The power of the Attorney General

Write: Peng Yi Feng
Oriental Daily, Nov 13, 2015

Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has only realized now that the Attorney General is too powerful so much as that he could individually decide whether or not to prosecute a case. His realization is more like a hind-sight; in fact, what’s wrong now was deemed to be right in the past.

When Dr Mahathir was in power, the power of the Attorney General was beyond questioning. He could withdraw a charge anytime; even cases already listed for hearing could be withdrawn at the last minute.

However, Dr Mahathir is not quite right when he claims that the Attorney General has absolute power. As a matter of fact, there is a higher authority above him who can sway his decision. Dr Mahathir should know about it quite well.

Because the Attorney General does not have absolute power to decide whether or not to prosecute certain cases, people are able to see the removal of former Attorney General Abdul Ghani which seems quite bewildering.

According to coffee shop sources, Ghani’s earlier retirement was because he wanted to overstep his bosses to exercise his power of prosecution. There was no clue as whom he wanted to prosecute!
Dr Mahathir claims that the Attorney General is as powerful as a judge. As a matter of fact, a judge is not that all powerful. Maybe you can still recall lawyer Lingam who became famous for his quote: “He sounds like me, looks like me but is not me”. He even part-timed writing judgment for judges.

It is a good thing if Dr Mahathir had a belated realization of what was wrong in the past. Dr Mahathir has proposed to limit the power of the Attorney General and lay down certain criteria for prosecution so that he would not be able to decide according to his own wish and also to prevent interference from his bosses.

His proposal may not be taken seriously by the Government. Attorney General Apandi is still able to exercise his power according to his own wish. The person he wants to prosecute will have to wait for his hearing in court while the person whom he does not want to prosecute can still enjoy his freedom. Former Malacca Chief Minister Abdul Rahim, for example, was lucky as his case was withdrawn even when it had gone to the court.

However, the Attorney General still has the power to investigate Prime Minister Najib. When the Malay Rulers Council made a decree that investigation on 1MDB must be carried out and completed as soon as possible, he messaged MACC on the same night and after some bargaining, it was decided that Najib be questioned and a complete report be submitted before the end of the year so that he could decide whom to prosecute.

People may think that the end of the year is still very far off. But then next month is already December; it won’t take long and Dr Mahathir should not have pushed his way too hard!

As the Attorney General, Apandi may have to play the role of a bad guy. However, he should not feel bad. The MACC has already ascertained several months ago that the RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Najib’s bank accounts were political donation from the Middle-East but has not interviewed the Prime Minister up till today. Not only the Malay Rulers Council, even ordinary people are eager to find out what the Prime Minister has to say.

It is a bit late but then, we have already waited for months now what is just one more month?

Original Source:
总检察长的权力