An apology by the government for the 1988 judicial crisis is not sufficient to induce real reform, said former United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Param Cumaraswamy.

param cumaraswamy In a statement, he said Zaid Ibrahim - the new minister tasked to oversee judicial reform - must understand that punitive measures must be taken against the perpetrators.

"Glossing over the events of 1988 by a mere apology from the present government will be seen as subscribing to impunity of people in high places thereby defeating the very essence of accountability in public administration," he added.

In 1988, Mahathir had convened a special tribunal to try then lord president Salleh Abbas on charges of misconduct and for questioning constitutional amendments that seriously eroded the powers of the judiciary. Salleh was subsequently sacked.

Supreme Court judges George Seah and Wan Sulaiman - who had ruled that the tribunal was convened unconstitutionally - were also sacked after being found guilty of misconduct by another tribunal.

Three other judges - Azmi Kamaruddin, Eusoffe Abdoolcader and Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh were suspended.

Some have described the dismissal of the top judges from the supreme court - then the highest court, now renamed the federal court - as Malaysia’s darkest hours in its judicial history.

Pressure for the government to reform the legal sphere has since doubled following the explosive expose of the Lingam tape last year.

Zaid has been instructed by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahamd Badawi to look into ways of reforming the judiciary.

Following this, the new minister suggested that the government make a formal apology over the 1988 crisis and the proposal is being discussed by the cabinet.

Get the facts right

zaid ibrahim Meanwhile, Param also asked Zaid to get his facts right as the comparison of the proposed apology to other nations that have apologised for transgressions committed on their people was far from correct.

Param said that these nations employed thorough measures to bring the perpetrators to justice in the form of a commission.

According to the former UN special rapporteur, Zaid would be the best person to identify the culprits of the 1988 judicial crisis as he was the president of the Muslim Lawyers Association at that time.

"The group was widely reported as supporting the action taken against the judges by the (former premier Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) administration and he (Zaid) was highly critical of the actions of the Bar Council for the position it took in defence of the independent judges," he said.

"While I applaud Zaid for seeking greater transparency, accountability and honesty in the government yet he must be seen as consistent and adhering to these values," he added.