THE judiciary must be impartial and seen to be free from the power of the executive, said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on his blog today.

He said judge appointments should not be influenced by the government to ensure public confidence towards the judiciary.

But the Pakatan Harapan chairman said the unusual extension of the services of judges beyond their retirement age recently has further undermined public confidence in the judiciary..

“It is not as if there are no other candidates. It has all the earmarks of favouritism; of special favour by the government.

“When a judge is specially favoured then he cannot be accepted as unbiased. And when the prime minister himself is faced with a number of cases before the courts his clear role in the extension of the term of service of the judges cannot but be regarded as interference in due process in his favour.”

Dr Mahathir said the extensions give the impression that the judiciary is under the prime minister.

He, however, said it is not too late to rescind the extensions of the two judges.

“Do that and the independence and impartiality of the judiciary will be restored. Failure to do so will mean the condemnation of Malaysia as a kleptocracy, a corrupt country, and the failure of the judiciary added,” said Dr Mahathir.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced on July 8 that Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal President Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, who were due to retire this year, will be appointed as additional judges while retaining their current portfolios.

Md Raus’s tenure has been extended for another three years while Zulkefli will be given a further two-year term.

Dr Mahathir also said the sudden removal of former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail had also undermined the judiciary.

“The excuse given was ill health. The procedure for termination of a senior government officer due to ill health is to convene a medical board.

“The board will do a proper medical examination of the officer to certify the state of his health. If the board issues a certificate confirming the officer is unable to work, then only can the PM submit the certificate to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to get his Majesty’s consent to terminate the service of the officer concerned.

“There is no evidence that a medical board was convened in the case of the removal of the previous attorney-general. It became obvious that he had fallen out of favour with the PM,” said Dr Mahathir.

Gani’s removal was immediate as even the police had prevented him from entering his office, Dr Mahathir added.

The 92-year-old charged that the new attorney-general, Mohamed Apandi Ali, seems to be tasked with clearing Prime Minister Najib Razak in the 1Malaysian Development Berhad (!MDB) scandal.

“He (Apandi) actually ordered investigation on 1MDB to be stopped. It is not his right to stop the investigation. He also declared reports by three major government institutions to be official secrets even though the prime minister himself had said the auditor-general would investigate to convince the people that he had done no wrong.

“Normally the auditor-general’s report is open to public scrutiny. If indeed the report shows no evidence of wrongdoing by Najib, why is there a necessity to make it an official secret,” asked Dr Mahathir. – July 22, 2017.