During Christmas, the Sabah Council of Churches prayed for truth to prevail in Malaysia, especially among those in power.

Council president Rev Jerry Dusing said, among others, truth must be established on the issues concerning 1MDB and the “hudud bill”.

Another issue which Sabahans and Malaysians have a right to know is the real reason for the sacking of Tan Sri Gani Patail, a Sabahan, as Attorney-General in July 2015.

Health was given as the reason by Putrajaya for the termination of Gani’s position as Attorney-General three months before his retirement.

But Gani looked very “fit and healthy” when he was called to the Bar in the Kuala Lumpur High Court last Friday.

In fact, Gani was so “fit and healthy” that he has opened his own legal firm, Gani Patail Chambers at Kuala Lumpur Sentral to start a new career.

Former Bar Council president Christopher Leong, who moved the motion for Gani’s admission, said in his speech that Gani “is a fit and proper person for the admission”.

Leong said: “I recall that even when he was undergoing dialysis treatment at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, he would conduct meetings in the hospital, and thereafter rush off to his office or to some meeting.

“I asked him during a meeting with him at the hospital as to how he could maintain his pace of work. He cheekily pointed to the dialysis machine and said it was a re-charging machine. He offered that I should try it. I politely declined.”

The health reason given by Putrajaya for Gani’s sacking as Attorney-General is clearly not the real reason.

To tell a lie about the real reason for the sacking of Gani as Attorney-General, who had served as the chief prosecutor and the government’s chief legal adviser for 13 years from 2002 to 2015, is not only dishonest, immoral and unacceptable, it is another example of the Najib government violating the five Rukunegara principles, viz: Belief in God; Loyalty to King and Country; Upholding the Constitution; Rule of Law and Good Behaviour and Morality – the legacy of Tun Razak, the second Prime Minister of Malaysia and father of the present Prime Minister.

Is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, prepared to tell Malaysians the truth about the real reason for Gani’s sacking as Attorney-General in his 2017 New Year Message, so that the Prime Minister and his government can start off the new year with a new page of honesty and credibility?

(Speech at the Christmas party jointly organised by Malalap and Kemabong DAP Branches in Tenom, Sabah on Wednesday, 28th December 2016 at 4 pm)