KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 22 -- The government said at the start of the year that it would table the Ombudsman Malaysia Bill during the first parliamentary sitting of 2026, one of several key laws it pledged to roll out amid criticism that it has been slow to carry out reforms.

Why does this Bill matter?

An ombudsman is often described as the "public's watchdog".

Derived from an Old Norse word meaning "representative" - with Sweden said to have created the world's first parliamentary ombudsman in 1809 - the institution is seen as an integral component of accountable and transparent governance because it is mandated to check executive overreach.

Whether the Malaysian ombudsman will be granted wide-reaching powers remains unclear.

Elsewhere, ...