Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has agreed that the government should set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) immediately to look into former attorney-general Tommy Thomas’ allegations of political interference, said Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
He said the matter was raised during an Umno supreme council meeting last night where Ismail Sabri agreed to several issues in his capacity as the party’s vice-president.
This includes to “immediately set up an RCI to investigate all revelations made by Tommy Thomas regarding political interference in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the judiciary, the security forces who are the defenders of the constitution and the rule of law,” he said in a statement last night.
It is unclear which allegations he was referring to.
In Thomas’ memoir "My Story: Justice in The Wilderness", the former attorney-general had written that the then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin had attempted to interfere in court proceedings involving 12 people accused of being members of the defunct terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
He also said the Pakatan Harapan government had wanted to set up an RCI to investigate alleged corruption and political interference in the judiciary following revelations by the then Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer.
However, the formation of the RCI was put on hold following opposition from both serving and retired judges, and Hamid was suspended until his retirement yesterday.
On previous occasions, Zahid had also demanded an RCI on revelations by former inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador, who claimed then home minister Hamzah Zainudin had interfered with transfers and appointments in the police force after the Special Branch refused his request to conduct political operations.
Hamzah has been retained as home minister in Ismail Sabri’s cabinet. He had previously denied meddling with the police transfers.
No more ‘PN’ branding
Meanwhile, Zahid said Ismail Sabri also agreed that the current government will use "Malaysian Family" (Keluarga Malaysia) or "Malaysian Government" branding rather than "Perikatan Nasional Government".
This is because the previous government was a “loose political cooperation” between BN, Perikatan Nasional (PN), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), he said.
Other matters Ismail Sabri agreed at the meeting include:
- To uphold the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree to set up cross-party cooperation to tackle the economic crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and harmony among the people.
- To focus on efforts to tackle the pandemic and the vaccination process in order to achieve herd immunity and reduce the loss of life as a result of the viral infection.
- To accede to the people’s demand for their welfare to be looked after, including to improve various government aid programmes, interest-free moratoriums on loan repayment, one-off i-Citra withdrawals with a minimum of RM10,000, and assistance to small and medium enterprises.
- Uphold parliamentary democracy as a check-and-balance against the government.
“Umno must be a pioneer in efforts to institutional reforms in various branches of government.
“This includes setting up a more efficient Parliament, clean and transparent administration, political funding, an Anti-Party Hopping Act, and (preventing) political interference in various institutions charged with upholding the rule of law such as the attorney-general, the MACC, the police, and others,” Zahid said. - Mkini
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