PETALING JAYA: Constitutional lawyer Tommy Thomas has advised Pakatan Harapan to stop pushing for amendments to controversial laws until comes to power.
No matter how laws were amended, he said, an irresponsible government could always abuse them to suit its purpose, such as to harass the opposition.
“So it’s better to get a clean and fair government first and then amend the laws,” he told reporters yesterday after speaking at a forum on vote buying.
In his speech during the forum, he said new laws would only empower Barisan Nasional to “intimidate and bully” and it could even violate those very laws because enforcement agencies would turn a blind eye to its wrongdoing.
He also said Pakatan Harapan needed to work “bloody hard” in the coming months to win a bigger popular vote in the coming election than Pakatan Rakyat obtained in the last election.
In the 2013 general election, the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat won 50.87% of the popular vote.
Thomas said the opposition must go to the ground to extinguish fear among civil servants by assuring them that Barisan Nasional would not find out how they voted.
“Give them courage,” he said.
He added that Pakatan should also focus on issues revolving around the cost of living, including the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST).
“The average citizen is not interested in issues such as 1MDB or human rights,” he said. “The average citizen is interested in the cost of living and the economy.” -FMT
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