Naming a non-MP as the Attorney General does not make PH deviate from our Manifesto. In fact, naming a PH MP as the Attorney General before we manage to separate the office of Attorney General from Public Prosecutor is in breach of Buku Harapan spirit.
Yes, Promise 15 of PH Buku Harapan reads, “The attorney general shall be appointed from amongst the qualified MPs, and he would become a minister who can continue the role as chief legal advisor to the government.”
However, we must also understand why we propose to separate the role of AG from Public Prosecutor in the first place.
We propose to separate them because the Attorney General is the principal legal adviser to the Government. But there is an inherent conflict of interest if the Attorney General also serves as the Public Prosecutor because the Government is like a “client” of the Attorney General. It is inappropriate for a lawyer to also hold the ultimate authority to determine whether his client should be prosecuted.
In reality, by choosing a “right” person to be the AG, a PM can basically be very certain that he/she will never be charged for any wrongdoings. Look at Najib Razak and his pick of the AG, Apandi.
It is why we propose to separate the role of AG and PP in our manifesto.
However, in order to do so, we need to amend the Constitution. PH does not have 2/3 majorities in the Dewan Rakyat. Even if we manage to persuade opposition MPs to support this, it takes time to materialize the amendment. However, we urgently need a new AG to restore confidence in our judiciary system. We need a new AG now.
Imagining PH nominates a PH MP to be the new AG, before we manage to separate the role of AG and PP. It will basically mean that the independence and impartiality of the AG will be questioned even further. If we can’t trust Apandi to press charge against Najib, can the general public trust a PH MP, to decide on whether a PH minister or deputy should be charged in court, if any of them is involved with any scandal? Remember, justice must not only done, but seemed to be done.
Therefore, Promise 15 of our Manifesto must be read as a whole, ie the promise to name MP as AG must be read together with the promise to separate the office of AG from PP.
I appreciate the efforts of Malaysians to make sure that PH does not stray from our promises. We welcome the scrutiny of all Malaysians as it is the best way to hold PH to our words.