(Petaling Jaya, Tuesday): The appointment of Deputy Chief Executive of the Securities Commission Datuk Ainum Mohamed Saaid as the new Attorney-General for a two-year term from Jan 1 has come as a double surprise:
Firstly, the failure to re-establish the post as a Cabinet position to ensure proper parliamentary accountability for the actions of the Attorney-General which had recently been surrounded by controversy compounded by the inability of Parliament to hold the Attorney-General directly to account for his many dubious decisions; and
Secondly, the appointment of a person who is comparatively unknown in the legal circles as she had not practised in the bar or actively handled court cases during her years in legal service.
Nonetheless, Ainum is to be congratulated on her appointment not only as a personal achievement but also for breaking another glass ceiling for women in the country.
One of the greatest challenges of Ainum as Attorney-General is to restore full public confidence in the independence, integrity and professionalism of her office, which had come under a thick cloud because of the most controversial manner in which Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah had exercised the Attorney-General’s discretionary powers of prosecution under Article 145(3) of the Malaysian Constitution to "initiate, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence" resulting in the selective prosecutions against the Opposition and NGOs.
One of Ainum most pressing tasks on assuming office as Attorney-General should be to re-open the case of Tun Eusoff Chin, who retires as Chief Justice today, although last month, Mohtar had closed the case when he announced that the Attorney-Genera’s Chambers had decided that there was no case against Eusoff for misconduct.
Mohtar said the matter was considered closed after a full-scale investigation by the chambers and other relevant authorities such as the police and the Anti-Corruption Agency.
The allegations of misconduct against Eusoff were made after photographs were posted on the Internet showing him with lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam holidaying together in New Zealand.
Eusoff has said publicly that he has settled all the expenses incurred during the trip in December 1994 and will not hesitate to sue anyone who alleged that the trip was sponsored by Lingam.
There are two strong reasons why the new Attorney-General should re-open the case of Eusoff Chin to satisfy the nation that investigations and the decision of the Attorney-General are independent, impartial, thorough and professional, viz:
Firstly, the failure by Mohtar to comply with the principles of accountability and transparency by giving satisfactory explanation for the discrepancy between Eusoff’s claim that he "bumped" accidentally into Lingam while holidaying in New Zealand and the Internet posting by veteran journalist MGG Pillai, challenging Eusoff’s claim that he had "bumped" into Lingam in New Zealand, giving particulars that Eusoff and Lingam had travelled together on the same New Zealand Airways flight NZ73 from Singapore to Auckland on business class on 22nd December 1994 and on Flight NZ1541 between Auckland and Christchurch later that day.
Secondly, the propriety of Mohtar deciding to close Eusoff’s case when he himself had admitted to holidaying with Lingam in Italy in 1994.
Tomorrow, a new judicial chapter opens in the county when Tan Sri Mohamed
Dzaiddin Abdullah assumes office as the new Chief Justice of the Federal
Court.
One of his urgent initiatives is to establish a Judicial Propriety
and Integrity Commission to restore and uphold public confidence
in the independence, integrity and impartiality of judges with powers both
to receive and investigate public complaints of any lapses as there is
no proper and satisfactory mechanism to deal with this problem at present.
There should be regular public reports of the outcome of investigations
into such complaints to uphold and promote the principle of judicial accountability.
(19/12/2000)