Judiciary has always been free, says Dr Mahathir

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) has said the Malaysian courts are free and it is ridiculous to suggest that he had subverted the judicial system, which had often ruled against his government and party during his tenure.

Dr Mahathir cited the courts' latest decision on the use of the word Allah as an example of its independence.

He said whereas the High Court decided that use of the word was permitted in Herald, the Court of Appeal disagreed.

“If the courts are in thrall to the former prime minister, surely the lower court would decide supposedly according to my wishes and not the higher, three-man Court of Appeal. But the opposite is the case.

“It is ridiculous to suggest that the courts of Malaysia had ever been under the control of the prime minister,” he said on his Chedet blog today in an apparent rebuttal to an article in The Malaysian Insider on October 21 articleStanding up for the right things, not the stable ones.

The nation’s longest-serving prime minister said it demonised him by saying that he "dismantled one of the most respected judicial institutions in the Commonwealth and destroyed the concept of separation of powers in Malaysia".

Refuting this, Dr Mahathir said the courts often made judgments against him and the government he led and the classic case was when Umno was declared illegal because four branches out of over 6,000 had cheated in their party polls.

"The judge who made this judgment was then promoted. I did not object," he said.

When his former deputy Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sued him for defamation because he repeated to the press the judgment made by the Court of Appeal, which acquitted him, the court allowed the case to be postponed on Anwar's request several times.

The postponements caused the defamation suit to drag for four years and Dr Mahathir said it denied him justice.

"During those four years I was deprived of the right to say anything against Anwar as the case was considered to be sub judice. I basically lost my right of free speech and Anwar enjoyed a long period of freedom from my criticisms.

"If the courts of Malaysia are shackled forever by me, surely the decision would have been reached at the first sitting. I cannot believe that repeating the words of a judge when pronouncing judgment is illegal or constitutes defamation," he said.

Dr Mahathir said there were many cases which went against the government during his 22-year tenure as prime minister, including cases of Internal Security Act detainees released on a writ of habeas corpus even though such detentions were not open to legal challenges.

Hitting out at the news portal's analyst, Dr Mahathir said analysts were among the cleverest people in the world with abilities to see through solids and recognised what lies behind, which gave them power.

"Few among the analysts can restrain the corrupting influence of their power. The analyst who worked for the online news portal was clearly one who cannot resist the abuse of that power.

"Given a task by his master, he comes up with a fantastic analysis on the recent decision by the court that the word Allah is exclusive to Islam and may not be used by the Catholic Herald. He saw an opportunity to serve his master like the toady he is," he said.

"You can bet that The Malaysian Insider will come up with the same baseless accusation every now and again. It was the Nazi Propaganda Minister, Goebbels, who declared that, lies repeated often enough will be accepted as the truth," Dr Mahathir added.