On October 18, caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob shocked the legal fraternity by openly admitting that he had declassified the STF report detailing Putrajaya’s investigation into former attorney-general(AG) Tommy Thomas’ book “My Story – Justice In Wilderness” so “it can be used as a lot of political bullets to attack Pakatan Harapan”. Ismail proudly said that he told the current AG to take immediate action against Thomas under the Official Secrets Act, defamation law and so on. He even urged the party machinery to “capitalise” on the findings to attack its rivals in the upcoming general election campaign. This is a definite abuse of power by the caretaker Prime Minister.
The AG has a statutory duty to act independently free from political interference without fear or favour. Ismail’s open admission that he had instructed the AG to act due to political benefits to UMNO, clearly violates the AG’s role of statutory independence and makes any investigation and subsequent prosecution “mala fide” or in bad faith. Any such charges filed against Thomas in court should naturally be dismissed as prosecutorial misconduct because it is naturally biased, prejudiced and politically motivated with no connection to upholding justice.
Further, the STF’s recommendations are not limited to the Auditor General’s Office and other agencies to carry out an audit and appropriate investigation into possibilities of misconduct by Thomas. Other important recommendations were made to ensure that judicial independence can function both in the judiciary as well as in the Attorney-General Office.
The STF recommended the separation of the functions and the responsibilities of the A-G and the Public Prosecutor, which is currently both held by the A-G. The STF pointed out that the function and responsibilities of the A-G is to advise the King and the government on legal matters. The Office of the Public Prosecutor should be an independent entity separated from the A-G so that prosecutorial powers would not be under the Control of the A-G and free from any form of interference from the Executive.
The STF suggested amending Section 5(1)(f) of the Judicial Appointments Commission Act to ensure that appointment of the four eminent persons would be similar to the members of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission under Article 138(c) of the Federal Constitution, whereby such appointments are made by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of both the Chief Justice and the Prime Minister. This would remove any semblance of executive involvement in the appointment of bodies responsible for the selection and appointment of judges and judicial officers.
The STF recommended that changes should be made to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission so that the administration of the judicial Service and the powers to appoint judicial officers would be vested with the chief registrar of the Federal Court and not with the Attorney General. The A-G should not be involved in the appointment of judicial officers, especially superior court judges.
Would Ismail adopt these recommendations by the STF to promote judicial independence free from political interference? Ismail cannot pick and choose which recommendations by the STF with the sole intention to benefit him politically in the impending general elections.