Abdul Hadi said the two 'old' men should be more mindful of their Eastern roots and values and conduct themselves appropriately. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang today chided Chief Justice (CJ) Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and Attorney General (AG) Tommy Thomas for allegedly behaving improperly for their age and station after the duo danced at a gala dinner for the legal fraternity in Sabah last week.

The president of the Islamist party said the two “old” men should be more mindful of their Eastern roots and values and conduct themselves appropriately. Malanjum is 66 and Thomas is 67.

“The status of an attorney general, or judge is not the same as an artiste. People will not say a thing if the one who dance is an artiste, what more if his field is in the dance arts.

“But if the one dancing is the CJ or AG, what more someone who is old enough to nearly retire or has retired, they will be compared to the Malay idiom of Iaksana kera kena belacan,” the Marang MP said in a statement.

Despite Hadi’s usage, the Malay idiom roughly translated to “like a monkey marked with belacan”, refers to someone who is anxious and cannot sit still. A similar English saying would be “cat on hot bricks” or “cat on a hot tin roof”.

Hadi also claimed that mature British and American men are ashamed to dance in old age, and warned the public against acting “more Western than the West”.

“Even in a free Western society, they do not allow anyone with the responsibility to make a fair and transparent decision over the society to freely associate with the public, who can influence his authority to be fair and transparent.

“If this happens in the West, surely somebody would already resign. The question is, will we see the same thing in our country that has high cultural and moral values?” he asked.

Hadi also cited the position of Islam as the religion of the federation, as he called for respect for differences in cultures.

“Did the dance consider the religious relations of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity, or comply with the cultures of any races that are significant in Malaysia?” he asked.

Hadi asserted that although each religion considers itself superior, there are points of similarities when it comes to morals and dignity which must be considered, as he warned against entertaining groups who ignore the norms of a civil society.

Thomas and Malanjum were criticised for dancing at the group’s Opening of the Legal Year Gala Dinner 2019 in Kota Kinabalu, prompting accusation of fraternising and tarnishing the image of the judiciary.

The two were dancing to popular 1960s rock ‘n roll tune Let’s Twist Again by Chubby Checker, which popularised the twist dancing mania.

The video was also said to feature minister in charge of law Datuk Liew Vui Keong, and prominent lawyers and activists Datuk S. Ambiga and Siti Kasim.

Last Monday, the Malaysian Bar defended gala dinner attendees and dancers, describing their participation as demonstrative of the “warm camaraderie” between the judiciary, the Attorney General’s Chambers and lawyers.

Hadi’s attack comes as Thomas announced last week Putrajaya’s unprecedented lawsuit against the PAS-led Kelantan state government and its agencies, on behalf of the Temiar Orang Asli, to prevent the destruction of native land for commercial profit.