Don't  “kow tow” to the BN government and pretend that the judiciary is not under any attack, opposition MP N Surendran told Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria today.

Reminding Arifin of his public duty, Surendran said he was dissatisfied with the CJ's defence of the Sodomy II trial of Anwar Ibrahim last week and the sedition charges against DAP's Karpal Singh this week.

Asked about the controversial trials today, Arifin declined to elaborate, but he maintained that there was nothing amiss about the independence of the judiciary.

 

"Like an ostrich with its head in the sand, Arifin also ignores domestic and international outrage over the convictions of these two top opposition leaders.

"The Malaysian Bar Council, which represents all practising lawyers in the country, has also severely criticised the Anwar verdict," Surendran, a lawyer and PKR vice-president, said in a statement.

He said Arifin should explain why the Sodomy II appeal was suddenly brought forward, to the eve of nomination for the Kajang by-election.

'Judiciary conservative and timid'

The Court of Appeal found Anwar guilty on March 7 and meted out a five-year jail term against him for sodomising his former aide. This disqualified the PKR de facto leader from contesting in Kajang.

Anwar, who is also Permatang Pauh MP, was freed on bail pending appeal to the Federal Court. On Tuesday, DAP's national chairperson Karpal Singh was slapped with a RM4,000 fine for sedition.

Karpal is appealing but if he loses his appeal and the fine is maintained, he too will lose his seat as the MP for Bukit Gelugor.

"The Malaysian judiciary has long been compromised by the corrupt and authoritarian BN regime," said Surendran. "Since independence, the judiciary has always been conservative and timid in its decisions when the political interests of the executive were involved."

Ever since the head of the then Supreme Court was sacked by the Dr Mahathir Mohamad administraton in 1988, he added, the judiciary's reputation had sunk, and it hit an all-time-low during the first sodomy trial of Anwar.