The dismissal by justice Hishamuddin Yunus of the RM100 million defamation suit by VK Lingam is indeed an eye opener to all Malaysia.

Not too long ago, there were photos of Lingam holidaying in New Zealand with the then chief justice, Eusoff Chin, circulating in the Internet. The chief justice's story was that he met his friend Lingam in New Zealand by chance although the investigation shows otherwise. The matter was referred to the Anti-Corruption Agency and the chief justice was cleared of all wrongdoing.

Today, when we read the fiasco perpetrated by the then chief justice in the Air Molek case and how the court procedure has been abused by both lawyers and judges, one really wonder, can one get any justice in the courts during the infamous reign of Eusoff Chin? How right was justice NH Chan - whose famous pun "something is rotten in the State of Denmark" - was then expunged in the Federal Court in unholy haste 17 days later in the Federal Court by none other than the then chief justice and his henchmen.

The call by the Bar Council to reopen the investigation into the judicial crisis as echoed by Salleh Abas, Sheik Daud and Anuar Zainal Abidin is timely. In the event, justice Hishamuddin is correct in his observations that the coram is not competent by reason that Pajan Singh Gill was then a High Court judge, how can one trust the integrity and the competence of the then chief justice, who holds the highest judicial office in the land at that time.

I further call that all the decision by the then chief justice Eusoff Chin be reviewed. We truly should ask that famous Latin maxim - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes - who will guard the guards?