Former Chief Judge of Malaya Haidar Mohd Noor should decline or withdraw as chairperson of the three-man panel set up to look into the VK Lingam video scandal, said Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

In a statement today, he said Haidar ( photo ) should step down because of his controversial role in the 1988 judicial crisis.

On the same note, he urged the former Chief Judge of Malaya to clarify his role in the crisis, dubbed as the 'mother of all judicial crises'.

He said Haidar must explain the 'arbitrary and unconstitutional' sacking of Salleh Abas as Lord President, George Seah and the late Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh as Supreme Court judges before taking any role connected with restoring national and international confidence in the judiciary.

Haidar was the chief registrar of the supreme court during the 1988 judicial crisis. He is currently the chairperson of Bumiputra-Commerce Bank.

Lim also urged the other two members of the Lingam video panel, former Court of Appeal judge Mahadev Shanker and prominent social activist Lee Lam Thye, to similarly decline or withdraw.

According to him, this would send a "clear and unmistakable message on behalf of all Malaysians and future generations."

"The time has come not only for an untrammeled inquiry into the Lingam video but the opportunity must not be missed to right the historic and generational wrongs in the past 19 years which saw Malaysia stumbling from one judicial crisis to another," he added.

Lim said a royal commission of inquiry must be formed to conduct full and comprehensive inquiries into the 'erosion and ravages' of the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary since 1988.

Arouse doubts

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that Haidar had been appointed to helm a panel to look into the eight-minute edited video that showed senior lawyer VK Lingam talking on the phone, apparently brokering the appointment of judges with Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

He said the three panel members had accepted their appointments and would soon start investigating the matter with the support and cooperation of all agencies concerned.

"This decision was made as the allegations and speculations on the video clip can arouse doubts on the credibility and integrity of the country's judicial system," added the deputy premier.

Their findings, expected to be known in a few weeks, would be made public later.

On Sunday, de facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz had issued a denial on behalf of Ahmad Fairuz.

However Ahmad Fairuz, who was the Chief Judge of Malaya in 2002 when the recording was said to have been made, has remained silent on the issue.

He had issued a two-paragraph ' No comment ' statement to Malaysiakini last Friday.

SPECIAL REPORT: The Lingam tape