Judges boot camp shocker: No Royal Commission, says PM - The Star

By Mazwin Nik Anis & Sim Leoi Leoi

PUTRAJAYA: There is no need to set up another Royal Commission of Inquiry on the latest allegation levelled by a high court judge against former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said this was because the Government had already decided to reform the judiciary.

“We are going to implement the reforms. Tak habis-habis dengan cerita ini (The matter seems to be dragging on). I don’t see a reason for another commission,” he told reporters at his office here on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister was asked to comment on a statement by High Court Judge Justice Ian Chin who claimed that Dr Mahathir had threatened to remove judges by referring them to a tribunal during a Judges Conference in on April 24, 1997.

He alleged that fellow judge Muhammad Kamil Awang had told him of receiving a call from the then Chief Justice asking him to dismiss an election petition that he was to preside over in Kota Kinabalu.

Justice Chin, who is currently the Sibu High Court Judge, had twice unsuccessfully stood for a parliamentary and later for a state seat in Sabah in the 1980s under the Barisan Nasional banner.


[More at http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/11/nation/20080611205005&sec=nation]