LAWYERS for Liberty called on Mohamed Apandi Ali, Md Raus Sharif, and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin to step down immediately from their respective roles as attorney-general, chief justice, and president of the Court of Appeal.

“It is obvious that their current positions are untenable… the attorney-general as a political appointee serving at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the recommendation of the (then) prime minister, while the re-appointments of Raus and Zulkefli are flagrantly unconstitutional,” said LFL executive director Eric Paulsen in a statement today.

Paulsen said their continued insistence at staying will impede the urgent reforms that the Pakatan Harapan government has planned.

“The scandalous circumstances surrounding Apandi’s appointment as attorney-general in the wake of his predecessor Abdul Gani Patail’s removal are shocking as allegedly, Gani was about to file 1MDB-related criminal charges against then-prime minster Najib Razak.”

As attorney-general, Apandi chose to clear Najib of all wrongdoing in the 1MDB affair despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, Paulsen said.  “Apandi clearly does not command the confidence of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has directed him to go on leave.”

The re-appointments of Raus and Zulkefli to their respective posts are “equally shrouded in controversy, having been ushered in through the back door” as “additional judges after they had reached the mandatory retirement age of 66 years and six months.

“Their continued insistence on remaining in their roles threatens to trigger a constitutional crisis and pit the new government against the judiciary,” Paulsen said.

“If they must be forced out by legal means, it will be a messy and drawn-out affair, and one that will engulf their once-respected offices and drag them, and the country, into crisis” – May 24, 2018.