Another Brick in the Wall
The Star reported Tommy Thomas as saying that his “sacking” of Syazlin Mansor as lawyer for Housing and Local Government Ministry was due to her being conflicted.
Thomas said this was one of the reasons he requested Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin to revoke Syazlin’s appointment as the ministry’s and the Fire and Rescue Department’s counsel at the inquest.
Syazlin’s appointment, said Thomas, caused a conflict of interest in the inquest proceedings because apart from representing the ministry and the department, Syazlin also stood in for Muhammad Adib’s family.
“The interests of these parties may conflict and it was unacceptable for her to act for all parties.
Everyone is asking why now? However, there is no dispute on that particular reasoning.
If Syazlin is conflicted, Tommy too is conflicted. He should have refrained from getting involved in the inquest and withdrawn from making any decisions.
It is easy to suspect that he intentionally forgot because all along, he sided and defended the temple of interest, i.e., the Seafield Sri Maha Mariaman temple. He is a Christian, so it could be an unintentional Indian bias on his part.
November 29, 2018: Malaysiakini reported “The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has offered to play mediator in the matter of the consent order pertaining to the relocation of the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in USJ25, Subang Jaya.” Read also The Edge here.
December 14, 2018: Malaysiakini reported “A resolution to the land dispute involving the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Seafield, Subang Jaya, can be reached in the coming months, said attorney-general Tommy Thomas.”
December 14, 2018: The Star reported “The AG said that an arrangement has been reached during a meeting earlier this week with the lawyers representing all the parties involved in the dispute of the land.
“Subject to terms to be agreed upon, One City Development Sdn Bhd will transfer the one acre plot of land on which the temple is located to a trust to be administered by the High Court.
December 21, 2018: FMT report headlined “Temple chairman ready to cooperate with AG, says money safe in trust.
One can go on and goggle more but it is proven that Tommy had a personal interest to mediate in favour of the temple.
To stress further on Tommy’s bias in favour of the temple, one should note, the major investor and controlling shareholder of One City Development, Ayala Land of the Phillipines, was not likely to be happy with the settlement and there is suspicion that it was forced upon One City Development.
The ‘appropriate’ solution they would have expected as landowners, who paid money to the temple, despite it being a land they owned, is not to be asked to give the land to the temple.
Sources with business interests with One City Development said Ayala Land sold out of the project and gave up on Malaysia to pull out their investments from Malaysia.
One could expect more sales of GLCs to foreigners, perhaps for Tony Pua to balance the Ayala pull-out and to show a favourable net FDI.
In our posting yesterday, our stand was that the whole thing was a cock-up. In fact, the Dr Shahrom Abdul Wahid has his issues too although they have yet to be disclosed.
Meanwhile, the latest from the Adib inquest saw Tommy’s interference to remove Syazlin Mansor, the lawyer representing the Ministry for Housing and Local Government.
The lawyer’s husband is Minister Zuraidah Kamaruddin’s Press Secretary, but Zuraidah has since absolved responsibility of having said the lawyer was redundant.
Syazlin was inappropriately cross-examining in a fact finding inquest, but why the AG removed her at the eleventh hour is still a mystery.
Tommy said she often contradicted the DPP’s position, but would the DPP’s actions beyond usual practise be misconstrued as a fix up by Indians in authority to cover-up the murder of a Malay by Indians?
Tommy acted as if he is about to lose his job but still does not know what to expect. PAS has called for his resignation.
Go back to the posting for all the links.
Tommy not only lost his mettle, he is plain biased and incompetent. How could he miss out on an obvious conflict such as this?
Apa punya loya?
READ FULL DISCLOSURE HERE
