Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Friday, 7th
November 2008:
Reminder to Abdullah – he would have failed
in his promise to push through judicial reforms before he steps down as
PM if there is no constitutional amendment to restore the original
wording and position of judicial power in Article 121(1)
The parliamentary reply of the Minister in
the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, yesterday on
judicial reforms and the RM10.5 million ex gratia payment to six judges
who were victims of the 1988 “Mother of all judicial crisis for two
decades” has raised more questions.
Firstly, Nazri most irresponsibly tried to rewrite history about the
1988 “Mother of all judicial crisis for two decades” when he denied that
the judges, particularly the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and two
supreme court judges the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and Datuk
George Seah were “sacked” , saying that they were asked to “retire
early”.
Nazri was flying in the face of facts of history in making such a claim,
for there can be no dispute that Salleh Abas, Wan Suleiman and George
Seah were sacked after the outcome of the two “kangaroo” judicial
tribunals set up by the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir
Mohamad time, while the other three judges, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan
Sri Wan Hamzah Mohd Salleh and the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdolcadeer were
victimised when they were suspended and virtually “sent to conventry”
for the rest of their judicial service after their suspension was
lifted.
Why did Nazri openly mislead Parliament yesterday in his dishonest and
revisionist version of Malaysian judicial history?
Secondly, Nazri backtracked from the promise of judicial reform given by
his predecessor Datuk Zaid Ibrahim when he responded to my speech the
day earlier and categorically denied that there is any plan to amend the
Malaysian Constitution to restore the original wording of Article 121(1)
and the position of judicial power in the Merdeka Constitution.
One of the first pledges of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he
became Prime Minister five years ago was to uphold the doctrine of the
separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary,
which implicity includes the restoration of the original wording of
Article 121(1) on the inherent power of the judiciary, which was
arbitrarily usurped by the Executive in a 1988 Constitutional amendment
using the Barisan Nasional’s brute two-thirds parliamentary majority.
Nazri’s predecessor, Zaid Ibrahim has publicly stated that the
restoration of Article 121(1) was one of the judicial reforms in the
pipeline, and the then Chief Justice, Tun Abdul Hamid Mohammad had
publicly supported such an amendment, when he said that the government’s
proposal to amend Article 121(1) “shows that an amendment made in anger
as a reaction to a decision of the court could last (only) for one
generation” and that just as “water tends to find its own level”, the
country was finding its way back “to the original provision”.
Why has the government lost its way and will on judicial reforms on the
amendment of Article 121(1) after Nazri replaced Zaid, who resigned on a
point of principle in September to protest against the abuse of power
and arbitrary use of the Internal Security Act to detain senior Sin Chew
report, Tan Hoon Cheng, DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok and blogger Raja
Petra Kamaruddin.
A clear and unmistakable message must be sent to Abdullah, that he would
have failed in his promise to push through judicial reforms before he
steps down as Prime Minister next March if there is no constitutional
amendment to restore the original wording and position of judicial power
in Article 121(1).
The Prime Minister should direct Nazri, as the Minister responsible for
shepherding the necessary legislation through Palriament on judicial
reforms, to consult with the Pakatan Rakyat MPs to reach a consensus on
the necessary constitutional amendments to ensure far-reaching judicial
reforms – not only on the appointment of a Judicial Appointment
Commission but also to restore the original wording of Article 121(1).
*
Lim
Kit Siang, DAP
Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor
http://dapmalaysia.org