UMNO mouthpiece urges govt to seek replacement for beleaguered AG

KUALA LUMPUR — Utusan Malaysia, a newspaper owned by the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), has called on the government to seek a replacement for Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail.

Writing in their weekly column in the paper, the publication’s editors said Mr Gani was again facing a new wave of criticism over past failures to prosecute sedition cases involving insults to Islam and the royalty, and probably no longer wants the “burden” of being the Attorney-General.

The editors also cited complaints over Mr Gani’s delay in acting on offences related to the goods and services tax (GST). Although the 60-year-old’s contribution in the past 12 years could not be denied, the time has come for him to step down, said the unofficial mouthpiece of UMNO.

“Rumour has it that Gani is on leave because of health problems. Let us pray that he recovers quickly. Personally, (the editors) are of the opinion that it is not right for Gani to continue to be burdened by such a heavy and challenging task,” said the editors.

Since the implementation of the 6 per cent GST on April 1, Malaysians have expressed unhappiness over the broad-based consumption tax and the confusion over tax-exempted items such as food and medicine. About 10,000 people took part in an anti-GST rally in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

The government has attributed the unhappiness to traders and businesses that took advantage of the tax to increase prices indiscriminately. This has put pressure on Mr Gani to take swift action against errant businesses. In a report by Utusan last August, Mr Gani also came under fire for “failing to send the right message” to non-Muslims who had insulted Islam. This was in reference to a profanity-filled posting by Facebook user Kelvin Yip on the volume of morning Muslim prayers at a mosque near his home.

The editors first raised the subject of Mr Gani’s replacement in March, speculating that he was serving his last term in office.

This time, they reiterated that Mr Gani’s contract is due to expire soon, and said he was not likely to want to remain in the post, even if offered an extension, as he is at a point in life when family and health are of greater importance. “Let someone new navigate the challenge. Who will this be?”

Prior to his appointment as Attorney-General in 2002, Mr Gani was the lead prosecutor in opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s first sodomy trial in 1998. Since taking up the post, Mr Gani has been accused of selective prosecution by critics from both sides of the political divide.

Pro-establishment voices claim he has not been stern enough with regard to incidents involving perceived insults against Malays, Muslims and Malay rulers. Opposition leaders in turn accuse him of intentionally targeting them and dissenters against the government, while ignoring provocation against non-Muslims.

Mr Gani came under intense criticism last year after his office chose not to prosecute the leader of a Malay ultra group for calling on Muslims to burn copies of the Bible. The reason cited for not taking action was that Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali had acted in the defence of Islam. AGENCIES