We must rise to the occasion tomorrow, Ambiga tells lawyers

A day ahead of a planned protest against alleged attempts to undermine the judiciary, former Malaysian Bar president Ambiga Sreenevasan has urged fellow lawyers that they must rise to the occasion.

She said each time the Bar has taken to the streets in the past, they were right to do so.

“The moral impulse for tomorrow’s walk is familiar to us: the obvious attempts to undermine the independence of the judiciary, putting the rule of law and democracy in this country in jeopardy.

“As every member of the Bar knows, unlike any other profession, we have an overriding statutory duty to uphold the cause of justice without regard to our own interests and without fear or favour.

“Members of the Bar, tomorrow we must rise to the occasion again and answer that call to duty,” she said in a statement today.

The Malaysian Bar is holding its ‘Walk for Judicial Independence’ at 10am tomorrow, which is planned to start at Padang Merbok in Kuala Lumpur and finish outside the Parliament complex.

The resolution to hold the protest was approved by over 600 members present at an extraordinary general meeting in May.

This is in response to MACC’s investigation against Court of Appeal judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali after a politically-linked blog posted an allegation claiming he had unexplained wealth.

The judge, who previously convicted former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case, has lodged a police report denying the allegation.

Najib and his legal team are trying to discredit Nazlan by claiming the latter had an undisclosed conflict of interest.

The Malaysian Bar had countered that the MACC investigation is unconstitutional and violates the doctrine of separation of powers.

Former appellate judge Mah Weng Kwai said the MACC should have referred the complaint against Nazlan to the judicial ethics committee.

The committee was set up under Article 125 of the Federal Constitution to look into any allegations against judges and preserve the independence of the judiciary. - Mkini