Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Dr Wan Azizah today expressed support for the call to re-examine the 1988 judicial crisis.

Citing a key study conducted by the International Commission of Jurists and the International Bar Association in 1999, she said courts cases detrimental to the political status quo and ruling parties were found wanting of independent verdicts.

"This includes the political trials of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim (who is also Wan Azizah's husband and PKR adviser) and former member of parliament (and current DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng," she said in a statement.

"It is imperative that the integrity and good name of judges who stood in the might of the executive in 1998 [...] who were sacked and five other judges who were suspended - be restored and remembered as our brave judges who stood on the side of right," she added.

Yesterday, former Lord President Salleh Abas, who was one of those sacked then, finally broke his silence on the matter and supported the call by Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh to re-examine the crisis .

Restore independence

In 1988, then premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad had Salleh 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.

Some have described the dismissal of the top judges from the Supreme Court - then the country's highest court, now renamed Federal Court - as the darkest hours in Malaysia's judicial history.

Meanwhile, Wan Azizah stressed that laws that confer unfettered powers to ministers and prevent the judiciary from reviewing ministerial decisions need to be amended to reflect the situation prior to the 1988 crisis

She also said that the review should look into making the appointments and promotions of judges more transparent so that allegations of political favouritism can be avoided.

"The crux of the review is to restore independence of the judiciary and public confidence in this pillar of democratic society," added the opposition leader.

Yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz ruled out the possibility of re-examining the crisis.