(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad should clarify the appointment of Tan Sri Dzaiddin Abdullah as the new Chief Justice on the retirement of Tun Eusoff Chin without any delay.
In publicly stating yesterday that he was in the dark about the appointment of the new Chief Justice, the country seems to teetering on the brink of a major constitutional and judicial crisis which should be avoided at all costs for the higher national interests of addressing the protracted national and international crisis of confidence afflicting Malaysia.
The deleterious effects of the protracted national crisis of confidence
have been manifested in many ways, including the recent economic data that
the capital controls introduced two years ago have failed to plug the flow
of money out of the country, with economists estimating that at least US$9
billion may have left the country since May this year, accounting for
the discrepancy of record trade surpluses this year on the one hand and
depletion of the country's foreign reserves at Bank Negara on the other.
Mahahtir should not create a new uncertainty over the appointment of Dzaiddin as the new Chief Justice, which was announced on 9th November 2000 after the 187th meeting of the Conference of Rulers in a statement issued by the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal, which also announced the appointment of Datuk Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman as the new Election Commission Chairman.
It should be noted that the first to welcome the appointment of Dzaiddin
as the new Chief Justice was none other than the Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department whose specific portfolios are law and justice, Datuk
Dr. Rais Yatim who said it "symbolises the embodiment of a true rule
of law expectation for the new year" and that he had every confidence
that Dzaiddin "will be a sterling icon for the Judiciary and the system
of justice in Malaysia with his broad and lengthy legal and judicial background".
(6/12/2000)