A member of parliament today called on the government to take action against the Bar Council for distributing circulars to its members on the appointment of judges.

Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) said the circulars, dated Aug 25, 2009, and Sept 28, 2009, and signed by the Bar Council secretary, were survey forms for feedback on judiciary performance which members were asked to fill.

mahathir touchdown in subang meet supporters 270508 ibrahim ali Members of the Bar Council could download the forms from the website, he said when debating the Judges' Ethics Committee Bill 2008 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said the action by the Bar Council was wrong, improper, disrespectful and unlawful because of the availability of the Judicial Appointment Commission Act 2008 which had just been approved.

"This Bar Council is led by those with experience and well versed in law, but they conduct a survey, which I think is an attempt to influence the appointment of judges and the forms can be abused," he added.

Later in the evening, Ibrahim lodged a police report at the Travers police station against the Bar Council over the survey.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim said the government should expedite the trial of Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case.

Minister lied

In another matter, R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) claimed that Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong had lied in stating that Malaysian Human Rights Commissioner N Siva Subramaniam was not barred from entering the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) detention depot on Monday.

"His replies contained lies and it was not true," said Sivarasa, referring to Liew's reply in Parliament yesterday.

Liew, in a reply to Sivarasa's query, had said that Siva was not allowed into the depot as he had not filed a formal application the visit it.

pakatan cij parliament pc 131108 sivarasa Sivarasa today pointed out that the commissioner had actually sought permission to visit the depot in a letter dated Oct 16 to Immigration Department chief Abdul Rahman Osman.

Sivarasa said that Siva was then informed by Abdul Rahman's personal assistant on Oct 19 that the application was denied.

Sivarasa said he will be consulting other Pakatan leaders if they should refer Liew to the Privileges Committee for disciplinary action.

"At the moment, I am waiting for a written declaration from Suhakam on the rejected application," he said.