Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh has called for a review on Pakatan Harapan’s promise to appoint the attorney-general from amongst qualified MPs.
He said implementing this promise would be a “grave restriction” on the available talent pool, as there may be non-MPs who are better qualified.
“A situation may also arise wherein none of the MPs is suitable in which case, surely it would be unreasonable to restrict the choice of an attorney-general to only those MPs.
“No doubt, there may be potential candidates for attorney-general who happen to be MPs but it does not necessarily follow that only MPs should be considered for the post.
“An attorney-general must possess a firm grasp of both civil and criminal law and must be able to act without fear or favour as prerequisites before he or she is considered for the job,” he said in a statement today.
As such, he said the position of attorney-general should be open to all candidates who meet the necessary criteria and not only MPs.
Under Promise 15 of the Harapan manifesto, the ruling coalition had pledged to separate the roles of the attorney-general and public prosecutor.
It also promised that the attorney-general would be appointed from amongst qualified MPs to become the government’s chief legal advisor, whereas an independent individual would be appointed as a public prosecutor and would enjoy full autonomy over his prosecutorial powers.
The promise had come under the spotlight following reports yesterday that Harapan had nominated the lawyer Tommy Thomas, who is not an MP, as the new attorney-general.
Bersatu strategy and policy bureau chief Rais Husin has reportedly called for calm over the matter, saying that Promise 15 is not among those that Harapan pledged to deliver within its first 100 days in office.
Free Malaysia Today quoted him saying that in the meantime, Harapan needs to replace current attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali with someone who is committed with the reforms Harapan promised.
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing standoff between the Conference of Rulers and the government over Thomas’ appointment, Ramkarpal reiterated that Apandi should be removed from office nonetheless.
He explained that regardless of whether there is an impasse or not, failure to remove Apandi before appointing a new attorney-general could result in the new appointment being challenged on grounds that Apandi remains the lawful attorney-general, and hence the new appointment is null and void.
Hence, he said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad should remove Apandi by terminating his contract immediately although the appointment of the new attorney-general has yet to be finalised.
The Malay Rulers are set to hold a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss the appointment of a new attorney-general. -Mkini
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