High Court judge Ian Chin, who made explosive claims that ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad had threatened and intimidated judges, has tendered his resignation.


 <img align="left" alt="justice ian chin and sabah court house" height="146" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/148/50f5e2dc643f9f63a8d7a8e5915e6988.gif" title="justice ian chin and sabah court house" width="219"/>
 Deputy Minister in Prime Minister's Department T Murugiah told Parliament today that Chin
 
 (left)
 
 had submitted his resignation to Agong in a letter dated July 16.


 &ldquo;He will step down from Dec 1, 2008. He is on leave from Aug 1 to Nov 30,&rdquo; he told the House.


 Murugiah was responding to a question from Mukhriz Mahathir (BN-Jerlun) whether any action would be taken against the judge for alleging there was executive interference in the judiciary during the tenure of premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.


 The deputy minister replied that the government has no plans for now to petition the Agong to appoint a tribunal - as provided for in the federal constitution - to determine whether or not Chin is guilty of misconduct.


 <img align="right" alt="mukhriz mahathir" height="64" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/8/79d55814437be55628a6aa4a8d2b066e.jpg" title="mukhriz mahathir" width="64"/>
 To a supplementary question from Mukhriz
 
 (right)
 
 as to whether a committee would be set up to monitor and act on future misconduct by judges, Murugiah said the proposed Judicial Appointments Commission would perform such functions.


 &ldquo;After it is set up, all these things will be looked at,&rdquo; he said.


 <img align="left" alt="tian chua 03 240505" height="64" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/15/9c79d93a5840b1c835a147c8000255f2.jpg" title="tian chua 03 240505" width="64"/>
 Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) then queried if action would be taken based on the substance of Chin&rsquo;s allegations.


 Murugiah said: &ldquo;The need to investigate and take action does not arise, as this has seen (the person) stepping down from his position.&rdquo;


 
 
 Silence on connection
 
 


 Met later in the lobby, the deputy minister declined to state whether Chin&rsquo;s resignation was directly linked to the allegations he had levelled in June.


 Among Chin&rsquo;s
 
 <a href="http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/84260" target="_blank">
 startling revelations
 </a>
 
 were allegations that judges had been threatened during Mahathir&rsquo;s administration and had been sent to &lsquo;boot camps&rsquo; for indoctrination.


 <img align="right" alt="justice ian chin biodata 301008" height="388" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/148/6b7ae189c0da69976d5d004e4cfa7a8b.gif" title="justice ian chin biodata 301008" width="250"/>
 Lawyer Matthias Chang, a former political secretary to Mahathir
 
 ,
 
 denied the claim and defended his boss by alleging that Chin was merely sour that he had not been promoted.


 Chang further cited corroborating
 
 <a href="http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/84429" target="_blank">
 statements
 </a>
 
 from two judges indicating that Chin had made "wild allegations" against Mahathir.


 Chin, 60, who has served 16 years, is the most senior of all judges in the High Court. His resignation comes six years before he is due to retire.


 In June, Chin sent shock waves through the legal fraternity when he revealed incidents of executive interference dating back more than 10 years.


 The revelations were made while he was hearing an election petition on June 9.


 He implicated Mahathir and former chief justice Eusoff Chin - two key personalities in the VK Lingam tape scandal which had recently rocked the country&rsquo;s judiciary.


 This was followed by a
 <a href="http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/85117" target="_blank">
 
 war of words
 
 </a>
 between Chin and Mahathir


 Chin had alleged that Mahathir made &lsquo;thinly veiled threats&rsquo; against judges during a conference in 1997 to toe the government line and packed off selected
 <a href="http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/84990" target="_blank">
 
 judges to a &lsquo;boot camp&rsquo;
 
 </a>
 and were told to make pro-government decisions.


 A week later, Mahathir
 <a href="http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/84260" target="_blank">
 
 retorted
 
 </a>
 that the &lsquo;boot camp&rsquo; was a
 
 tata negara
 
 (national creed) work camp and that Chin had absconded from the event. He also denied ever issuing &lsquo;veiled threats&rsquo;.


 
 
 Judges and resignations
 
 


 Resignation of judges in the Malaysian judiciary is a rarity with only a handful of judges having left the institution for whatever reason.


 Prior to this, the two most high-profile resignations were those of High Court judges Syed Ahmad Idid and S Visu Sinnadurai.


 Justice Syed Ahmad resigned on July 1, 1996 after he was investigated for writing a letter highlighting corruption among judges.


 Justice Visu left the judiciary on Dec 1, 1998. While no official reason was given, many believed it was due to a fallout with then Chief Justice Mohamed Eusoff Chin.

<img align="left" alt="ian chin ian hn chin judge" height="64" src="http://mk-cdn.mkini.net/128/c5f1dd0f1ef86135cb65e502c57ecbbe.jpg" title="ian chin ian hn chin judge" width="64"/>

 
 
 updated 3.09pm
 
 

But it is not known whether Sabah High Court judge Ian Chin&rsquo;s decision is linked to the startling revelations he had levelled in June against former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Justice Chin to resign on Dec 1

~RM12

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