Ex-chief justice was not truthful, he was not offered a place on unity council, says source

Former Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad (pic) was not truthful when he said he turned down an offer to join the National Unity Consultative Council for fear of being branded a "traitor" to the Malays and Islam,  said a source who is familiar with the issue.

"The fact is, Abdul Hamid was never offered a position on the NUCC panel," the source told The Malaysian Insider.

"He was instead offered the chairmanship of the Committee to Promote Understanding and Harmony Among Religious Adherents (JKMPKA) under the Department of National Unity and Integration.

Abdul Hamid had allegedly asked for monthly RM10,000 allowance, a car and a driver.

The source said Putrajaya told him that the job did not come with perks or with such benefits.

This revelation comes days after Abdul Hamid, who is the head of the National Unity Front – a unity council set up by Malay rights group Perkasa and other Muslim NGOs as a counter to NUCC – said he was asked to join the NUCC but had declined as he feared being used by certain parties, who wanted to cast aside Malay rights and the position of Islam in the country.

Abdul Hamid, who was chief justice for one year until October 2008, had also charged that Putrajaya had given the task of drafting the unity bills to the opposition, who had now "taken over" the NUCC.

"I was afraid I would become a 'traitor' to the Malays and Islam," Abdul Hamid had said.

In response to this latest revelation, Abdul Hamid told The Malaysian Insider that he may have been mistaken about the committee he was asked to be part of, but maintained that the reasons for rejecting the appointment were the same as he had stated earlier.
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When asked about the allegations that he had rejected the post of chairman of JKMPKA because there were no perks, Abdul Hamid said that he had merely asked if there were perks, and had not demanded them.

"That is not the reason I rejected the post anyway, my reason for saying no was based on what I had said earlier," Hamid told The Malaysian Insider in a telephone interview yesterday.

Meanwhile, Vincent Wong, the political secretary to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, confirmed that Abdul Hamid was never offered to be on the NUCC panel. He also confirmed that Abdul Hamid was offered to be chairman of JKMPKA but had rejected it.

He, however, did not want to state the reasons for Hamid's rejection of the chairmanship.

"Tun Hamid was offered in November last year as Datuk Azman Amin Hassan, who was the chairman of JKMPKA, had retired in September, but he (Abdul Hamid) turned down the offer and stated the reasons in a letter but I don't want to go into that," Wong said.

Azman had worn two hats at that time – he was the director-general of the Department of National Unity and Integration and also served as the chairman of JKMPKA until he retired in September.

Gandesan Letchumanan is the current director-general of the Department of National Unity while Professor Datin Dr Azizan Baharuddin was appointed chairman of JKMPKA last month.

The Prime Minister established the NUCC on Nov 25, 2013. It is tasked with formulating a national unity blueprint within two years.

The 30-member NUCC panel headed by Tan Sri Samsuddin Osman includes PAS Parit Buntar MP Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa, former deputy higher education minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, former Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee, activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, and Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation vice-chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.

Following the former CJ's remarks, the NUCC hit out at Abdul Hamid for criticising the body without understanding its roles and functions properly.

NUCC members Mujahid, Saifuddin and Lim said in a statement that it had never presented itself as an opposition faction although not all members were from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

"NUCC was formed by the government and the appointment of every member and the chairman was done according to certain criteria.

"We all work in a team with clear goals and we are not interested in our colleagues' political orientation," they had said in a statement in response to Abdul Hamid's outburst.

Former Bar Council chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan had also hit out at the former CJ, saying that biased or discriminatory views expressed by judges even after their retirement reflect negatively on the judiciary and undermine public perception of their independence.

She had also said that Abdul Hamid’s attack on the NUCC, which is seeking to unite the people of Malaysia, was unfortunate, adding that those who truly believed in a united Malaysia would give the NUCC a chance but those who championed the rights of only one community would not appreciate its work.

- TMI