Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad might have the prerogative in the appointment of the country’s top judges when he was in power, but it doesn’t mean that he need not explain his decision.

According to Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, the ex-premier was “downright wrong and irresponsible” in pleading prerogative to refuse to answer questions as to why he rejected the recommendation from the then chief justice to fill one of the judiciary’s top posts.

“While the prerogative of the prime minister under the Constitution to decide on who should be recommended for appointment to the various high judicial offices is not challenged or doubted, it is wrong to equate of prerogative of a prime minister ... with the royal prerogative of divine rule,” said Lim in a statement today.

“This is because the prerogative of a prime minister in an elected system of government, while assuring the prime minister as having the final say in the decision-making, does not give the prime minister the immunity to disregard accountability, transparency and integrity in the exercise of the prerogative.”

Yesterday, the royal commission tasked to investigate the Lingam tape heard that Mahathir dismissed then chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah’s recommendation for Malek Ahmad to be promoted to chief judge of Malaya - the judiciary’s No 3 post.

“The prerogative is with me. I don’t have to explain why,” Mahathir told the commission when pressed.

The former prime minister added that he did not even have to explain to the chief justice for ignoring his recommendation.

“I normally don’t explain the reasons why I make (the) decisions. I listen to a lot of people (but) I make my (own) assessments and decisions. I don’t explain to anybody.”

Dr M handled with ‘kid’s gloves’

Lim described Mahathir as an “poor witness” who was “evasive, uncharacteristically forgetful as to be prone to sudden bouts of amnesia on certain crucial events which Mahathir had never been known to suffer from”.

During yesterday’s 90-minute testimony, Mahathir went against his earlier promise to the commission that he would ‘answer all’ by claiming ignorance and that he couldn’t remember.

Lim also expressed disappointment that the royal commission had allowed the former prime minister to get away too easily.

Mahathir should have been held to “proper responsibility and accountability for a dark chapter in the nation’s judicial history”, lamented Lim.

“Many Malaysians get the impression that the royal commission of inquiry members treated Mahathir with ‘kid’s gloves’ as they were in awe and even in some fear of the longest-serving prime minister in the country.”