Appointment of AG legitimate — Liew
SANDAKAN: The appointment of Tommy Thomas as the Attorney General (AG) should not be made into an issue because it is legitimate in law, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law), Datuk Liew Vui Keong.
Liew said it was not an issue that Thomas was not qualified or that he had to be terminated because he was appointed under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government and was agreed by the Yang diPertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V.
He said this when commenting on an online petition for Thomas to be terminated from his position, initiated by an individual named Fyizuddin Jaafar through change.org website, last Wednesday.
The petition urged for the Yang diPertuan Agong to fire Thomas for his poor command in the Bahasa Melayu language.
Thomas is leading the prosecution team against former premier Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of using his position for gratification as part of a probe into money missing from state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
The AG had requested the court for permission to proceed in English, instead of Bahasa Malaysia, the national language as he has admitted that he had to “brush up” on his command of the national language.
“The trouble is with private practice, which I had for 42 years, dealings with clients, basically commercial clients and documents ... I have neglected my Bahasa. I promise to brush it up,” he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, on a case in which a fivemonth-old baby was found dead in the refrigerator of a babysitter in Kuala Lumpur recently, Liew said the police were in the process of investigating it and the one guilty would face a court sentence.
He said childcare centres in Malaysia must obey the Childcare Centre Act 1984 for the safety and welfare of the children and any centre that did not obey the act was violating the law and should be looked into by all parties.
Liew, who is Batu Sapi member of parliament, said this at a press conference held at a mobile service counter programme for Batu Sapi at Bandar Ramai-Ramai Market here yesterday.
He said the programme was initiated three weeks ago and it had been receiving good response from the locals at Sekong and Karamunting here.
The programme was set up for local leaders, including Liew, to be closer to the people on the ground so that they will be able to understand the problems faced by the people better.
“The people do not need to go through all the difficulties to see their elected representatives to voice out their problems. Instead, we will go to them and listen to their problems,” he said.
Among issues that were raised included electricity and water supply problem, welfare of senior citizens and the public, citizenship application that was put on hold for a long time, and late birth certificate registration problems.