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PETALING JAYA: Tommy Thomas has stated that Yang di-Pertuan Agong wanted to appoint Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as Acting Prime Minister after Dr. Mahathir Mohamad resigned following PPBM’s departure from the Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition in February last year.
According to the former attorney general (AG), Mahathir then submitted his own name as interim prime minister to the king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
This revelation was made in Thomas’ new book “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness,” which was published yesterday.
“This is probably unprecedented in modern politics. A prime minister who is comfortably in power resigns of his own free will.
“According to that decision, he must leave the political scene after occupying the most important position in the state,” said the former AG.
He added that the appointment of Wan Azizah, who had served as deputy prime minister under Mahathir, would have been a constitutional decision.
Furthermore, he wrote that Mahathir’s decision to dissolve his cabinet following his resignation was unusual, as when prime ministers resign, their cabinets generally remain.
“Keep in mind that Tun’s resignation was personal, only as prime minister. The resignation was limited to that office, not to the entire government.
Thomas noted that since Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, resigned in September 1970, each prime minister has been replaced by their deputies.
Elsewhere in the book, Thomas said PAS may have inadvertently played a major role in saving his job after Mahathir asked him to resign just one day after being appointed due to Malaysian reaction to his selection.
“Apparently, a public statement issued by PAS that night stating that they had no objections to my appointment, especially since I had represented the PAS governments of Terengganu and Kelantan in their oil royalty cases against Petronas, had surprised Tun (Mahathir), ”he said. wrote.
The PAS had originally opposed Thomas’s appointment, but changed its position after it was announced by then-King Sultan Muhammad V, who is the ruler of Kelantan.
In the statement, the party’s general secretary, Takiyuddin Hassan, had said: “The PAS congratulates and wishes the new attorney general the best, and hopes that he will always act in accordance with the constitution, preserve the rule of law, and be fair and impartial. in his role, especially in matters related to Islam and its related institutions. “
Thomas said he received a call from Mahathir at 7:30 am the next morning, who said he had reconsidered and wanted him to accept the position, assuring that he had the prime minister’s full support.
