Shift towards meritocracy
THE appointment of lawyer Tommy Thomas as the new Attorney General will hopefully send a signal of a significant shift towards meritocracy as a criterion for choosing the best candidates to hold top positions in the public service.
In the past, especially after the introduction of the New Economic Policy in 1970, the main criterion was race. After nearly 50 years of the affirmative action policy for eradicating poverty especially among the Malays and increasing their participation in the modern sectors of the economy, they have advanced in all fields to the level where they are today confident of their own abilities to succeed without the need for state crutches.
With their broader vision of a Malaysia that we all can be proud of, the appointment of a nonMalay AG is no longer an issue because most Malaysians agree that it is for the good of the country that appointments to top positions in government, especially the judiciary, civil service, police and military, should be based on merit and not race, religion or political connections.
Most Malaysians agree with the Prime Minister that Tommy Thomas is the right man to make the change become a reality.
However, several Muslim groups opposed his appointment on the fear that the Yang diPertuan Agong and Council of Rulers would not get an AG who can advise them on Islam and the application of syariah values in government administration.
Their fears are misplaced because the best values that need to be integrated at all levels of government and also among the royal households are integrity, transparency and accountability, especially in spending taxpayers’ money.
They are universal values that define a good government and which the country badly needs to revive the economy and give the young hope for their future.
This is the best advice any AG can give to the Agong and all the Malay Rulers that there is nothing more Islamic than a country that is united, happy, free and prosperous.
Islam and the Rulers will get a good name when Malaysia becomes a true democracy where no one is above the law, in the same way that the monarchies in the United Kingdom and Europe have made themselves and their royal families more popular by shedding their feudal past and moving with the times to be accountable to their people in both their public as well as private life.
The people have voted for change to a more responsible government. In this effort, the new government must honour its election manifesto, which includes a promise to create an independent director of public prosecution separate from the Attorney General’s Chambers so as to make the public prosecutor free from ministerial control, similar to the system in other democracies.
Parliament should also be reformed to establish select parliamentary committees with responsibility for providing oversight on the executive so that ministers and their civil servants can be held to account for mismanagement and abuse of power. These and other reforms such as on the judiciary, MACC, police and the civil service as well as on political financing, as highlighted by G25 in its presentation to the Committee on Institutional Reforms recently, should be carried out as soon as possible to demonstrate the seriousness of the new government for change.
It is encouraging for us in G25 to hear the AG saying these reforms will be his priority to ensure separation of powers between the legislature, the judiciary and the executive. It’s this principle of checks and balance that differentiates between a democracy and a totalitarian regime or a religious autocracy.