LETTER | Article 145 (1) of the Federal Constitution provides that “The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint a person who is qualified to be a judge of the Federal Court to be the attorney-general for the Federation.”

By virtue of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, Sabah and Sarawak are equal partners in the Federation of Malaysia, and we are concerned that the law must be followed in the appointment of our next attorney-general.

We are disappointed that race and religion have been dragged into the equation when there is no legal basis for these to be of any consideration in the appointment of the attorney-general.

The results of the 14th general election have shown that Malaysians reject the divisive politics of race and religion practiced by Umno.

The various races had come together to elect this new government and it is truly unfortunate that the reluctance to accept Tommy Thomas as the new attorney-general threatens to again separate the people.

This is a new beginning for Malaysia where we must learn to look at ourselves as Malaysians, not as Chinese or Malay or Indian or Dayak.

As Rafidah Aziz said, this is the time for ‘Ketuanan Malaysia’; i.e., the stature, stability and strength of the country must come first. Having a competent and untainted attorney-general will go a long way in showing that the new government is serious about the reforms they had promised to undertake.

As practised in the Westminster system, the Agong appoints the attorney-general on the advice of the prime minister.

Many constitutional lawyers have pointed out that there is no provision in the Federal Constitution for the Agong to reject the prime minister’s recommendation in the appointment of the attorney-general.

The Agong must know that the recommendation has the approval and support of the component parties of Pakatan Harapan, and of the fact that Malaysians just want to get on with rebuilding and restoring our country.

Again, a large part of that depends on having a learned, capable and experienced lawyer as attorney-general to deal with the complex legal fallout from the 1MDB corruption scandal.

The responsibilities of the next attorney-general are onerous and not for the faint-hearted. We fully support the prime minister in the choice of Tommy Thomas as our new attorney-general.

BARU BIAN is MP for Selangau.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.