Harapan's silence on Thomas implies guilt - PM

Pakatan Harapan’s muted response to the result of a probe on Tommy Thomas’ book implied that the coalition was guilty, said caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“I do not know why they have been keeping quiet (in Thomas’ case).

“Usually, if people are guilty, they would be quiet. But that would be in the usual cases, I do not know if that is the case here,” he said.

The government had set up a special task force last year to probe Thomas’ book "My Story: Justice in the Wilderness".

The book documented Thomas’ time as the attorney-general for Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s government.

The task force had recommended that Thomas be probed for sedition and breaking government secrecy laws. The task force also suggested that Thomas interferred in judicial appointments.

Following this, Ismail Sabri on Sept 30 ordered enforcement agencies to investigate further the various allegations made in Thomas’ memoir.

He said then that Thomas would be investigated under Section 4 of the Sedition Act for attempting to carry out any act that has a seditious tendency.

Section 4 provides a maximum jail term of three years, an RM5,000 fine, or both.

Thomas will also be probed under Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act for divulging secrets, Section 23 of the MACC Act for abuse of power, and Sections 124I (disseminating false reports) and 203A (disclosing information) of the Penal Code.

“We (the government) have left this matter to the relevant authorities to investigate,” Ismail Sabri told reporters today.

Candidate checks

Meanwhile, about the upcoming 15th general election, Ismail Sabri, who is an Umno vice-president, said his party will employ stricter background checks on candidates this time around.

On top of the usual vetting process with the police, MACC, and Insolvency Department, Umno will also check if candidates have any case with the religious authorities and Syariah Courts.

“We have done our first round of discussion among the (Umno) top five leaders and state liaison chairpersons. We will be doing the second round soon.

“The party would have to do vetting too. With the police, MACC, Insolvency Department, and maybe this time we will check with the respective religious offices and Qadi too.

“This is to detect if there are those who had (cases of) getting married (illegally) in Thailand and such. Or if they have problems like failure to pay 'nafkah' (alimony) or any judgement in the Syariah courts.

“This is so that we can avoid facing issues. So this time, the vetting process may be more detailed.”

On Parti Bangsa Malaysia’s (PBM) application to join BN as a component party, Ismail Sabri said the matter is still under discussion.

“No, we have not rejected the application,” he said, when answering a question if BN has declined PBM’s request.

“What we are saying now is that we are still considering it,” he added.

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