Dr Mahathir Mohamad didakwa campur tangan dan berkeras ingin menjadi perdana menteri sementara selepas Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah mencadangkan Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail menyandang jawatan itu, kata Tommy Thomas.
Dalam pendedahan menerusi buku memoirnya My Story: Justice In The Wilderness, bekas peguam negara itu turut menyifatkan Mahathir sebagai punca kejatuhan kerajaan Pakatan Harapan (PH). “Punca utama kegagalan hubungan gabungan PH disebabkan pemimpinnya, perdana menteri Mahathir. Pemimpin PH bertanggungjawab atas kegagalan ini," tulis Thomas.
Dia juga menganggap sokongan yang diberikan pelbagai lapisan masyarakat kepada ahli parlimen Langkawi pada peringkat awal kerajaan PH juga sebagai luar biasa. Selain itu, Thomas mendedahkan tindakan Mahathir menggalakkan anggota parlimen Umno meninggalkan parti itu untuk melompat ke Bersatu juga membimbangkan.
Pada masa sama katanya tindakan Mahathir meminggirkan Presiden PKR Anwar Ibrahim - yang dipersetujui bersama untuk dilantik sebagai perdana menteri kemudiannya - juga tidak disenangi. “Yang memburukkan lagi keraguan (Anwar) untuk jadi perdana menteri jelas pada tahun pertama pentadbiran PH, ketika hubungan perdana menteri dengan musuh utama Anwar dalam PKR, Azmin Ali.
“Tindak balas PH yang disifatkan tidak aktif dan lambat berhubung isu perkauman dan agama juga membuahkan keputusan pelik dari perdana menteri.
“Selain mempertahankan rakan sekutunya - yang turut berjuang dalam pilihan raya umum (PRU14) - Tun (Mahathir) malah mempelawa ahli parlimen Umno dan menyambut mereka dengan tangan terbuka. “(Berlaku) Dua atau tiga gelombang 'katak' dari Umno menyebabkan 18 daripada mereka beralih parti ke Bersatu,” kata Thomas.
Ketika Azmin berpaling tadah dengan meninggalkan PKR dan menyertai Muhyiddin yang membawa Bersatu keluar dari PH, Mahathir meletakkan jawatannya sebagai perdana menteri. Namun dakwa Thomas, Mahathir segera mencalnkan namanya kembali untuk jawatan perdana menteri ketika berlaku ketidaktentuan politik dalam negara.
“Ini bukan satu kebiasaan dalam politik moden. Perdana menteri yang selesa berkuasa, mengundurkan diri atas kehendak dan kemahuan sendiri. “Bertegas dengan keputusan itu, dia sepatutnya meninggalkan dunia politik selepas memegang jawatan penting dalam negara,” katanya.
Jelas Thomas, keputusan untuk melantik Dr Wan Azizah - yang berkhidmat sebagai timbalan perdana menteri dalam kabinet Mahathir - pasti menjadi keputusan perlembagaan yang betul. Dia turut mengkritik keputusan Mahathir membubarkan kabinet selepas peletakan jawatannya dengan berkata, barisan pentadbiran itu sepatutnya perlu dikekalkan.
“Perlu diingatkan peletakan jawatan Tun bersifat peribadi, hanya sebagai perdana menteri. "Jawatan itu tidak dibincangkan dalam pejabat mahupun seluruh kerajaan," katanya lagi. - mk
Agong wanted Wan Azizah as
interim PM, but Dr M said No!...
Explosive revelations in former attorney-general (AG) Tan Sri Tommy Thomas’ new book suggest that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong wanted to appoint Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as interim prime minister when the “Sheraton Move” was at play early last year.
However, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had then just resigned as prime minister – warranting someone taking over on an interim basis – put forward his own name for the position, Thomas revealed. “This is probably without precedent in modern politics. A prime minister who is comfortably in power, resigns of his own free will and volition.
“Consistent with that decision, he should leave the political scene after holding the most important position in the state,” he said in his book, My Story: Justice in the Wilderness, published by the Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.
The former AG emphasised that the potential appointment of Dr Wan Azizah, who had served as deputy prime minister in Dr Mahathir’s cabinet, would have been a constitutional decision. Additionally, Dr Mahathir’s decision to dissolve his cabinet upon his resignation was baffling to Thomas, who pointed out that when prime ministers resign, their cabinets usually stay.
“It must be kept in mind that Tun’s resignation was personal, only as prime minister. The resignation was confined to that office, not the entire government.” Thomas emphasised that since the first Malaysian prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, resigned in September 1970, all subsequent prime ministers came from the deputy prime minister’s office.
Another interesting incident he shared is his own advice to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah when he was still AG. Thomas said he advised His Majesty that the best way to determine which MP has the confidence of the Dewan Rakyat to lead the government is the Dewan Rakyat itself.
Some days later, Thomas was called to meet Dr Mahathir again, who informed him that the Agong’s decision to appoint the next prime minister via statutory declarations proved inconclusive.
The king apparently told Dr Mahathir to summon the Dewan Rakyat for an emergency session to decide on the matter of confidence. Thomas, in his capacity as leader of the AG’s Chambers, prepared a letter for the prime minister to the speaker. However, he said, before his letter was submitted, a similar letter had already been sent to the speaker from the Prime Minister’s Office.
On February 28 last year, a Friday, Thomas attended a scheduled meeting he had with then Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof. However, upon his arrival, he was informed by Ariff that the latter had been summoned to meet the king. It was only during the drive back to his office that Thomas made the decision to quit – knowing that the Pakatan Harapan administration had collapsed.
“What happened to the calling of the Dewan Rakyat to hold a debate on the confidence motion on a suitable candidate? Unfortunately, on Friday afternoon, speaker Ariff decided to reject the letter from the prime minister, Dr Mahathir, for purely technical reasons.”
Thomas went on to say Ariff’s decision was wrong. He added that if the Dewan Rakyat had convened, constitutional laws would have been adhered to and the legitimacy of the prime minister’s selection would not have been challenged. – The Vibes
cheers.
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