PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim hailed the keynote address of Sultan Azlan Shah at the 14th Malaysian Law Conference as "possibly the most important public pronouncement in the history of the Malaysian judiciary."

Sultan Azlan, a former Lord President, had called for reform of the judiciary in his address that came at the height of a crisis of confidence in the once venerable institution.

Legal circles have been roiled since Sept 20 by the circulation of a video clip purporting to show a senior counsel talking to what appears to be judge in an attempt to influence the appointment of judges. The issue has become a cause celebre.

"In the eloquence of its content, in judiciousness of its timing, in its response to the felt need of our time, and in the stature of its proponent, I think this speech will occupy an imperishable page in judicial history," said Anwar.

Cannot be ignored

"Seldom can have so much that is gravely important for the restoration of an institution of state been dependent on the pronouncements of one man," he said.

"In speaking with the eloquence with which His Highness did, on an occasion wholly suited to the consideration of his views, and in a context where a word from him would count for a torrent from lesser lights, Sultan Azlan has done the whole concept of constitutional democracy a great power of good."

Anwar said that in times of great moral crisis, it was tempting to take the path of neutrality, especially for someone whose position in society required a stance of aloofness from the public fray.

"But when the very fabric of our society is threatened with rending at the seams, a voice for its preservation, belonging to someone of his stature and visibility, is a voice you cannot ignore."

Anwar said advocacy of the cause of judicial reform in Malaysia has now gained support of a wide spectrum of civil society such that the claque of resisters will either retreat in embarrassment or "mount one final fightback which will be their Waterloo."