It is quite pathetic to see former Lord President Salleh Abas coming out so boldly to even suggest that he was bribed into retiring

. As the highest judicial officer of the country he should know what to do with the person: Cite him for contempt or report him to the Attorney-General's Chambers for action to be taken against the felon.

He did no such thing but allowed the matter to pass. It is shameful that he is crying wolf now after having been booted out of office, trying his hands in politics and being unsuccessful at that.

If at all he still wishes to be respected as a former judge, Salleh should keep his mouth shut and not slander the judiciary of the day. Make no mistake about this, his action is not in league with Justice Syed Ahmad Idid (who quit in 1996 after publishing a 33-page pamphlet accusing fellow judges of corruption, abuse of power and personal misconduct) or Justice Muhammad Kamil Awang (who disclosed that someone "higher-up" had directed him to strike off the petition against the election results for the Likas seat without a hearing).

They are High Court judges with guts and gumption to try to put right what they thought was manifestly wrong under the then Chief Justice Eusoff Chin before Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah took his place.

As a man who is supposed to be learned in the letters of the law, his views on our Constitution is directly in conflict with his notion of supporting the hudud (Islamic penal code) law. If at all he wishes to follow convention, he should give up his practising certificate as an advocate and solicitor and retire gracefully.

He was wrong again to say that the Bar Council at that time unanimously stood for him, against Hamid Omar. The circumstances then were different: For the record the Bar Council stood for the office he held then and not for him per se . It was a decision of the majority with one member of the Bar who refused to support the motion.