Withdraw application for six-month extension and give full support for a Royal
Commission of Inquiry into Lingam Tape and to restore public confidence in the
judiciary
I am taking this unprecedented step of issuing this Open Letter to ask you to
act in the national interest and to restore public confidence in the judiciary
by withdrawing your application for six-month extension on your due retirement
at the end of the month and to give full support for a Royal Commission of
Inquiry into the Lingam Tape.
Such an action on your part will avert a new constitutional crisis over your
controversial application for a six-month extension as well as a new crisis of
confidence in the judiciary.
Former Lord President Sultan Azlan Shah in his postscript to his book
“Constitutional Monarchy, Rule of Law and Good Governance” (pp 399 – 401) in
April 2004 had written:
“Sadly, over the past few years there has been some disquiet about the
judiciary. Several articles have been written, and many opinions expressed, both
internationally and locally, that the independence of our judiciary has been
compromised. It has been said that there has been an erosion of public
confidence in our judiciary.
“Concerns have been expressed that some judges were not writing judgments, or
that there were long delays in obtaining decisions or hearing dates in certain
instances. Further, the conduct of certain judges was being questioned in
public…
“Whether these allegations are true, is not for me to say. However, having been
a member of the judiciary for many years, it grieves me when I hear of such
allegations. Since Independence, the early judges have always cherished the
notion of an independent judiciary and had built the judiciary as a strong and
independent organ of government. The public had full confidence of the judiciary
and accepted any decision then made without any question. Unfortunately, the
same does not appear to be the case in recent years.
“Whatever the situation, a judiciary may only be said to be independent if it
commands the confidence of the public – the very public it seeks to serve. After
all, statements made as to its independence by the judges, or even the
politicians, do not measure public confidence in the judiciary. At the end of
the day, it is this public perception that ultimately matters.
“It is my earnest hope that the Malaysian judiciary will regain the public’s
confidence, and that it will once again be held in the same esteem as it once
was held. In democratic countries, it is an independent judiciary that brings
pride to the nation. Members of the executive and the legislature come and go,
but an independent judiciary must remain steadfast forever, fulfilling the
aspirations and ideals of the people. In the judiciary, people place their trust
and hope.”
Sultan Azlan Shah’s critique of the parlous state of the judiciary is even more
pertinent today than when he wrote it in April 2004, with the entire period
falling your term as Chief Justice – a powerful reason why Tun should avert a
constitutional crisis and a new crisis of confidence over the judiciary over the
controversial application for a six-month extension.
Yesterday, the Bar Council website carried the following comparative data on the
number of reported judgments written by the current Chief Justice, and his three
predecessors, Tun Salleh Abas, Raja Azlan Shah (as HRH then was) and Tun Mohamed
Suffian when they sat at the High Court, Court of Appeal and the apex court.
Without having to go into these comparative figures which reflects adversely on
Tun, or the latest crisis of confidence ensuing from the Lingam tape scandal,
the words of Sultan Azlan Shah reminding all that public confidence in the
judiciary in the past 55 months when Tun had been Chief Justice had not only
failed to improve so that “it will once again be held in the same esteem as it
once was held” but had significantly taken a turn for the worse should be
sufficient ground for Tun to save the country from another bout of a twin crisis
of the constitution and public confidence in the judiciary.
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