CALONKINI | Though he came from a family that is heavily involved in politics, Pakatan Harapan’s Masjid Tanah candidate Sabirin Jaafar never really thought about joining the political fray himself.

That is until former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail’s tenure was abruptly cut short, just a mere few months before it was supposed to end.

“I was so shocked to see an attorney-general... to be terminated that way.

“The way he was treated was shockingly shameful for a man of that stature. In the government service, he is the second most senior after the chief secretary to the government (KSN),” Sabirin, a former judicial commissioner, told Malaysiakini in an interview last Friday.

A judicial commissioner in Malaysia has the same powers a judge of the High Court, but is appointed on a contract basis.

What happened to Gani, along with the 2015 cabinet reshuffle which saw the sacking of the then deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, as well as the promotion of the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed to a deputy minister, among others, were what finally drove Sabirin into politics.

He decided to join Bersatu, which is now fielding him in the parliamentary seat of Masjid Tanah, against BN’s Mas Ermieyati Samsudin and PAS’ Mohd Nasir Othman...