Cabinet mulls apology proposal

PUTRAJAYA: The new cabinet, at its meeting yesterday, decided not to adopt Senator Datuk Zaid Ibrahim's proposal that the government apologise to the victims of the 1998 judicial crisis.

I have presented my view that the government should apologise to Tun Salleh (Abbas) and the judges.

"Well, I am afraid the view has yet to be considered.

"There are many people who are more experienced and are wiser than me. So, we have to wait.

"I don't think I want to add anything more to this," Zaid, the de facto law minister, said after chairing his ministry's first post-cabinet meeting yesterday.

He did not go into details.

While some of his colleagues did not accept his views, the prime minister is seeking a closure to the episode.

Asked whether it was former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad or the present government under Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that should apologise to the judges, Zaid replied, "You can't expect (Dr) Mahathir to apologise. That government is gone. Karpal (Singh) is just being naughty."

Karpal, who is also DAP national chairman, had recently said it was Dr Mahathir who should apologise as it was during his tenure that the crisis occurred, which led to the sacking of Salleh, the then lord president, and Supreme Court judges Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah.

Zaid said the apology was something "we can do if we want to, but it is up to the leaders (to decide)".

He cited the case of the Australian government under prime minister Kevin Rudd which had apologised to the Aborigines for racially discriminatory policies when Rudd won the election recently.

However, Rudd had ruled out compensation and lawyers said the apology passed by parliament did not add anything to the Aborigines' chances of successful legal claims.

NST Online