FORMER attorney general Tommy Thomas might be taking the appropriate move to file suit against the government for setting up a task to investigate his memoir “My Story: Justice in Wilderness”.
As result of the death of Thomas’ lead counsel, Gopal Sri Ram, Thomas has asked the court to fix another date for the court to hear his case so that he could appoint replacement. Originally the court was supposed to hear the suit by Thomas on Feb 27.
According to Thomas, the task force headed by former Sarawak attorney-general Datuk Seri Fong Joo Chung with eight other members was supposed to investigate the contents of the books that contains allegations of judicial interference, judicial appointments and executive interference, among others.
Thomas is of the opinion that the task force is just an attempt at witch hunt. Therefore, it is not only unconstitutional but wrong on the side of the law.
Just like the other task forces set up by the former government of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the investigation of Thomas’ memoir is mala fide in nature.
It was intended more to punish Thomas rather than a genuine investigation of his memoir. What was alleged by Thomas in his book might be controversial but the allegations were not far from the truth.
What I don’t understand is why the present unity government under Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is condoning the task forces set up by the former Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
Why is there the need to continue with these task forces, particularly the one on the Thomas’ memoir and the one on Batu Puteh?
Anwar recently remarked that he would want to continue with some the decisions or policies of the former government.
It is not an issue when it comes to good policies but not the ones that are vindictive in nature should be discarded when the new government came to power.
There is no necessity for the present government to agree to some of the issues raised by Thomas in his book, but a refutation would have been sufficient response.
There is no necessity to waste public funds to establish a task force on Thomas’ book.
Now, Thomas is challenging the task force, its findings and most importantly the motive behind the setting up of the task force in the first place.
It doesn’t take rocket science to realise that the task forces were set up in the first place to smear the former government under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and those who functioned under him.
The task force on the sovereignty of Batu Puteh is another example of a task force that is a complete water of public funds.
The former government was very political about the task forces, but the present government should have stayed away by rescinding them. The unity government has all the required legitimacy without reliance on the duplicity of the task forces. – Jan 31, 2023
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
