Federal govt finding solution to resolve AG issue — Dr Mahathir
ALOR SETAR: The Pakatan Harapan ( PH) federal government is making efforts to find a solution to issue of appointing a new Attorney- General (AG) as soon as possible, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
As such, the PH chairman said for now he could not be making any comments about it.
“Efforts are being made to resolve this problem and it will be of no benefit for me comment now,” he told reporters after chairing the PH Kedah Council meeting at Seri Mentaloon here yesterday. Also present was Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir, who is also the chairman of PH Kedah.
Dr Mahathir was commenting on reports that Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V is said to have rejected the name given by Dr Mahathir for the AG position because the person is a non-Mulsim. PH – a coalition of Bersatu, DAP, PKR and Amanah – is in power at the federal level after defeating Barisan Nasional ( BN) in the 14th general election on May 9.
According to some news portals, the Malay rulers also supported the decision of the Yang Di-pertuan Agong to reject the proposal.
Meanwhile, the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal Tan Sri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad in a statement yesterday said the Malay rulers would hold a special discussion on the issue at Istana Negara in the federal capital tomorrow.
Dr Mahathir said the issue would be resolved in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the country.
“We uphold that principle,” he said.
In another development, Dr Mahathir said he would not intervene in the crisis related to the appointment of the Perlis Menteri Besar as the issue had nothing to do with PH.
“How can I intervene, my party has no power in Perlis – if it had, then I could intervene,” he said.
On May 24, Perlis BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim had asked Dr Mahathir to intervene in the issue related to the appointment of the Perlis Menteri Besar.
Comment ing fur ther, Dr Mahathir said the crisis occurred in Perlis due to the fact that Umno was in disarray and unable to determine the principles of their real struggle.
Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir said that the federal government would assist the Kedah state government in its efforts to become a rich state like Johor and Selangor.
He said during the council meeting, he also touched on the efforts to deal with corruption by asking PH leaders and members not to be involved in corruption.
“In the past, when we were the opposition, we often criticised the then-ruling government for corruption, now that we are the government and (won) in some states, we must implement all means to combat corruption,” he said. — Bernama