Bigger task for Attorney General
IT has been reported that a retired Chief Justice has criticised Attorney General Tommy Thomas for not leading the prosecution of the former prime minister.
As a retired civil servant, I have a different view of the AG’s role.
The former Chief Justice, with respect, has made some powerful arguments probably based on the law, past precedents and his experience to state why the present AG should not “chicken out” of leading the prosecution of our former prime minister.
At the outset, I would as a person who is not a lawyer congratulate the present AG for his courageous decision to delegate this particular prosecutorial role to two of the country’s most eminent lawyers.
Malaysia had from 1970 become an increasingly prime minister-centric, almost presidential system. The two prime ministers from 1970 were men of the highest probity and there was not a whiff of them being tainted in any way.
From 1981, we had a prime minister who had Parliament pass many laws which vested unbridled power on the office of the prime minister. From 2003, when Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became prime minister, there was no dilution in the powers of the prime minster.
When Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak took over as prime minster in April 2009, he seems to have utilised those powers not just for national security or economic interest.
In Malaysia’s short history, the prosecution of a former prime minister is unprecedented. The current AG cannot possibly do justice to his prosecutorial and advisory role if he takes on the enormously important assignment of prosecuting Najib, the son of a former prime minister at that.
It became somewhat embarrassingly clear during Najib’s tenure that the prime minister had unbridled authority in not only appointing officials to the executive branch, including the legal service, but also to business, banking and corporate positions as the government owned almost 45% of the equity in listed companies.
The government’s role was so overwhelmingly significant that retired bureaucrats, bankers and judges, given our overall increased life expectancy, could expect to be on the boards of directors of these government linked companies until their 80s. Lifelong loyalty was cultivated in this way.
The current AG has the most ambitious and largest legislative agenda in our history to bring our human rights laws to be in sync with universal standards set by the United Nations. Our country is not a party to various international conventions including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The AG is also tasked with restoring the principle of the separation of powers in our national governance system. Both these tasks cannot be understated.
Given the significance of the events of May 9/10 2018, it is important to fully use the time available until the next general election to abrogate colonial era laws and introduce amendments to other legislation so that we have a more stable and progressive situation where the import of the fundamental principles of our Constitution are upheld and safeguarded. M. SANTHANANABAN Retired Foreign Service Officer Kajang