Karpal amused by statement - NST

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP chairman Karpal Singh said he was amused by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement that he was joking during a cabinet meeting when he quoted Shakespeare as saying: "The first thing we do, we hang the lawyers."

"What he said was not a joke, he meant every word of it because he has a phobia about lawyers," he said.

In a letter to theSun yesterday, Dr Mahathir said lawyers "were angry with me" because he had quoted the phrase.

"I was only joking, but they heard of it and believed I meant what I said. The judges also felt unhappy with me."

Karpal, a senior lawyer, said Dr Mahathir repeated his feelings about lawyers on Feb 2, 2000 at a meet-the-students session in London.

He was alleged to have said that it was his private wish to "hang" errant lawyers, especially Karpal.

[More at http://www.nst.com.my/Wednesday/National/2208455/Article/index_html]