Malaysia’s Anwar to drop anti-graft chief, but protesters want deeper reforms after corruption saga

KUALA LUMPUR - The Anwar Ibrahim administration will replace its top graft buster Azam Baki when his contract expires on May 12, confirming The Straits Times’ report in March that the Prime Minister would drop the embattled Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief after reports of continued abuses within the agency.

Despite the announcement early on April 25 that former high court judge Halim Aman would be the new anti-graft chief, hundreds gathered in the city centre for an “Arrest Azam Baki” rally the same afternoon, with organisers citing the need for systemic reforms and not just leadership changes.

“We hope this is the starting point for efforts to restore the integrity of this nation,” said Bersih chief Faisal Aziz after the rally in front of Independence Square, which ended peacefully after two hours.

Bersih, which means clean in Malay, is a coalition of non-governmental organisations that is part of a wider secretariat organising the “Arrest Azam Baki” rallies.

Braving the rain earlier in the afternoon, protesters chanted “hidup rakyat” (long live the people) and “bangkit rakyat” (rise, people) while waving placards calling for the integrity of the MACC to be restored.

Prime Minister Anwar said Datuk Seri Halim was a fitting choice given his experience “from the judiciary and he is not involved in any political party or major business”.

Mr Halim, 69, was a high court judge from 2007 until his mandatory retirement at age 66 in 2023. Prior to that, he served as senior federal counsel with the Inland Revenue Board, Pahang state legal adviser, and head of research in the Chief Justice’s Office.

This marks the first time that a former judge has been appointed MACC chief.

“I think he is suited to lead (MACC) and continue to improve its capabilities,” Datuk Seri Anwar told reporters in Penang.

Outgoing chief Azam also said he was “confident that the excellence of MACC will continue to be upheld by its officers under the new leadership”.

In an immediate response to the two-year appointment of Mr Halim, Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Gobind Singh Deo said “his immediate priority must be to restore public confidence in the MACC”.

“This requires addressing allegations of ‘corporate mafia’ activities surrounding the agency and resolving the shareholding controversy involving his predecessor, Tan Sri Azam Baki,” said the digital minister, whose party supplies PM Anwar with more MPs than any other in Parliament.

The so-called “corporate mafia” scandal refers to allegations that enforcement authorities, especially the MACC, have for years allegedly abused their wide-ranging powers to extort from and coerce corporate figures. 

In addition to civil society and opposition leaders, ruling party members, including those from the DAP as well as lawmakers from PM Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), such as former minister Rafizi Ramli, also attended the protest.

Mr Rafizi has been a vocal critic of PKR president Anwar’s leadership since losing the party’s deputy presidency at internal polls in May 2025 that were marred by claims of vote-rigging.

“If the institutions cannot protect victims, even those who are rich, because there are others with stronger connections... our voices will not be silenced,” he said at the rally just before the crowd dispersed.

Reports in February – especially an in-depth investigation by US-based news agency Bloomberg – accusing Mr Azam of breaching civil service shareholding rules, and the MACC of colluding with businessmen to manipulate corporate decisions, sparked a series of protests.

But calls for Mr Azam to be suspended, for a Royal Commission of Inquiry – Malaysia’s highest level of public inquiry into issues of public interest – to be established and for the findings of a government investigation into the MACC leader’s shareholdings to be released to the public have so far fallen on deaf ears.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, who is also Transport Minister, said just days after the Bloomberg reports: “The government’s response has been inadequate and does not meet public expectations.”

His party has brought forward its national congress from September to July so that delegates can decide on the DAP’s future in the Anwar administration based on whether the pace of reforms has accelerated in the first half of 2026.

This came after the DAP lost every seat it contested in November’s Sabah state polls, as Pakatan Harapan (PH) won just one of 22 wards it stood in.

Among campaign issues in the easternmost state’s election was the perception of selective prosecution in a graft scandal involving mining licences in Sabah.

Other promised reforms have also fallen by the wayside, such as separating the power of prosecution from the prime minister-appointed attorney-general and plans to liberalise entrance to public universities and the civil service by accepting examination results from Chinese-language independent schools.

PM Anwar previously renewed the appointment of Mr Azam, who had reached the retirement age of 60 in 2023, for three years running, despite reports of wrongdoing in the MACC and calls from corruption watchdogs to refer the appointment to Parliament.

His PH coalition also campaigned at the 2022 General Election for Parliament to vet the nomination of the MACC chief, having demanded Mr Azam’s suspension because of an earlier shareholding controversy in 2021.

PM Anwar has described the allegations of abuse against the MACC as a conspiracy involving Zionists to challenge Malaysia’s credibility and as a threat to national security.

The police are investigating this alleged conspiracy to topple the Malaysian government as a crime of undermining democracy.