PUTRAJAYA – An online petition to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to remove Tommy Thomas as Attorney-General (AG) has so far gained significant traction with 2,180 signatures gathered so far.
The petition on change.org titled “Support YDPA fired Tommy Thomas as Attorney-General” was initiated by a Facebook user named Fyizuddin Jaafar.
Written in capital letters, Fyizuddin stated that “An AG without Bahasa Melayu qualification should not be considered to be appointed as AG”.
“This is an embarrassing to the country and Malaysian too. This also will damage the bravery of the honourable his Majesty YDPA (Yang di-Pertuan AGong).
“We support YDPA for replacing and fired the embarrassing AG of Malaysia. No more jokes on this serious matter please,” he added in broken English.
The petition aims to hit 2,500 signatures.
This petition among the latest came after Thomas was forced to shift his press conference at the Kuala Lumpur court complex lobby to a room on the upper floor after he was heckled by the crowd, demanding that he speak in Bahasa.
The AG was supposed to address the media as the lead prosecutor in the case of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak following proceedings at the Sessions and High Court on Wednesday.
Najib had been charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and for abusing his position.
Umno blogger, Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, also known as Papagomo led the crowd of Umno supporters to heckle at Thomas to speak in Bahasa Malaysia leading to non-stop taunting.
Meanwhile, former socio-cultural advisor to the government Tan Sri Rais Yatim opined that Thomas should work on his Bahasa Malaysia proficiency for usage in government and court affairs.
In an interview with Malaysiakini, Rais said Thomas would not have a tough time to do so as Clause 1a, Article 152 of the Federal Constitution specifically states that Bahasa Malaysia, as the national language, should be used for official purposes.
“In this, the AG should speak in Bahasa Melayu, it’s not hard, (after all) if he could master English, why can’t he learn Bahasa Melayu? (I’m not saying) all courtroom arguments are not allowed to be made in English, but the opening statements and preambles should be in Bahasa Melayu. I regret that this is not being done.
“I hope the AG is not offended when I urge him to generally use more of the national language in court matters when using general phrases and for his opening statements,” he was quoted as saying during the interview.
– Sundaily
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