A mere "reprimand" from the government against Chief Justice Eusoff Chin for holidaying with the lawyer representing a prominent business tycoon is not sufficient to restore public confidence in the independence and integrity of the judiciary, says DAP.

Party secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock said that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Rais Yatim, in an interview with Australia's Radio National last Thursday, revealed that Eusoff has been told it was "inappropriate" to holiday with Berjaya Group chief Vincent Tan Chee Yioun's counsel, V. K. Lingam.

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that photographs were available on the Internet showing Eusoff, Lingam and their families holidaying together in New Zealand in December 1994.

Kerk said Rais' public revelation that the Chief Justice has been told in no uncertain terms that such socialising is not keeping with the proper behaviour of a judicial personality shows that the "government has broken its long silence on this issue".

Kerk recalled the serious allegations about judicial impropriety that were allegedly disclosed in court in the Asian Wall Street Journal (ASWJ) defamation case last year when the journal had sought to amend its defence.

The amended defence was subsequently disallowed by the High Court judge R. K. Nathan on technical grounds, but the contents of the unsuccessful amended defence had been made public and published in the mass media.

Among other things, the proposed amended defence referred to a libel proceeding brought by Tan against veteran journalist M.G.G. Pillai, in which then High Court judge Moktar Sidin awarded the tycoon RM10 million.

"The document alleges that the 1994 judgment was written in part by the plaintiff's counsel, V.K. Lingam, and initially typed by the said Lingam's secretaries, viz. one Jayanthi and Sumanthi," said Kerk.

"According to the document, the lawyer placed Eusoff in his debt by getting their families to holiday together in New Zealand."

Kerk added that the continued silence of the judges in the face of such allegations affecting their integrity has not helped to restore the much needed public confidence in the judiciary's independence and integrity.

"DAP therefore calls on the government to view the allegations with seriousness and carry out an independent inquiry to ascertain as to whether there is truth or otherwise in the allegations," Kerk added.