In the past few days, Rais had been publicly demanding that the Attorney-General�s Chambers should prosecute the PAS leaders for sedition and contempt of court for saying that the Sauk Al-Maunah incident was a �sandiwara�.
Today�s Utusan Malaysia carried the following report, under the heading
�Peguam Negara diarah kaji tindakan undang-undang terhadap PAS�, which
said:
�Kuala Lumpur 11 Jan. - Kerajaan sudah mengarahkan Peguam Negara, Datuk Abdul Ghani Patail untuk mengkaji kemungkinan mengambil tindakan undang-undang terhadap Pas yang mendakwa peristiwa berdarah di Sauk sebagai sandiwara.�Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim berkata, tindakan akan diambil berdasarkan kepada dua aspek iaitu penghinaan kepada mahkamah dan serta adanya unsur hasutan.
��Ada beberapa undang-undang yang berkaitan dan akta hasutan adalah satu daripadanya,� katanya kepada pemberita pada majlis rumah terbuka di kediamannya di sini hari ini.�
In publicly badgering and pressurising the Attorney-General
to initiate prosecution proceedings against PAS leaders, Rais has
violated a fundamental constitutional principle on the independence of
the office of the Attorney-General from any interference or pressure from
the government of the day which constitutes a cardinal principle of the
administration of justice in Malaysia.
Rais cannot be unaware of his serious trespass of the constitutional principle of the independence of the office of the Attorney-General as he is the nation�s first person with the highest academic legal qualifications, holding a Ph.D. in Law from the University of London, to ever sit in the Cabinet since Independence in the past 45 years - although he may not believe in what he had written for his doctoral thesis!
Article 145(3) grants the Attorney-General the sole prosecutorial discretion in vesting in him the �power, exercisable at his discretion, to institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence, other than proceedings before a Syariah Court, a native court or a court martial�.
As former Lord President, the late Tun Suffian, wrote in �An
Introduction to The Constitution of Malaysia� way back in the seventies
on the powers of the Attorney-General:
�Before prosecuting anybody in the ordinary courts, he is not legally obliged to consult anybody: this is to ensure his independence, especially when considering charges against VIPs. A minister who interferes with his discretion should not be surprised to find himself in political hot water.�
There is no reason why Rais should not be in �political hot water�
for trespassing on the sole prosecutorial discretion and constitutional
independence of the office of Attorney-General in badgering, pressurising
and directing Gani Patail to prosecute PAS leaders over the Sauk �sandiwara�
statement - for which he should tender an unfettered public apology.
Although Malaysians find the statement by PAS leaders after the High Court trial that the Sauk Al-Maunah incident was a sandiwara most distressing and even shocking, this can be no justification for any Cabinet Minister - including the de factor Law Minister - to subvert the constitutionally-entrenched independence of the office of Attorney-General.
If the DAP is still in the Barisan Alternative, the DAP representatives would have expressed our distress and shock to PAS leaders at such a statement and would have suggested that the PAS leadership should tender an open apology, not to the Barisan Nasional government, but to the Malaysian people for such a statement.
(12/1/2002)