Press Statement by Karpal Singh in Kuala Lumpur on
Friday, 14th November 2008:
Parliamentary Caucus on the
Intergrity and Independence of the Judiciary - First meeting next week
I am somewhat shocked that the Barisan
Nasional Backbenchers Club (BBC), in a statement issued by it’s
chairman, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, that none of its members will
participate in the recently formed parliamentary caucus on the integrity
and independence of the judiciary despite Minister in the Prime
Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Mohamad Nazri Abdul Aziz advising
Barisan Nasional MP’s to join it.
Nazri attended the inaugural meeting
of the setting up of the caucus in parliament house yesterday. Nazri
reminded Barisan Nasional MP’s that it was a parliamentary caucus, and
not an opposition caucus, saying that integrity was also an issue that
the Barisan promoted.
Obviously, the BBC has chosen to defy
Nazri’s advice for Barisan Nasional MP’s to join the caucus.
In any event, as chairman of the
caucus, I will be calling for its first meeting next week in view of the
urgency of the matter, particularly, having regard to the issue relating
to newly-appointed Chief Justice, Malaysia Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi which
has been widely reported in the last few days.
The government has indicated that the
proposed Judicial Commission on the appointment of judges will be set up
soon. The government should go further than this. What should be set up
is a Judicial Commission on the appointment and promotion of judges. The
commission should be made up personalities of caliber appointed by the
Yang Di Pertuan Agong. The present system in the appointment of judges
on the advice of the Prime Minister leads to abuse as, clearly, shown in
the appointment of Tan Sri Zaki as Chief Justice despite protests and
the fact that he was an UMNO legal adviser and vice-chairman of the UMNO
disciplinary committee before his appointment.
* Karpal Singh, DAP National Chairman & MP for Bukit
Gelugor
http://dapmalaysia.org