The legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department said Lim was appointed by law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said.

Also appointed were 16 members of the committee, including retired Federal Court judge Prasad Sandosham Abraham, retired Court of Appeal judges Hishamudin Yunus and Mah Weng Kwai, and legal practitioner and arbitrator Kamilah Kasim.

The others include retired Indian Supreme Court judge KSP Radhakrishnan, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi, Karuiki Muigua, UK legal practitioner Steven Finizio, Spanish arbitrator Juan Fernande-Armesto, Saudi Arabian legal practitioner Zeyad Khoshaim, and Singaporean legal practitioner and arbitrator Chan Leng Sun.

In a statement, the division said the protem committee will spearhead the fundamental mandate of establishing the AIAC Court of Arbitration, including streamlining the mechanism, protocol and operational framework for its effective functioning in the future.

It will also assume an important role in ensuring transparency, integrity and accountability in the decision-making process of the AIAC Court of Arbitration in accordance with the laws and the AIAC rules, it said.

It said the committee will function in tandem with the government’s efforts in amending the relevant laws, including the Arbitration Act 2005 (Act 646), which is being finalised and is expected to be presented in the next parliamentary meeting.

“The implementation of these new initiatives is expected to strengthen the AIAC’s standing as an independent international arbitral institution under the auspices of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation (AALCO) while promoting Malaysia as the preferred seat of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution as a whole, domestically and internationally,” it said.