[Kebangkitan para hakim secara tiba-tiba setelah sekian lama berdiam diri diperkuda telah menggegarkan negara. Apa yang menariknya keputusan oleh Hakim Hishamuddin dan Hakim Muhammad Kamil muncul ketika perhimpunan agung Umno semakin menghampir tiba. Kuasa siapakah semua ini jika tidak tuhan yang Maha Merancang lagi Maha Berkuasa.... - Editor]

http://interactive.wsj.com/

The Asian Wall Street Journal

14th June 2001

Malaysia Police to Investigate Judge's Claim About Directive

By CRIS PRYSTAY

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- A fresh controversy is rattling Malaysia's judiciary after a High Court judge alleged that one of the country's senior judges directed him to dismiss a 1999 case challenging the election of a government candidate to Sabah's state legislature.

High Court Judge Muhammad Kamil Awang on Friday ruled that the candidate won his seat with support of illegal ballots cast by so-called phantom voters, and declared his election void, paving the way for a by-election. Elaborating on his ruling, Justice Kamil indignantly complained that a senior judge had attempted to influence his decision by giving him a "a directive over the phone" to dismiss the case. The judge, who defied the alleged directive, declared that he was "not a 'yes' man."

Justice Kamil, in his remarks in court, didn't say which of his then-superiors in the judiciary made the alleged phone call. He later said that he had identified the caller in a letter he sent to newly installed Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, Malaysia's top judge.

Justice Kamil's disclosure of the alleged intervention by his superior has sparked a furor in Malaysia's legal community, which has long complained that the judiciary's independence has been eroded during Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's almost 20 years in power. Malaysian police said they've begun an investigation into Justice Kamil's allegation and opposition politicians have demanded that Chief Justice Dzaiddin begin an official inquiry into the episode. "Effective action against the culprit would be a demonstration of the chief justice's oft-repeated claim that a he is committed to a fair, just and independent judiciary," said Chandra Muzzafar, deputy president of the opposition National Justice Party.

Justice Kamil and Chief Justice Dzaiddin have declined to disclose who made the alleged phone call in the Sabah case. But in an interview with the pro-government New Straits Times newspaper Wednesday, Malaysia's recently retired chief justice, Eusoff Chin, acknowledged that he made a call to Justice Kamil while the latter was considering the Sabah election case in 1999. Tun Eusoff, in the interview, disputed Justice Kamil's version of that conversation, however. He said he called to discuss expediting the Sabah electoral case and drew Justice Kamil's attention to two earlier Malaysian rulings, which held that the courts had no jurisdiction over challenges to the country's electoral rolls. Tun Eusoff, who retired in December, denied he had directed Justice Kamil to drop the Sabah case, which challenged the election of former state chief minister Yong Teck Lee, a Mahathir government ally.

Tun Eusoff's acknowledgement that he raised the Sabah case with Justice Kamil is likely to provoke a new outcry in legal circles. The former chief justice has been the target of criticism by Malaysian lawyers, opposition politicians and even the country's law minister, Rais Yatim, in the past.

Last year, while still chief justice, Tun Eusoff clashed with Datuk Rais after photos were posted on the Internet depicting Tun Eusoff and his family on vacation in New Zealand in 1994 with a prominent lawyer who appears frequently in Malaysian courts. Datuk Rais said that was "not in keeping with the proper behavior of a judicial personality." Tun Eusoff dismissed Datuk Rais's criticism and said that he "bumped into" the lawyer, V.K. Lingam, when he was going to visit a zoo. The judge also briefly showed reporters an assortment of bills and bank statements, which he said was evidence that he paid for the holiday himself.

But according to people familiar with Tun Eusoff's 1994 trip, the meeting between the chief judge and Datuk Lingam wasn't a chance encounter. In fact, Tun Eusoff's holiday itinerary closely mirrored Datuk Lingam's own New Zealand holiday over a period of eight days in December that year, these people maintain.

According to airline-ticket stubs and other travel itineraries, Tun Eusoff and Datuk Lingam, together with their families, were booked on the same Air New Zealand flight from Singapore to Auckland on Dec. 22, 1994, and again four days later on a flight to Christchurch. Both families later traveled together to Queenstown on Dec. 27, a six-hour drive from Christchurch, according to people familiar with the episode in New Zealand.

Malaysia's Court of Appeal subsequently blocked the Malaysian Bar Council from calling a special meeting to discuss conduct of judges and other matters relating to the judiciary. The appeals court ruled that judges' conduct can only be discussed by Malaysia's Parliament.

Still, Justice Kamil's ruling on the Sabah election case is one of several recent Malaysian court decisions that have gone against the government, a significant development for a judiciary that has long been chided by political opposition leaders and other public-interest groups for allegedly lacking independence. Such concerns date back to 1988, when Dr. Mahathir clashed with judges over several decisions by the courts that went against his administration. That confrontation ultimately led to the suspension of six Supreme Court judges and the subsequent removal of three of them, including the then-head of the judiciary.

But judges have grown increasingly feisty after Chief Justice Dzaiddin replaced Tun Eusoff in December. Last month, for example, Justice Hishamudin Mohamad Yunus ordered two opposition activists arrested under Malaysia's tough Internal Security Act -- which allows for up to two years' imprisonment without charges or trial -- be released from jail. In his judgment, Justice Hishamudin declared that Malaysia's Parliament should consider abolishing the controversial act.

"I think there's a change in the judicial environment at the moment. Judges are being a little more courageous," said Param Cumaraswamy, a Kuala Lumpur-based United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. "We have a new chief justice who's indicated that he wants to clean up the judiciary, and that's what's happening now. The question is now whether it will be sustained."