Former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim has come out strongly against the government's decision to make public the RM10.5 million compensation paid to judges involved in the 1988 judicial crisis.

"We (prime minister and I) had agreed not to disclose the amount paid to the judges," said Zaid.

zaid ibrahim pc 111108 03 He said that the quantum of compensation was decided on the basis of similar cases of miscarriage of justice in the UK and New Zealand.

Zaid said he believes the payment was justified, based on the potential income lost and "humiliation and shame of being dismissed".

He said that, unlike many judges who retire to directorships and titles, the six had to endure hardship and embarrassment.

Zaid also said the manner in which the government had revealed the compensation sum had only invited more scrutiny of the matter by the public, which could cast the six judges in bad light.

If the amount was revealed then the government has to also explain why the judges were dismissed in the first place, he said.

Otherwise it may be inferred that the six were seeking the compensation from the government, when it was the government which had initiated the process.

"It is clear to many Malaysians and to the world, our Lord President and two Supreme Court judges were dismissed. Three other senior judges were suspended but were later acquitted," Zaid stressed.

He rejected the government’s explanation that the payment comprised benefits for early retirement.

“If it is early retirement, then why are they compensated as such, when other early retirees don’t get such payments?” he asked.

sapp chua soon bui nazri abdul aziz parliament 070708 03 Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz revealed the total amount in Parliament last week in response to Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju).

Saying that he disagrees with the minister’s decision, Zaid said: “If it was me, I would have kept quiet. I would not cave in to the opposition.

"(The) pressure was from somewhere else. I’ve a gut feeling it is from somewhere else.”

However, he did not reveal where the pressure came from though it is an open secret that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad was unhappy with the payments.

Distortion of facts

Zaid also said the government should not “twist the truth about the 1988 sacking of the judges”.

“The panel of eminent persons (comprising among others, the former chief justice of India, former supreme court judge of Pakistan and former LawAsia president from Australia) concluded that the composition of both tribunals, the process adopted by them and the findings and conclusions at against Salleh (Abas), Wan Suleiman and George Seah were not justified and hence their removal from office were unconstitutional and non est (was not found).”

judicial sacking ex gratia payment to former judges 061108 The findings are related to the initial removal of the judges in 1988, when the judiciary was involved in a face-off with Mahathir. The prime minister then used the means of a special tribunal to remove the judges.

When Zaid was roped into government in April this year to help with law reform, he committed himself to correcting past errors.

The ex-gratia payment was his initiative, which could be seen as “an atonement of our excesses, and a signal of the government’s support to the integrity and independence of the cherished institution that is the judiciary”.

He said today that the government could have gone further.

“Tony Blair (former UK prime minister) and the New Zealand prime minister both personally apologised for miscarriages of justice in their countries. However I could not get our government to apologise over the issue,” he said.

However, he said he takes comfort in what the steps have induced.

“I am impressed by Malaysian judges - High Court ones too - for becoming brave in their decisions.”

Last Friday, Shah Alam High Court judge Syed Ahmad Helmy ordered the immediate release of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin who was arrested in September under the Internal Security Act.

On the same day, Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court judge SM Komathy Suppiah ruled that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s case will remain in her court, despite the government attempting to transfer the case to the High Court.

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