There are no solid reasons to re-examine the 1988 judicial crisis and the government cannot entertain the whims and fancies of certain individuals, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz today.

Nazri, who is also de facto law minister, said a probe cannot be launched just because some lawyers are 'feeling sore' about the episode, which saw the sacking of then Lord President Salleh Abas and two other judges.

He was responding to Salleh's expression of support today for Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh's call to re-examine the crisis .

"I don't expect him (Salleh) to say 'no' to the Bar Council's call because he has a personal interest. The matter was tried a long time ago, there must be finality," he told reporters at the Parliament's lobby.

In 1988, then premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad had Salleh ( right ) tried by a special tribunal on charges of misconduct, for questioning constitutional amendments that seriously eroded the powers of the judiciary.

Two of five Supreme Court judges - George Seah and Wan Sulaiman - who had ruled that the tribunal was convened unconstitutionally were sacked along with Salleh, after being found guilty of misconduct by a tribunal of six judges, including one each from Singapore and Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Nazri dismissed the Bar Council president's call as a "non-issue".

"I don't know what Yeo ( left ) had dreamt overnight for him to make the statement suddenly. Nobody was talking about it, we can't entertain someone's whims and fancies, shows us the merit why we should re-open the matter," he said.

The minister reiterated that the matter had already been investigated (by the tribunal) and disagreed with the views that it was a 'kangaroo court'.

'Right the wrongs'

However, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang backed the call for a re-examination.

"The root causes (of the erosion of judicial independence) must be addressed, in particular the 1988 judicial crisis, the wrongs must be righted and the judges who were unfairly removed must be restored," he told reporters at the same venue.

"The inquiry is not so much of punishing anybody but it is in order for the judiciary to be put back on its feet again," he added.

The Bar Council, which represents some 12,000 lawyers in the country, described the incident as a "colossal mistake" which damaged democracy and the rule of law.

Nazri also disagreed with Salleh's remark today that provisions to challenge a minister's decision in court or a judicial review should be restored. He added that many of these provisions had been removed following the judicial crisis.

The minister said the public still had the avenue to seek recourse under the current legal system and that ministers had been empowered to make a decision on behalf of the government.

In a related matter, Nazri also commented on Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim's statement yesterday that the judicial system needed to be revamped in order to create a completely independent system.

The chief justice wanted a review on the present fused system, whereby magistrates and sessions court judges were court officials and considered as government servants under the legal and judicial services.

Responding, Nazri said: "This has been a convention and practice, there was no complaint or miscarriage of justice. I like the system because magistrates or sessions court judges have experience as prosecutors and it is a system that works well for the lower courts."

He noted that despite magistrates or sessions court judges being perceived as government servants, they are held responsible for their judgments, otherwise they may face consequences in the event of miscarriage of justice.

"In the end, a bad decision will reflect on them," he said.

In another development, Nazri declined to comment on the death threat received by lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, saying he had yet to understand the issue personally.