Shad Saleem Faruqi - Work and Contributions

Work and Contributions

At the international level Dr. Shad Faruqi has served as a consultant to many countries including Maldives, Fiji, Timor Leste, Afghanistan Iraq and Sudan, advising them on their constitutional documents. In 1991 as part of an Asia Foundation Project he drafted the constitution of the Republic of Maldives. He was a one-time member and Secretary-General of the Manila-based Congressional Research and Training Services that conducted several institutional efficacy courses for legislators from many third world countries. He has presented seminar papers in the USA, UK, Germany, Iran, Kenya, Sudan, Maldives, India, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia and Japan. He has helped to draft several international documents including the Kuala Lumpur Declaration to Criminalize War and a document for the UN on Protection for Places of Worship. He is a sitting Judge on the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal. He is an Executive Council member of the Kuala Lumpur based International Centre for Law and legal Studies.

At the national level, he has been called upon on several occasions to draft national legislation. On behalf of Institut Teknologi MARA he drafted the Institut Teknologi MARA (Amendment) Bill 1996 that went on to become an Act of Parliament. In 1999 he drafted the Universiti Teknologi MARA (Amendment) Bill that was enacted by Parliament as Act A1073. The Act converted Institut Teknologi MARA into a full-fledged university.

At the end of 2004, the Barisan Nasional Back-Benchers Club of the Parliament of Malaysia appointed him as a consultant to advise them on reforming and empowering Parliament in the face of the executive branch's dominance of the Malaysian government.

In 2006 the Minister of Education appointed him Chairman of a Committee to propose amendments to the Universities and University Colleges Act 1972 . The Committee's recommendations were adopted as law in early 2009. In 2008 he drafted the new 'Apex Constitution' of Universiti Sains Malaysia. In 2010 he was reappointed to a committee to review the Universities and University Colleges Act . He is also a member of the Apex University Initiative; a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Strategic Studies; and one-time member of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission's Education Sub-Committee.