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My deepest condolences to the family of Tun Salleh Abas on his passing from Covid-19 today. While I have never met him, his passing has triggered many personal memories for me this cold morning. (1/n)
When I had just finished high school in 1988 and waiting to go to law school, Tun Salleh was sacked by Dr Mahathir triggering a monumental judicial crisis. (2/n)
This was the lowest point in the history of Malaysia's judiciary and since then, some have argued, that the judiciary has yet to fully recover its independence. (3/n)
However, I have been told anecdotally by many lawyers that there is now a much more positive feeling of late, that the judiciary is much more independent than in the last three decades. (4/n)
This is an extremely positive improvement to the democratic principle of separation of powers. (5/n)
I remember clearly that summer of 1988. A year earlier in 1987, Operation Lalang saw many Opposition MPs jailed without trial under the draconian ISA and now the judiciary was under attack. (6/n)
I had a deep sense of burning idealism that summer. I took a vow to study constitutional law and return to fight the authoritarian government of Dr Mahathir.
But life is never a straight line and not with a bit of irony. (7/n)
But life is never a straight line and not with a bit of irony. (7/n)
After law school, I practiced law in Kota Bharu doing a wide variety of cases for insurance companies, commercial contracts, and minor criminal cases. My idealism was kept on a low, dabbling in a bit of social work providing legal aid for the poor in Kota Bharu. (8/n)
Then in the mid 1990s, I moved to KL, did a 180 degrees turn and became a corporate lawyer. That burning idealism that I had that summer of 1988, was buried for so long and was only truly re-activated when I formally joined PKR in 2009. (9/n)
In 2008, Zaid Ibrahim the then de facto law minister courageously pushed for an apology to Tun Salleh and the five valiant judges caught in the political crossfire of Tun Salleh’s sacking. (10/n)
One of the judges was the late Tan Sri Wan Hamzah, whose extended family are close friends of mine. (11/n)
Tun Abdullah Badawi, the then prime minister decided to make ex gratia payments to the judges in 2008 but withheld a formal apology. (12/n)
Tun Salleh welcomed the gesture and was reported to have said: "I feel great. It was something I didn't expect. I suffered so much humiliation... so much so I ran away from the public and took solace in being a farmer." (13/n)
With his passing today, perhaps it is time for the government of the day to finally do the right thing, and issue a formal apology to Tun Salleh, albeit posthumously. (14/n)
Tun Salleh, may you rest in peace and may the judiciary continue to be inspired by your personal trials and tribulations in defending democracy and the Federal Constitution. (15/15)
