Cabinet yet to decide on new attorney-general

 

The cabinet has yet to decide on a successor to Attorney-General Idrus Harun when the latter's contract ends in March.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told the media today that it was "still being discussed".

Idrus (above) was appointed attorney-general on March 6, 2020, by the Perikatan Nasional administration.

He replaced Tommy Thomas, who resigned when the Pakatan Harapan government collapsed that year.

Media reports have speculated that three judges were being considered to replace Idrus.

The three are Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin, Kamaludin Md Said and Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.

Ahmad Fairuz and Kamaludin had previously served in the Attorney-General's Chambers before being appointed as judges.

Additionally, Ahmad Fairuz was also a former deputy chief executive of the Securities Commission.

Meanwhile, during the presser, Anwar also hinted that Budget 2023, which will be proposed in the Dewan Rakyat this February 24, will see some reduction in the amount of allocation.

However, it would not jeopardise the country's development programmes, stressed the prime minister.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said a number of strategies and preliminary calculations for Budget 2023 have been discussed in today's cabinet meeting.

"I have presented our budget strategy and preliminary numbers because the country cannot bear the high deficits.

"We will do our best to reduce (spending), without jeopardising our development programmes," he said.

The Dewan Rakyat will start its next session on Feb 13, with Anwar scheduled to table this year's budget on Feb 24. - Mkini