THE explosive allegations of judicial misconduct during the reign of Barisan Nasional must be investigated in a transparent and thorough manner to reveal the truth, said civil society.

Lawyers for Liberty adviser N. Surendran said the government must immediately establish a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to look into the allegations of Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer.

“No stone must be left unturned until all the truth is discovered,” he said in a statement today.

Hamid’s damaging affidavit was in support of lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo’s application to declare that the chief justice had failed to act on two alleged incidents of judicial interference.

Hamid had asked an RCI to look into alleged judicial misconduct.

Surendran said Hamid’s “shocking revelation” confirmed there was interference in judicial decisions in favour of former BN leaders.

“This disclosure cannot be taken lightly as it comes from a sitting judge of the court of appeal.

“It must be taken as strong evidence of serious misconduct and wrongdoing at the highest levels of our judiciary, at the behest of the BN regime.

“Justice Hamid Sultan’s disclosure must therefore be acted upon,” Surendran said.

Veterans group National Patriots Association (Patriot) supported the call for an inquiry to uncover the truth “even if it brings shame to our nation in general and the judiciary in particular, and however painful the process of uncovering the truth may bring”.

“We have to be brave and welcome the RCI,” said Patriot president Brigadier-General (rtd) Mohamed Arshad Raji.

“Only then, after the truth is known, lessons are learnt, and remedial actions taken can our nation and society be truly exorcised of our haunted past,” he said in a statement.

The RCI must also have a wide ambit and not be limited to investigating a particular time period, but granted the leeway to scrutinise the entire era of BN rule subject to availability of evidence, said LFL’s Surendran.

He said “many other witnesses” will come forward to testify and that LFL has also collected “a range of evidence of interference with subordinate court judges in politically sensitive matters”.

“For long years, both Malaysians and the international community knew that the judiciary was not independent of the government, despite regular claims to the contrary by BN leaders.

“Now there is devastating proof supplied by Justice Hamid Sultan. All our worst suspicions are proven true.”

Surendran said there must be no escape or safe harbour for those in the former BN government and the judiciary guilty of wrongdoing.

“They must face justice.” – February 15, 2019.