KUALA LUMPUR — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been steadfast in advocating for the judiciary’s independence, said Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim, who political secretary to the Finance Minister.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, did not preside over the tumultuous periods of the previous administrations when there were constitutional crises and threads to judicial institutions, he said in a post on X.
Kamil was responding to a recent joint statement by nine former Malaysian Bar presidents, that Anwar’s Madani government lagged behind its predecessors in upholding judicial independence.
The political secretary said the statement by the former Bar chiefs had misrepresented the recent speech by outgoing Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat’s remarks during the Opening of the Legal Year 2025, where she had noted Malaysia’s improvements in upholding the rule of law while pointing out the past crises under previous administrations.
“This deliberate misrepresentation undermines judicial independence and seeks to unfairly portray the Madani government in an unfavourable light compared to its predecessors,” he said.
“They appear to have neglected the notable accomplishment of Malaysia ascending 23 positions in the Rule of Law index under the current administration in 2023, as emphasised by chief justice in her speech,” he said.
“ The chief justice also addressed the tumult of 2020, including the sudden resignation of the seventh prime minister, emergency declarations, constitutional difficulties, and challenges to the judiciary.
“Why do they disregard this aspect and deem the current government inferior than the three administrations that emerged from the betrayal of the people’s mandate in 2018?,” Kamil said.
He added that it is “reprehensible” to intentionally obscure facts pertaining to the present government’s efforts to preserve judicial independence.
“It is particularly humiliating for them, who ought to be familiar with the law, that they failed to directly articulate the foundation of the allegations,” he said.
In their statement two days ago, the nine former Bar presidents said that it is “widely perceived that the previous three governments values and respected judicial independence more than the current government”.
However, the statement did not provide any specifics, although it said “the pressures put on the Judiciary in the last several years by external forces were clear to many of us who know the signs only too well”.
The statement was signed by Zainur Zakaria, Datuk Mah Weng Kwai, Datuk Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari, Datuk Yeo Yang Poh, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Ragunath Kesavan, Datuk Lim Chee Wee, Steven Thiru, and Christopher Leong.
Kamil said the former Bar chiefs had failed to “directly articulate the foundation of the allegations”.
“In the absence of foundation and evidence, their statements constitute a false accusation aimed at tarnishing the government’s reputation,” he added. – January 25, 2025