Ex-Sabah AG’s return raises eyebrows

A former Sabah AG Anthony Roderic Fernandez made an abrupt exit in 2009 but assumed his former seat on the quiet.

KOTA KINABALU: A “former” Sabah attorney-general, Anthony Roderic Fernandez, who abruptly quit his post in early 2009 during a high-profile court case between Chief Minister Musa Aman and a former chief minister, Chong Kah Kiat, over the “Mazu statue”, has apparently quietly returned to his former post.

While Fernandez’s return to office is not a secret among the legal fraternity, the majority of the civil servants are not aware of this situation as Fernandez has kept a low profile since resuming his post.

He is very seldom, if ever, seen at state public functions with the other dignitaries and has not appeared in the media since 2009.

The official state AG website also does not mention any lapse in his service.

The question on most minds now is: why was his return hushed up?

A legal officer, who declined to be named, but who is familiar with the state AG office, agreed it was “quite strange” that there was no official announcement of Fernandez being back at his post.

Nobody could recall any public announcement of Fernandez’s return unlike when he was appointed the AG or when he quit the post.

Efforts to reach the state AG and his office for clarification were futile.

A Sabahan, Fernandez, 52, was appointed state AG for a three-year term by the state government on May 3, 2006, replacing Mohamad Bazain Idris, from the peninsula. However, he dropped a bombshell when he suddenly announced his resignation sometime in January, 2009.

Fernandez had, at that time, said he quit due to “personal and family reasons” and that he had sent a resignation letter to the Yang di-Pertua Negeri.

Prior to his appointment as state AG, Fernandez was a senior partner of a legal firm Shelley Yap Leong Tseu Chong Chia & Co, of which Chong was a retired partner.

He received his primary education at Sacred Heart Primary School, Kota Kinabalu, and continued his secondary education at La Salle Secondary School up to Form Six in Tanjung Aru.

Constitutional post

While in London from 1978 to 1982, he was admitted to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple on Oct 13, 1980, and conferred the Bachelor of Laws degree by the University of London as an external student on Aug 1, 1981.

He passed the examination conducted by the Council of Legal Education and was called by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple to the Bar of England and Wales on July 29, 1982.

He returned to Sabah and commenced chambering in the legal firm of Messrs Shelley Yap Leong Tseu Chong Chia & Co on Sept 1, 1982.

He was admitted as an advocate of the High Court of Borneo (now High Court in Sabah and Sarawak) on Feb 11, 1983, and was simultaneously employed as a legal assistant. He became a partner in the company on March 1, 1986.

The office of Sabah AG is a constitutional post and together with the state secretary, the office of the state AG is empowered under Article 11(1) of the state constitution.

Appointment to the office is made by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri or governor acting on the advice of the chief minister, who shall select for appointment a person whose name is included in a list submitted for the purpose by the state Public Service Commission.

However, before tendering his advice, the chief minister consults the federal government.

Among the duties and powers of the state AG are to advise the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, the chief minister, the state Cabinet, state ministers and the state government on legal matters, and to perform other legal duties as assigned to him by the governor, the chief minister, the state Cabinet, any state minister and the state government. - FMT