ADUN SPEAKS | The former attorney-general Tommy Thomas might be taking the appropriate move by filing a suit against the previous government for setting up a task force to investigate his memoir titled ‘My story: Justice in Wilderness’.
As a result of Thomas’ lead counsel, Gopal Sri Ram’s passing, Thomas has asked the court to fix another date to hear his case so that he could appoint a replacement.
Initially, the court was supposed to hear the suit by Thomas on Feb 27.
According to Thomas, the task force headed by Fong Joo Chung, with eight other members, was supposed to investigate the contents of the books that contain allegations of judicial interference, judicial appointments and executive interference, among others.
Thomas is of the opinion that the task force was just an attempt at witch-hunting.
Therefore, it is not only unconstitutional but wrong on the side of the law.
Just like the other task forces set up by the former government led by Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the investigation into Thomas’ memoir is mala fide in nature.
It was intended more to punish Thomas rather than a genuine investigation of his memoir.
What was alleged by Thomas in his book might be controversial but the allegations were not far from the truth.
What I don’t understand is why the present government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is condoning the task forces set up by the former BN government.
Why is there a need to continue with these task forces, particularly the one involving Thomas’ memoir and the one involving Pulau Batu Puteh.
Anwar recently remarked that he would want to continue with some of the decisions or policies made by the previous administration.
It is not an issue when it comes to good policies but not the ones that are vindictive in nature. The latter types should be discarded when the new government came to power.
There is no necessity for the present government to agree to some of the issues raised by Thomas in his book, but a refutation would be a sufficient response.
There was no necessity to waste public funds to establish a task force on Thomas’ book.
Now, Thomas is challenging the task force, its findings, and most importantly, the motive behind the setting up of the task force in the first place.
It doesn’t take rocket science to realise that the task forces were set up to smear the first Pakatan Harapan administration led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and those who served under him.
The task force on the sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh is another example of a task force that is a complete waste of public funds.
The former government was very political about the task forces, but the present one should have stayed away by rescinding them.
The current government has all the required legitimacy without reliance on the duplicity of the task forces. - Mkini
P RAMASAMY is the Perai assemblyperson and Penang deputy chief minister II.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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