COMMENT | One clear example of victimisation of a former civil servant who did his job fairly and with dedication is that of former attorney-general (AG) Tommy Thomas by an Umno minister, who seems bent on tarnishing his image and politicising what he did.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said revealed in Parliament on Tuesday that Tommy Thomas’ letter in 2019 to the so-called heirs of the Sulu sultan to settle a disputed compensation never got cabinet approval, according to a Malay Mail report.

She was responding to MIC leader Senator S Vell Paari’s question on Tuesday in the Dewan Negara, where he had strangely asked the prime minister to state if the cabinet had in 2019 agreed to Thomas’ statement of regret over the government’s action in stopping the yearly payments to the Sulu group.

So what if Thomas had not gotten cabinet approval for the letter? There is no provision in the constitution that the AG has to refer to the cabinet in the performance of his duties. In fact, it says the exact opposite...