THE Chief Justice of Malaysia and the judiciary must be given room to carry out their duties independently and professionally, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said.

He said it was important to show there was separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judiciary.

He noted there were assumptions that the judiciary had been compromised by the executive in recent history.

Anwar said even the Bar Council and the International Commission of Jurists were of the view that defects and weaknesses existed in the Malaysian judiciary.

“We see in the past few years… changes and appointments in the judiciary, but I haven’t interfered with a single appointment. I follow the Judicial Appointments Commission’s process and then the chief justice will forward (a name) and I will accept it,” he said in an interview on RTM last night.

On corruption and integrity, Anwar said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had leeway to act as it saw fit.

 “I told the enforcement officials to be firm no matter…. (who) and to cabinet colleagues as well. Every week I tell them that I will not defend them if there are mistakes or evidence of siphoning the country’s wealth,” he said.

“What makes me sick is that we have seen influential figures caught but who (were not punished) as they deserved. Take, for instance, the files on flood mitigation, Kuala Lumpur Tower and Jana Wibawa programme; each of these cases were attempts to steal wealth.

“So with the opportunity given, insyaAllah I will ensure action is taken to teach those in the past and present a lesson,” he said.

Anwar denied that this would be political persecution, saying that it would only be viewed as such by those who were afraid of being investigated.

He added that he had never interfered in the workings of the MACC and that his administration did not want to cover up cases or be biased.

“If we don’t do anything, people will say it’s not good governance, that we want to cover up huge corruption cases, and when we do take action, they claim it’s political pressure.”– Bernama, January 7, 2023.