KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today Pakatan Rakyat (PR) states cannot appoint their own legal advisers to replace those from the Attorney-General’s Chambers because it would be unconstitutional.
The de facto law minister said whatever decisions decided by PR states had to reflect existing state laws.
“Under all the state laws it is clear that the appointment of a state legal adviser has to be done based on the recommendations of a service commission, in this case the Judicial Legal Service Commission. Officers are appointed under this commission,” said Nazri.
“The proposition of the opposition leader is against the conditions that have been determined by state laws,” said the law minister.
Nazri said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s allegations of biasness against the current state legal advisers were “baseless” because any advice given by them would have to be based solely on state laws.
“I don’t understand where the state legal advisers went wrong. The only advice they give is in accordance with the law.
“Anwar is doing this because they do not satisfy his whims and fancies,” said Nazri.
Nazri claimed that contrary to Anwar’s ludicrous claims, PR states like Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan had requested for more state legal advisors.
“There have been more requests from Pakatan states to retain them (A-G’s officers) as state legal advisors. They are satisfied with the performance of the legal advisors.”
Nazri went on to state that there had been no complaints to the A-G’s chambers with regards to the state legal advisors.
“They are independent and the decisions made by them need not be referred to the A-G.
“Nothing’s stopping these states for procuring advice from outside sources,” said Nazri.
He also said that he will meet the Mentri Besar from the various PR states in the future to discuss the matter.
PR defacto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had claimed that the on-going legal problems in PR states were a result of their lawyers being drawn from the A-G’s chambers.
“We will suggest to the Pakatan states in Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Selangor to appoint their own private lawyers as legal advisors and not lawyers from the Attorney-General’s chambers,” said Anwar.
“The current legal advisors are not independent or free. They are acting on Umno’s interests, not the interests of the state,” claimed the Permatang Pauh MP.
Anwar cited Kelantan as an example of a state riddled with problems because of lawyers did not act in the interests of the state.
“This has caused trouble in the administration of the states, for example in Kelantan, as explained by the state exco earlier today,” said Anwar on Wednesday.
State legal advisors have often collided with PR state administration on several occasions.
The Selangor state legal advisor for example has been blamed for causing delays in a suit to compel the federal government to disclose Selangor’s water concession document.
