Malaysian lawyers protest at a walk for justice

Malaysia will set up an independent panel to help appoint new judges as part of legal reforms in the wake of high-level judicial scandals. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the plan as part of his pledge to clean up the judiciary, which has been plagued by allegations of favoritism, corruption and influence-peddling.

Abdullah said the Judicial Appointments Commission will be set up to identify and recommend candidates for the bench. He said the commission would “involve all primary stakeholders,” but he did not elaborate or say when the panel would be formed. Currently, senior judges are chosen and recommended for appointment by the prime minister. The prime minister is not obliged to take seniority or track record into account, even when appointing the chief justice.

Malaysia’s Bar Council, which represents more than 12,000 lawyers, has long called for an impartial commission to nominate candidates to become judges, saying the current system is too secretive and prone to political manipulation.

Calls for reforms have grown louder after opposition leaders leaked a video in September that showed V.K. Lingam, a well-known lawyer, allegedly speaking on the phone in 2001 to a former top judge, Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, about the promotion of judges.
A government-ordered inquiry earlier this year held an investigation into whether the video was authentic, but the panel has not released its findings.

The prime minister also announced “goodwill” monetary compensation for several top judges who were dismissed or suspended in 1988 by then-leader Mahathir Mohamad on claims of misconduct. Mahathir’s move was considered an effort to quash the independence of the judiciary, which had begun to question the leader’s autocratic policies.

Abdullah, now a bitter political foe of Mahathir, said the government would like to “acknowledge the pain and loss” the judges suffered, urging them to accept the unspecified compensation as a “heartfelt and sincere gesture.”
— IANS