The Bar Council wants the government to probe the judicial crisis of 1988 which allegedly led to an era of judicial independence being compromised.

Council president Yeo Yang Poh said a thorough and impartial re-examination should be conducted into the events which led to the sacking of then Lord President Salleh Abbas and two top judges.

This should be aimed at reinstating the judicial system to the position it had occupied, he said.

"Our justice system is not what it once was. It is time to right the wrongs of the past. We can undo the damage caused, but only if we confront and deal with the errors of the past," Yeo said in a statement today.

In 1988, Salleh was suspended by the King on the advice of then premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Salleh was then removed from office after being found guilty of alleged misconduct by a tribunal of six judges, including one each from Singapore and Sri Lanka.

'Colossal mistake'

Yeo described the incident as a "colossal mistake" which damaged democracy and the rule of law and had led to the unceremonious dismissal of the three top judges.

"The judges in asserting their independence were sacrificed by those behind the political storm at the time and that their good name must now be restored," he said.

"If an independent judiciary can be savagely destroyed, and if those who engineered or allowed the destruction can get away with it forever, then the rest of society has little hope for justice."

Salleh, in his book May Day for Justice, maintained that he was dismissed because of his refusal to heed Mahathir's call to retire or resign.