™s Law School. She has teaching and research interests in the area of public law, human rights, counter-terrorism and criminal law, administrative law and anti-discrimination law.

Dr Moulds' career has a strong law reform focus and includes seven years at the Law Council of Australia including as Director of Criminal Law and Human Rights, and more recently as a Senior Project Officer at the South Australian Law Reform Institute.

Dr Sarah Moulds is a lecturer at the University of South Australiaâ€™s Law School. She has teaching and research interests in the area of public law, human rights, counter-terrorism and criminal law, administrative law and anti-discrimination law.

Dr Moulds' career has a strong law reform focus and includes seven years at the Law Council of Australia including as Director of Criminal Law and Human Rights, and more recently as a Senior Project Officer at the South Australian Law Reform Institute.
Ying Hooi

Khoo Ying Hooi is Deputy Head and Senior Lecturer at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, University of Malaya. She completed her PhD in Politics and Government examining social movements and democratization with a focus on Malaysia's electoral reform movement. Her research interests include civil society, social movements, national human rights institutions, human rights and democratization with a regional focus on Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Timor Leste.