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| Muhammad Kamil Awang |
| Probe urged into Malaysian judge's claim that he was pressured KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (AFP) - Malaysian lawyers and an opposition leader called Sunday for an official investigation into a judge's claim that he was pressured to drop a politically sensitive case. The Bar Council -- which represent 9,600 lawyers -- urged police to investigate, saying obstruction of justice was a criminal offence. High court judge Muhammad Kamil Awang on Friday ordered a member of the ruling coalition to vacate his seat in the Sabah state assembly, ruling that he won it in 1999 with the help of "phantom voters." Muhammad Kamil also said he had earlier been given a directive over the phone that petitions from two defeated candidates contesting the result should be struck off without a hearing. The judge did not say who gave the directive but said he was determined "to truly act as a judge and not a 'yes man'." Deputy Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the court's judgement would be respected and he knew nothing about any telephone call. It could have been a crank call, Sunday newspapers quoted him as saying. Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party, chided Abdullah for what he called flippant comments. He said the deputy premier, who is also home (interior) minister, should order a top-level investigation to identify and prosecute the caller. Rais Yatim, minister for legal affairs, urged the judge to name the mystery caller. "I call upon him to come forward and disclose the name of the caller and the reason the call was made ... the ball is at his feet and he should do what is necessary," he told reporters. Rais, quoted by Bernama news agency, said the judge's disclosure must be taken seriously and follow-up action must be taken. The ruling by Muhammad Kamil was the third in 10 days to have gone against the government. Param Cumaraswamy, the United Nations special rapporteur on judicial independence, praised his judgement as "yet another triumph for the resurgence of judicial independence in Malaysia." On May 30 a high court judge at Shah Alam near the capital ordered police to free two opposition activists after ruling that their detention under the Internal Security Act was unlawful. Five other detained activists who earlier made similar "habeas corpus" applications to another court had their writs dismissed. But on June 6 the federal court -- dismissing objections from government lawyers -- announced it would hear an appeal by lawyers for the five against the dismissal of the writs. When he took office as chief justice in December, Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah promised to work to restore public confidence in the courts. |
| Truth Bursts from the Clutches of Tyranny in Likas: - Election Rigging Confimed It was not said in vain that truth will ultimately triumph!. In Likas, Sabah, the state constituency of the former "illegitimate" rotational Chief Minister of Sabah, Yong Teck Lee, the irrefutable yet glaring disclosure of massive rigging, and cheating in the last elections in Sabah, exposes to the public and the world at large, that UMNOBN can only win if its cheats. By right the whole election must be declared null and void, a reelection must be conducted without rigging and fraud. Salutation and Praise to Judge Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang for upholding truth Following the footsteps of the peerless and audacious judge Datuk Hishamuddin, another star of truth has dawned, now in Sabah, rendering the somber darkness of the Malaysian judiciary, a ray of light. Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang, the high court judge of Sabah, has made another "state of the art" judgment, exposing once and for all, the atrocities that were perpetrated by the UMNOBN ruling regime during the last Sabah elections. This brave and wise judge, has spoken the truth, he has made the right judgment and has saved justice from being perverted by the illegal interference of the executive, as typified in the Anwar Ibrahim trials. Both the fraudulent judgments of the alcoholic corrupted judge Augustine Paul and the corrupted Ariffin Jakka has be laid bare to the eyes of the public. Bravo! to Datuk Muhammad Kamil, may God guide and protect you forever. Samy Vellu's Sg. Siput constituency must be declared vacant Since phantom voters were identified in Sg Siput, rightfully Samy Vellu must relinquish his seat. SPR must act and call for a bye election, otherwise SPR will be branded as an enslaved tool of Mahathir. BA must now inform the Malaysian electorate not to recognise Samy Vellu as the legitimate MP of Sg. Siput. The Lunas phantom votes debacle is now a confirmed fact, it is apparent that BN has won the last elections by rigging and cheating. This means the present government is not elected by the legitimate voters but by phantom voters which do not exist. The UMNOBN government is in fact not elected legitimately, and cannot be recognised or accepted as a democratically elected government. The people must call for a whole new reelection to ensure the rightful government is elected freely and fairly. Malaysian voters must reject Mahathir's illegal regime Having leant how UMNOBN maliciously rigged and cheated in the last election, the Malaysian people must understand that Mahathir's present regime unsurped the people's power by cheating in the elections. This present government is not a duly elected government. To teach these people cheaters a lesson, the voters must dump UMNOBN lock, stock and barrel. Only then can a clean government can emerge that truly lead and develop the people and the nation. The people must call for a new election immediately, having realised that UMNOBN did not really get the peoples' mandate. If in Likas, Lunas and Sg. Siput rigging has been rampant, then there will be in hundreds of places where rigging must taken place and the real winners defeated, for instance in Shah Alam, Pantai and Gombak. In all these places, heavy cheating has taken and the win by UMNOBN is not acceptable. UMNOBN must be dumped and it must not allow to betray the trust of the people. Malaysians are waiting for the warrant of arrest for Mahathir Mahathir must be arrested for election rigging, corruption, abuse of power, slander and perjury. Every Malaysian is eagerly waiting for that moment of truth, when the final triumph of truth must prevail. There is ample evidence beyond an iota of doubt that Mahathir has committed innumerable crimes. Police reports, BPR investigations, bailouts, privatisation projects etc, all these are more than enough for a warrant of arrest to be issued on Mahathir. It is high time he is accounted for his political crimes. He is not above the law, he must abide by the law, and he cannot block using his executive powers to stop police, judiciary or BPR from investigating his crimes. Malaysian demand that he be arrested and tried in an open court. The day is fast approaching when the crimes of Mahathir and his corrupted cronies be brought to justice. He cannot escape from the power of truth and laws. Day by day more and more evidence is laid bare to the people about Mahathir's wrong doings which warrants his arrest. Let us now on call for his arrest until the scoundrel is caught and tried and imprisoned. - Spirit of Truth |
| KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 (Bernama) -- High Court Judge Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang said on Monday the "caller" who directed him to strike off the Likas election petition is a former high-ranking member of the judiciary. However, he declined to name the person. Asked by reporters if the person was a former top official of either the Federal Court or the Court of Appeal or the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, he said: "Yes...You think who else can give a directive to a judge?" Muhammad Kamil, who was transferred to the Kuala Lumpur Civil Court in February, was besieged by reporters in his office at Wisma Denmark here this afternoon after Chief Judge of Federal Court Tan Sri Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah earlier issued a statement to the media that it was up to the judge to disclose the identity of the caller. In his judgment delivered at the Kota Kinabalu High Court on Friday when declaring the election result of the Likas constituency in the 1999 Sabah state election null and void, Muhammad Kamil remarked that he was directed in a phone call to strike off two election petitions challenging the result. "In my view it is an insult to one's intelligence to be given a directive over the phone that this petition should be struck off without a hearing," he said in the judgment. Asked today when he received the directive, he said the call came after he was assigned to hear the election petitions in 1999. He said before the trial began, there were preliminary objections raised. "I want to put aside all these technical issues in favour of justice...That's when the phone call came." Muhammad Kamil, who is due to retire on June 25 upon reaching 65, said he told the caller that "this is my case, it's my decision and I want to be fair. If you want me to do something, then I request that you drop me a note in writing." He said if he had the directive from the caller in writing, it would be easier for him to lodge a police report. Muhammad Kamil said he was not afraid of the repercussion and had even refused to have police escorts as "I have done nothing wrong". Prior to his transfer to Kuala Lumpur, Muhammad Kamil was given a transfer to Kelantan from Kuching where he is stationed. Yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Rais Yatim called on Muhammad Kamil to name the person who directed him to strike off the election petitions. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was also asked by reporters yesterday about Muhammad Kamil's comments, was quoted as saying that it was difficult for the government to interfere in the judiciary because it was an independent body in the country's system of administration. Dr Mahathir had said that if the government disturbed the judges, they would regard it as interfering with the judiciary. Muhammad Kamil declared the Likas election result in March 1999 null and void after ruling that phantom voters, including non-citizens had cast their votes in the poll. The judge said he reported the matter to Mohamed Dzaiddin immediately after he was appointed Chief Justice last December. He also wrote a letter to the Chief Justice disclosing the name of the caller but so far had not sent the letter. "I will send the letter to him in a few days' time. It's my duty to report to the CJ and it's up to his discretion to take any form of action. "The caller identified himself but did not say why," he added. Muhammad Kamil said he related the incident to other judges in Sabah and Sarawak and one or two of them told him that they had also received similar instructions through the phone from the same person. "They (the judges) asked me what to do and I told them to act according to their conscience," he said. Asked if the caller was still in government service, he said: "I can't answer that question, it's too sensitive." When asked if the caller was his superior, the judge said: "Maybe". He said at that time only three superiors could direct him -- then Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin, Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Lamin Yunus and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Chong Siew Fai. When asked if it was Eusoff Chin, he said with a smile: "Your guess is as good as mine but all the lawyers seem to know who he is." Talking about the impact of his disclosure on public perception of the judiciary, Muhammad Kamil said of his now famous judgment: "I hope in my own small way, it will restore public confidence in the judiciary. "I did not do it for the Sabahans but I did it in the interest of justice." He said that he made the disclosure because of his conscience and because it was the truth and he as a judge had to act without fear or favour. "My allegiance is not to human beings but to God," he said. In his judgment on Friday, Muhammad Kamil said: "It is with prescient conscience that I heard these petitions. God has given me the strength and fortitude, as a lesser mortal, to act without fear or favour, for fear of a breach of oath of office and sacrifice justice and above all, to truly act as a judge and not a "yes man". And he added today: "A directive is given to me and I refused to follow it." Answering another question, he said nobody from the Attorney-General's Chambers or from Dr Rais's ministry had contacted him yet officially pertaining to the matter. Asked about his retirement plans, he merely said: "I plan to take a rest." -- BERNAMA |