The Bar Council will organise a colloquium to discuss the current judicial trends in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding the Federal Court's dismissal of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against his conviction for corruption last July.

Chairperson Mah Weng Kwai said the council felt that a colloquium was a more appropriate avenue although there were calls for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to discuss issues that also include the deteriorating standard of the judiciary.

"We also felt that a colloquium would be better because we can discuss other important issues and decisions that had taken place since the Federal Court made its decision on Anwar's appeal," he said.

Mah said the colloquium to be held on Saturday will also allow the council members to discuss issues with other legal experts including judges and academicians.

In July, Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim and Federal Court judge Haidar Mohd Noor unanimously rejected Anwar's appeal against his conviction and six-year jail term for corrupt practice offences.

Irregular precedents

The decision caused a public uproar while the legal fraternities had expressed their dissatisfaction that the decision had upheld several irregular precedents on evidence and procedural laws.

Event highlights include Australian judge and Victoria's Court of Appeal head Alex Chernov's keynote address entitled "Who judges the judges?". Senior lawyer Raja Aziz Addruse will talk on judicial appointments.

The recent judicial spat between High Court judge RK Nathan and Court of Appeal judge Gopal Sri Ram which hogged headlines in the local press for days will also be discussed.

Also listed in the panel discussions are UN Special Rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy, former Federal Court judge Azmi Kamaruddin , senior lecturer Dr Venket Iyer from Ulster University in Ireland and former High Court judge Syed Ahmad Idid.

Mah said the discussions will be published in the Malaysian Bar's news bulletin Insaf .

When asked if the council intends to forward any suggestion made in the colloquium to the relevant authorities for further action, Mah said: "We do have regular meetings with the judiciary so I think it would be in order for us to bring up any suggestion in one of those meetings, especially if it will benefit everyone."

Reopen investigations

On another issue, Mah commended the Kota Baru High Court's decision three days ago in the inquest into the fatal shooting of six people in Tumpat on Oct 3, 1998.

He said in a press statement that the High Court had rightly questioned the Tumpat Magistrate's Court finding that the shots fired by the police were reasonable and did not amount to a criminal act.

Since the substituted verdict of misadventure (the deceased having been shot by unknown persons), he said that the police must recommence their investigations into the incident.

"The Bar calls upon the inspector-general of police to direct the relevant officers to conduct further investigations into the case or to recommence an inquiry in order to uncover all the evidence to identify the said police officers," he said.

He urged the IGP to make the relevant actions soon to avoid further delay of justice considering that the six were killed four years ago.