KUALA LUMPUR - Umno president Zahid Hamidi welcomed the Malaysian government’s decision to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to probe a controversial memoir by ex-attorney general Tommy Thomas, with the book a regular subject of attacks by the Malay party.
Zahid - who is Deputy Prime Minister in the Anwar Ibrahim administration - said Umno leader and the Cabinet minister in charge of law and institutional reform, Azalina Othman Said, must be at the forefront in the RCI’s work.
“All information, documents and secret agendas must be uncovered. Aza (Datuk Seri Azalina), this is your responsibility.
“If you fail, Umno will fail. If you succeed, the party rewards you,” Zahid told 5,000 delegates at the opening of the Umno general assembly on Friday, as quoted by The Star daily.
Ms Azalina had said on Wednesday that the new administration has agreed to establish the RCI to probe allegations in Tan Sri Thomas’ memoir, My Story: Justice in The Wilderness.
She said the government’s decision followed recommendations made by a special task force started by the previous government, led by premier Ismail Sabri Yakcob, that had looked into Mr Thomas’ memoir
The book is being probed for elements of incitement, sedition and defamation. Its release on Jan 30, 2021, triggered a political uproar particularly from Umno, with at least 244 police reports lodged against Mr Thomas.
The ex-A-G, on his part, has said he was suing the previous administration for setting up the task force, alleging that it was unlawful and illegal as the task force’s members were not appointed under the authority of any written law.
He has said that the task force was unlike a RCI whose members would be appointed by the Malaysian King and its process transparent and open. He also said the task force has no power to order a probe into possible offences.
Mr Thomas was appointed as A-G in June 2018, shortly after the Pakatan Harapan coalition came to power in the general election. He was the first non-Malay and non-Muslim A-G and held the position till the PH government collapsed in February 2020.
The book recounted how Mr Thomas’ appointment, as well as those of former PH finance minister Lim Guan Eng and Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as the first non-Muslim Chief Justice, drew fire for placing non-Malays and non-Muslims in senior government posts..
Mr Thomas alleged in the book that the civil service – more than three-quarters of which comprise Malays – was incompetent and lacking in commitment.
He also questioned the discretionary powers of the King, who is revered as the guardian of Malay and Islamic interests.
The task force was formed by Datuk Seri Ismail to examine whether the publication had violated any laws or rules applicable to the A-G’s office, and to determine whether it had disclosed potential abuse of power by the author, breach of professional ethics or conduct by him.
