Freedoms and integrity
projects to review or discard. But first things first. Priorities must be set right. The government must be in place with the full Cabinet appointed and its legal adviser, the attorney-general (AG) fairly secured. This is a matter of the greatest urgency requiring the most suitable choices.
If there is any hint of the nominee’s lack of integrity, or if he or she has shown indiscretions in the past, or if his or her appointment implicates a conflict of interest, then there must be a reconsideration on the part of the prime minister and his advisers. It would not be wise to go against the thinking of the rakyat and the institutions they are obliged to uphold.
May I be so bold as to suggest that apart from constitutional stipulations regarding the AG’s appointment for instance, the nominee must be a person of the highest credibility and integrity, being the nation’s supreme legal adviser. There should not be any compromise in the government’s decision, in fact it must be a scrupulously clean one.
The Association of Voices of Peace, Conscience and Reason urges the government led by the prime minister to consider the arguments set forth by the Rulers at the special meeting to be convened tomorrow. This is where consensus and not authority should rule when it involves the common good of all the institutions that make up Malaysia, including its civil society.
We urge our most supreme institutions to consider the appointment of Federal Court judge Tan Sri Zainun Ali who has an impeccable reputation as a person and as a judge of great integrity.
I end with the hope that the Pakatan Harapan government will truly honour its promise of bringing hope to the nation and the rakyat, especially in giving the population of women their rightful recognition. The real change would be not in terms of fulfilling the nebulous 30% participation but the more substantive one of appointing the most qualified women to key positions where they will contribute to Malaysia’s integrity as a sovereign nation respected by all. We have a woman deputy prime minister. Let’s add to that a woman attorney-general.
Datuk Halimah Mohd Said President Association of Voices of Peace, Conscience and Reason