Citing Brexit cautionary tale, Thomas believes AG should not be an MP
The Malaysian attorney-general ought to remain a civil servant and not be a politician as this would enable more impartiality, opined sitting AG Tommy Thomas today.
This was his position when asked if the government should appoint an MP as its next legal advisor and make the AG a cabinet member as promised by Pakatan Harapan in its GE14 manifesto.
The Malaysian attorney-general ought to remain a civil servant and not be a politician as this would enable more impartiality, opined sitting AG Tommy Thomas today.
This was his position when asked if the government should appoint an MP as its next legal advisor and make the AG a cabinet member as promised by Pakatan Harapan in its GE14 manifesto.
“I think for Malaysia, the civil servant (model) is better.
“You should not be in Parliament and you certainly should not be in the cabinet,” he said during a question-and-answer session at regional lawyer association Lawasia’s Constitutional and Rule of Law conference in Petaling Jaya today.
The question was posed by Jeffrey Sachs Center for Sustainable Development senior fellow Wong Chin Huat.
Thomas cited the recent involvement of his UK counterpart Geoffrey Cox in the Brexit affair as a cautionary tale.
Cox, a British Conservative party lawmaker and cabinet member, was revealed to have misadvised UK’s Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson that suspending the British Parliament was constitutional.
For Thomas, this showed how political pressure could cloud an AG’s judgement.
“I suggest that part of the reason (for Cox’s advice) is he is sitting in the cabinet, he sees the pressure there and everyone wants to get out of Brexit as quickly as possible,” he analysed.
In Malaysia, where the AG’s role is fused with that of the Public Prosecutor, Thomas predicted having a political AG would impede on impartiality when prosecuting cases.
“We had a cabinet minister in the 1980s who was charged for murder and actually found guilty [...] it would be pretty difficult for the AG to sit in the cabinet and to make a decision whether to charge a fellow cabinet minister,” he said.
In 1983, culture, youth and sports minister Mokhtar Hashim was found guilty of murdering Tampin assemblyperson Taha Talib. Mokhtar’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he later received a royal pardon.
Cabinet probably won’t split AG from PP
Aside from making a lawmaker the AG, "Promise 15" of the Harapan manifesto also noted the “inherent conflict of interest” in having the AG also act as the public prosecutor because the government’s lawyer should not be able to also decide if the government should be prosecuted.
Harapan thus pledged to separate the two roles if it won government.
Asked about this today, Thomas said he agreed with the proposal but did not foresee that the government could deliver on this promise anytime soon as it could not guarantee its success.
“I have not changed my view and it is in the manifesto, but I don’t think it is going to happen from a practical point of view. Because of (the lack of) a two-thirds majority (by Harapan).
“I don’t think the cabinet will be in a hurry to present it because (results so far) have been mixed [...] they got voting (constitutional amendment) through but they failed on (the amendment on) Sabah and Sarawak, he said.
In July, Harapan’s bill to amend the Federal Constitution to lower the qualifying age for both voting and running for office as well as to introduce automatic voter registration was passed by both houses of Parliament.
However, its attempt to amend the constitution to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the federation failed to obtain a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
With 140 seats, Harapan and its allies are eight seats shy of a two-thirds majority in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat.
