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KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today disagreed with calls to ban the recently published memoirs of former attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, despite its critical portrayal of his second prime ministership under Pakatan Harapan.
In an interview with Sinar Harian aired on Facebook this afternoon, the two-time ex-PM indicated that he does not believe in banning books.
“I never looked to ban any books. My books are the ones that were banned,” he replied when asked his stand about calls urging the government to ban Thomas’ book My Story: Justice in the Wilderness.
Dr Mahathir also reiterated that there had been no mention by the King to appoint his former deputy Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as interim prime minister after his resignation last February, contrary to Thomas’ assertion in the book.
“He said I told him that the Yang Di Pertuan Agong wanted Dr Wan Azizah as the interim prime minister, but how can this be, I cannot be telling him something that never happened,” Dr Mahathir said.
Calls for Thomas’ book to be banned came following a slew of police reports lodged against revelations contained within his book.
Att least 134 reports have been lodged against the book, with Thomas coming out to say he would fully cooperate with police investigations.
Thomas was appointed the Attorney General back in June 2018 by the then Pakatan Harapan administration for a tenure of two years, but resigned several months short of his 24-month mark when the PH government collapsed following the Sheraton Move coup.
Bernama reported that former Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali and former Solicitor-General III Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria were among those who lodged reports against Thomas, with former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak even initiating a defamation suit against the lawyer.