PUTRAJAYA, Nov 8 – Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today the three judges involved in the 1988 judicial crisis were sacked and not asked to retire early as stated by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamad Nazri Aziz.
“As far as I know, they were sacked,” he told reporters when asked to comment on the matter at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, here.
Former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas, the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh and Datuk George Edward Seah were dismissed from office after a tribunal found them guilty of misconduct in the 1988 judicial crisis.
Three other judges, Tan Sri Mohd Azmi Kamaruddin, the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader and Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohd Salleh, were suspended but subsequently reinstated.
Dr Mahathir said, however, that the former judges still received a pension on compassionate grounds.
Dr Mahathir said that despite the fact that Salleh was sacked, he had rendered service to the government in the years when he was there.
“To cut him off completely from his pension is very cruel so it was decided that he and the other judges get their pensions,” he said.
Last Thursday, Nazri said in the Dewan Rakyat that the tribunal had never recommended the sacking of the judges but required them to retire early.
He had earlier revealed in the house that Salleh was paid RM5 million in ex-gratia payment by the government, Seah and the late Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh RM2 million each, and Eusoffe, Wan Hamzah and Azmi RM500,000 each.
Dr Mahathir declined comment when asked whether the ex-gratia payments were sufficient, saying that the question should be posed to former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and de facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.
He said that while the government was “in the mood of being nice and has a lot of money they want to give to people”, a compensation should also be given to former Rural Development Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz Muhamad who has been acquitted of the charge of abetment in committing criminal breach of trust and of cheating involving RM9 million last Tuesday.
“He is really a nice man, but miscarriage of justice does happen,” he said.
Dr Mahathir, who is honorary president of the Perdana Leadership Foundation, also launched a charity triathlon by long-distance swimmer Salman Ali Shariati Abdul Halim, 11, and delivered a keynote address at the forum on “The Value of Youths and the Future Leadership”. – Bernama
2 comments:
Dr M ...
“To cut him off completely from his pension is very cruel so it was decided that he and the other judges get their pensions,” he said."
Did our very kind government pay the pension out of pity or out of guilt?
I have never heard of employers saying "Get out!, but since we have pity on you we shall give you a monthly payment"! Can you recommend me a employer like that please.
I think it was a bit of both. What Mahathir wanted was having a compliant judiciary. Salleh Abas made it clear he was not going to play ball. It was all or nothing for Mahathir in that UMNO 11 case; so the judges had to go. The Prime Minister's seat was at stake, so Macchiavelli was the way to go.
I think everyone knew that; what more Mahathir, his co-conspirators and the judges themselves.
Mahathir got what he wanted; the case went his way (a certainty since everyone knew the lengths he was willing to go through to hang on to the post of UMNO president). It was too petty for him to keep their pensions away from the removed judges.
After all, Mahathir knew the judges' real crime was simply not toeing his line; it was not due to any of the trumped up charges being bandied about as a reason for their suspension and dismissal. So in this perverse sort of way, it showed Mahathir did have some conscience and decided not to inflict even more hardship on the judges and their families after getting to keep his presidency. I am sure had he ordered the suspension of pension, no one would have dared question it, lest they end up like Salleh Abas!
After these long years, the judges seemed resigned to their fate; how difficult it must be anyone to have to accept "punishment" for no crime that they had committed! At this old age they seem ready to move on. We should let them. I wish them well.
Neither Mahathir nor UMNO would ever own up to this shameful episode, period. We have to accept this the way we accept that the sun rises in the East. It gets easier with time. The victims just want to get on with their lives. We should let them.
Unfortunately, this episode landed the Malaysian judiciary in a quagmire from which it has never been able to extricate itself. The latest episode involved the fastrack promotion of Zaki to the position of Chief Justice.
"Parachute" candidates for companies and government departments are frowned upon often enough. But the judiciary? It seems for all the talk, the ruling party is still not ready for an independent judiciary.
Looks like this judiciary will stay in the limelight for all the wrong reasons just yet. And that is also turning into something that we have to accept.
Hopefully everyone would have learnt something, especially the rakyat.
Edmund Burke once said,
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Maybe one day we can truly understand these words, it seems we haven't quite arrived yet.
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