DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook says Tommy Thomas can defend himself.
KUALA LUMPUR: DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook has dismissed the need for Pakatan Harapan (PH) to comment on a report by a special task force following its probe into a memoir written by former attorney-general (AG) Tommy Thomas.
Several Umno leaders, including caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, have questioned the silence of PH leaders on the findings contained in the report, including allegations pertaining to judicial appointments, exposure of government secrets, abuse of power, professional negligence, and seditious statements.
At a press conference today, Loke said it was up to the authorities to investigate if Thomas had indeed broken the law.
“We don’t have to answer for Thomas. He is a former AG. He wasn’t a PH leader. He wasn’t a member of any political party,” Loke said, adding he was confident Thomas would be able to defend himself.
“We know Ismail is using this issue as ammunition. We know they want to politicise this and capitalise on this for the general election (GE15). We will not fall into that trap.”
In January 2021, Thomas’ book “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness” was published. Several police reports were made against him over the contents of the book.
The government then set up a special task force to look into the various allegations leveled at Thomas over the contents of the book. The task force’s report, which was released recently, led to a police investigation into sedition and other offences.
Thomas was appointed AG by Dr Mahathir Mohamad when PH came to power in 2018 but resigned after the coalition collapsed in February 2020.
Speaking to The Star yesterday, Mahathir said he appointed Thomas as he was known to be “impartial” and followed the “rule of law”. However, Mahathir said this was before Thomas’ controversial book was published.
One of the task force’s findings was that Thomas, as AG, wanted then prime minister Mahathir “to do his bidding in a manner contrary to the law” in appointing three lawyers as Court of Appeal judges.
The task force’s declassified report also said Thomas had “powerful vested interests” in the appointment of judges, and that he attempted to use “political or executive influence” to see certain appointments come to pass.
KUALA LUMPUR: DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook has dismissed the need for Pakatan Harapan (PH) to comment on a report by a special task force following its probe into a memoir written by former attorney-general (AG) Tommy Thomas.
Several Umno leaders, including caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, have questioned the silence of PH leaders on the findings contained in the report, including allegations pertaining to judicial appointments, exposure of government secrets, abuse of power, professional negligence, and seditious statements.
At a press conference today, Loke said it was up to the authorities to investigate if Thomas had indeed broken the law.
“We don’t have to answer for Thomas. He is a former AG. He wasn’t a PH leader. He wasn’t a member of any political party,” Loke said, adding he was confident Thomas would be able to defend himself.
“We know Ismail is using this issue as ammunition. We know they want to politicise this and capitalise on this for the general election (GE15). We will not fall into that trap.”
In January 2021, Thomas’ book “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness” was published. Several police reports were made against him over the contents of the book.
The government then set up a special task force to look into the various allegations leveled at Thomas over the contents of the book. The task force’s report, which was released recently, led to a police investigation into sedition and other offences.
Thomas was appointed AG by Dr Mahathir Mohamad when PH came to power in 2018 but resigned after the coalition collapsed in February 2020.
Speaking to The Star yesterday, Mahathir said he appointed Thomas as he was known to be “impartial” and followed the “rule of law”. However, Mahathir said this was before Thomas’ controversial book was published.
One of the task force’s findings was that Thomas, as AG, wanted then prime minister Mahathir “to do his bidding in a manner contrary to the law” in appointing three lawyers as Court of Appeal judges.
The task force’s declassified report also said Thomas had “powerful vested interests” in the appointment of judges, and that he attempted to use “political or executive influence” to see certain appointments come to pass.
No comments:
Post a Comment