PM: No need for inquiry

PUTRAJAYA : Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said there is no need to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the stunning statement made by High Court judge Datuk Ian Chin of Sabah that judges were pressured into making pro-government decisions at a conference in April, 1997.

He said he took this view because the reform of the judiciary was already under way.

Earlier, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, in expressing similar views, told a press conference that while he did not doubt Chin's statement, another investigation would reveal nothing more than what had already been known, referring to the report on the judiciary crisis by the Royal Commission on the Lingam video clip.

"So, in my view, we need to look at restoring the situation, making sure such incidents will not recur. That is more beneficial."

He said the Cabinet did not discuss the allegations made because it had been discussed in the context of what had happened before. "This is not something new. It is the same issue that has been discussed many times before. The principle is the same."

Zaid said the government was more interested in setting up the Judicial Appointments Commission as announced by Abdullah recently and reinstating Article 121 of the Federal Constitution.

Article 121, which was removed in 1988, stipulates that the judicial powers were vested in the High Court, which Zaid said was a very significant principle. This proposal, he said, would be tabled in parliament meeting from June 23 to July 15.

Chin, 60, who is the most senior of the 48 High Court judges in the country, had on Monday (June 9) made startling allegations against former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad before the start of proceedings on an election petition. Chin made the disclosure in anticipation of a motion for his recusal.

Among other things, he said Mahathir had:

> gone to a judges conference "to issue a thinly veiled threat to remove judges by referring to the tribunal that was set up before".

> expressed unhappiness over Chin's decision on a libel suit and an election petition, and expressed the view that people should pay heavily for libel.

> had promoted a judge to the Federal Court because he approved of his suggestion of RM1 million as damages for libel.

Chin also said he was sent to a "boot camp" with selected judges and judicial officers in "an attempt to indoctrinate those attending to hold the view that the government's interest" was "more important than all else when we are considering our judgments". He accused the then president of the Court of Appeal as the one who made the "devilish notion"...

Asked for his comment on the statement about the "boot camp" for judges, Zaid said he was hearing this for the first time, adding that it was something that should not have happened.

"You don’t tell judges what to do. That is very important. If you tell them what to do, then there is no more respect for the judiciary and then the decision of the judges will be questioned. If you allow that, the powerful will always have their justice but the ordinary people will not. Therefore, we have to view this very seriously," he said.

Asked for his reaction upon hearing the news, he said: "I can’t say I was surprised. There have been many stories and allegations of interference in the past. So, to me, this is one of them. But more importantly, I think, is what we do with it.

" It is regrettable that it happened as it is a bad reflection of our country and our judicial system but we have to move on. We have to rectify, and make sure it will not happen again."

DAP chairman and Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh lodged a police report against Mahathir for allegedly threatening judges in passing judgments. He said Chin's revelations had serious implications and consequences.

"I am surprised some of the judges who have been interviewed in relation to this statement have decided to take refuge in either silence or amnesia. It would be naive to accept that judges who attended the conference cannot recall the threat," he told reporters at the Dang Wangi police headquarters.

He said Chin should also state why he had kept silent all these years.


Husna Yusop & Giam Say Khoon
The Sun
12/06/08