Ibrahim Ali, blogger may face contempt proceedings

An application was filed last month at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, to cite Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali, and a blogger for contempt.

The application was filed on Jan 17, the result of the disparaging remarks aimed at High Court judge Justice VT Singham who had presided over the Anwar Ibrahim's (left) defamation suit against the Umno owned daily Utusan Malaysia.

Anwar's counsel led by Sivarasa Rasiah and N Surendran, filed the papers in which they named blogger and author, Zainuddin Salleh and Ibrahim as the persons to be cited for contempt.

Zainuddin had allegedly written the disparaging article against High Court judge which was posted on his blog which Perkasa had attached to its website, according to legal sources. 

Ibrahim is named by virtue of being an Perkasa office bearer. 

It is learned the application will be heard tomorrow ex-parte (one party) before a High Court judge for the applicants to win permission to initiate contempt proceedings.

It is a two-stage process in contempt applications as leave needs to be obtained first for them to be considered.

The article posted on the Perkasa blog on Jan 7 questions Justice Singham's impartiality in his rulings ,which leaned towards commonly adopted pro-opposition stance.

It also questioned the judge's views on the issues pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender following the case, noting that the judge was a bachelor.

Justice Singham in finding Utusan Malaysia liable for defamation, had said that court decisions should never ever be influenced by political, corporate or commercial patronage, as well as private interests.

The judge had said the public expectations of the judiciary, was that it must be independent and the position was considered sacred.

"It is essential and important to be mindful that the court's reputation for honesty and impartiality to the judicial oath and the sacred seat of justice must be maintained at all times in the discharge of judicial duty.

"I am not prepared to compromise on the judicial oath that I have taken upon my elevation to the bench," Justice Singham had said.