Ahmad Fairuz
should be sensitive to public opinion by ensuring that the Anwar corruption
appeal before Federal Court is heard and disposed off before Anwar's
completion of his jail sentence on April 14
Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang
(Petaling Jaya,
Wednesday):
The new Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Tan Sri Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh
Abdul Halim said on his first day in office on Monday that he welcomed
public complaints on defects in the administration of the judicial system in
his commitment to create an efficient judicial system which is transparent
and has a good relationship with all branches of government and the Bar
Council.
He invited the public to write to him if they have complaints and he would
personally look into the matter.
I am acting on Ahmad Fairuz's open invitation and am sending this first
complaint to him publicly in view of the urgency of the matter and hope that
he could act on this public complaint with all the necessary dispatch in the
interests of public confidence in the independence and efficiency of the
judiciary.
Ahmad Fairuz is beginning his tenure as the head of the judiciary in the
face of a blatant blot on the judiciary, the Federal Court hearing of the
appeal by Anwar Ibrahim against his sentence and conviction for corruption,
which was earlier scheduled for yesterday but was postponed indefinitely as
a result of Ahmad Fairuz's approval of the last-minute application by the
Attorney-General for a five-judge quorum instead of the three judges already
assigned.
There is no objection to the decision to appoint a five-judge quorum in view
of the gravity of the case, and this was in fact why Anwar had earlier
applied for a five-judge bench but to no avail.
However, the approval for a five-judge quorum to hear Anwar's Federal Court
appeal for corruption conviction and sentence should not cause a miscarriage
of justice, which would be the case if the Federal Court hears the appeal
after Anwar had completed his jail sentence - as such a ridiculous event
would be utterly unjust to Anwar and expose the judiciary to public ridicule
and contempt.
As Anwar would be completing his six-year corruption sentence in 16 days on
April 14, taking into account the one-third remission for prisoners for good
behaviour, Ahmad Fairuz should take immediate action not only to empanel the
five-judge quorum for Anwar's Federal Court appeal on corruption, but ensure
that the five-judge court hears and delivers judgement before April 14.
(19/3/2003)
*
Lim Kit Siang, DAP National
Chairman
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