Dr M 'satisfied' with Thomas but wanted him out due to 'bashing'

 

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he was satisfied with Tommy Thomas's performance but revealed he did not plan to renew the former attorney general (AG)'s term due to pressure.

Mahathir said he expected criticism from the Malay community but decided to give Thomas a chance as previous Malay AGs had not been true to their profession.

However, he said he ended up taking a lot of heat from the Malay community and did not think Thomas should continue to serve after his two-year term.

Mahathir noted the heavy backlash against the Attorney-General's Chambers' (AGC's) decision to drop the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) case. However, he found Thomas' explanation to be acceptable.

"I was generally satisfied with Tommy’s work. He explained to me that there was no case against the so-called supporters of LTTE.

"I accepted his explanation and wrote to Muhyiddin, the home minister (at the time). He dropped the case. The anger of the Malays against me was terrible," Mahathir said in a statement.

Describing his relationship with Thomas as "quite well", Mahathir said he was even going to recommend the former AG for a "Tan Sri" title at the end of his term.

"During the time when Tommy Thomas was attorney-general, I got on quite well with him. He would see me for all major issues.

"I trusted him and defended him when Malays condemned him. His term was ending. I recommended a Tan Sri-ship for him.

"PAS never directly asked me to drop him. But I had taken so much bashing because of him that I felt he should not continue after ending his term," Mahathir said.

However, Mahathir was displeased at Thomas' criticism of him in his latest memoir which squarely placed the blame on the Langkawi MP for the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.

He also disputed Thomas' claim that Mahathir nominated himself as interim prime minister instead of PKR's Wan Azizah Wan Ismail after he resigned as prime minister.

“Thomas knew nothing about my resignation. According to Thomas, I told him that the Agong wanted to appoint Wan Azizah as interim prime minister. This is nonsense.

“After reluctantly accepting my resignation, the Agong suggested I become interim prime minister.

“Wan Azizah could not be acting prime minister or interim prime minister because the Pakatan Harapan government had already collapsed,” Mahathir said in a lengthy blog post recounting the events of the "Sheraton Move" last year.

Thomas’ memoir My Story: Justice in the Wilderness was published last Saturday (Jan 30).

In it, Thomas blamed Mahathir for resigning but Mahathir maintained it was the appropriate thing to do after losing support from his own party - Bersatu.

Thomas also wrote that Mahathir wanted him to resign immediately after telling him the Agong assented to his appointment, due to Malay backlash over the appointment.

Nevertheless, he managed to hold onto his new job for 20 months, thanks in part to support from PAS that day. However, things later soured and PAS began demanding Thomas’ removal.

Mahathir did not address this claim by Thomas about initially wanting him to resign just a day after appointing him as AG. - Mkini