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KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council expressed fears yesterday that the plan to form the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), as announced by the government in April, may not be realised.

Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said the Bar Council fears the JAC will share the same fate as the forming of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), which was proposed years ago but failed to take off.

She said there were apparently several lawmakers who are displeased with the proposal, and there were reports that some cabinet members needed to be persuaded about forming the JAC.

Ambiga, who said the council had come to understand that discussions on the views of lawmakers were going on behind the scenes, called for “open discussions of such matters of national interest so that whoever lobbying for their very own views be made accountable for it.

“Their objections, if any, should be made known publicly because the public are entitled to know who is objecting to the setting up of the JAC and why,” she said.

A definite timetable must be set by the government to show its commitment to the JAC and its resolve in seeing it through.

“We are prepared to discuss our views publicly, hear out that of others and arrive at a solution that serves the best interests of the nation. We have made known our proposals on the JAC in our website,” Ambiga said.

The proposal to initiate the JAC, announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on April 17, along with the government’s decision to compensate the judges who were dismissed or suspended from their positions in the 1988 crisis, was hailed by lawyers.

“Are all the stakeholders in the administration of justice like-minded on this issue? Are they all committed to the setting up of the Judicial Appointments Commission or is there some reluctance somewhere?” Ambiga asked.

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