MALAYSIA APPOINTS ETHNIC INDIAN TOMMY THOMAS AS NEW ATTORNEY GENERAL
Malaysia’s king has approved the appointment of an ethnic Indian lawyer as the new attorney general, amid protests from Islamic groups that the job must be held by a Muslim.
A palace statement said Sultan Muhammad V had approved terminating current attorney general Mohamad Apandi Ali and replacing him with Tommy Thomas, the first minority to hold the post in 55 years.
Groups representing the ethnic Malay majority rejected the plan to appoint Mr Thomas in what amounted to probably the first resistance faced by new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad since he won a stunning election victory last month on promises to fight corruption and reform institutions. Malaysia’s palace said the king decided to end the tenure of Mohamad Apandi and appoint Thomas as his replacement on Mahathir’s advice and after consulting the heads of the other eight royal households.
“The appointment will preserve the special rights of the Malays and Bumiputra and the status of Islam as the religion of the federation,” palace official Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz said in a statement on behalf of the king late on Monday.
Bumiputra means “sons of the soil”.
An ethnic Indian Christian, Thomas’ key task will be to prosecute those involved in graft at heavily indebted state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.