Bar must take lead to defend judiciary’s independence, says Ambiga

 

Senior lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan said incidents like the long delay in appointing the chief judge of Malaya did not augur well for the judiciary.

KUALA LUMPUR: 

The Malaysian Bar must be at the forefront to defend the independence of the judiciary following issues such as the delay in appointing the chief judge of Malaya (CJM), a senior lawyer said.

Ambiga Sreenevasan, who is also a former Bar president, said such incidents did not augur well for the judiciary.

The Bar, which represents more than 20,000 legal practitioners in the peninsula, must keep “fighting hard” on such issues, she said.

Ambiga reminded the Bar that its job is to ensure the judiciary is independent, “something the past Bar leaderships had fought so hard for”.

“We must make sure the judiciary’s independence is not undermined. If it is lost, we will not get it back,” she said at a forum on judicial appointments at Wisma Badan Peguam Malaysia here this evening.

A leading civil and constitutional lawyer, Ambiga questioned why the CJM’s post was kept vacant for nine months following the retirement of Zabidin Diah in February.

Federal Court judge Hasnah Hashim finally assumed the position – the third highest in the judiciary – last month.

“In other countries, such positions would have been filled immediately,” Ambiga said.

She said another issue was the alleged interference in the judiciary, noting reports of such incidents as claimed by a lawyer, despite Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s assurance that he too would vouch for a free and independent judiciary.

Ambiga recalled the time the Bar and lawyers fought back during the 1988 judicial crisis that led to the suspension, and later the removal, of the then lord president Salleh Abas.

She also jogged the memory of those present on the 2007 royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the VK Lingam video clip, which revealed that the senior lawyer was engaged in a telephone conversation with the then chief judge of Malaya, Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, in 2001 to appoint superior court judges who would be aligned to the establishment.

Ambiga said the Bar conducted a “Walk for Justice” that led to the RCI being set up, and which led to several proposals, one of which was to establish a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to propose judges for elevation and promotion.

Constitutional expert Shad Saleem Faruqi of Universiti Malaya said political executives should not be involved in the appointment and promotion of judges.

“The recommendation of the chief justice and the JAC should be binding on the prime minister,” he said.

However, this did not mean the chief executive of the government should be a mere rubber stamp or just accept names from the JAC.

Shad also said the Federal Constitution should be amended to replace the prime minister with the chief justice on the power to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on judicial appointments.

At present, he said, the prime minister is not obliged to follow the multi-tiered process of consultation with the top judges in the judiciary or the chief ministers of Sabah and Sarawak.

“The prime minister can say thank you and not accept the advice. The process of appointing superior court judges is PM-centric,” he said, adding that this was not in line with the trend in other democracies. - FMT