Mahathir: CJ ousted to avert scandal

No details given about the scandal linked to the 18-year-old episode

By Carolyn Hong
The Straits Times

FORMER premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday that he did ask Tun Salleh Abas to resign as chief justice in 1988 to prevent a scandal.

Tun Dr Mahathir told reporters that Tun Salleh initially agreed but changed his mind a few days later, forcing the government to take steps to remove him.

'I called him, it is true. I told him about the problems and said it was best that he resigned. He agreed...later on, he decided that he should not step down,' he said.

But he did not elaborate what the 'problems' or 'scandals' were.

This 18-year-old episode was recently revived by the Bar Council, which is pushing for a review.

Tun Salleh said in a statement on Tuesday that he was told by Tun Dr Mahathir in May 1988 to step down because he was biased as a judge.

The former judge believed this had something to do with an impending Umno case.

The case had come about following bitter infighting in Umno that year between Tun Dr Mahathir and then finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Tun Dr Mahathir did not respond to Tun Salleh's suspicion that he was sacked because the former premier did not trust him with the Umno case.

Tun Dr Mahathir also said he did not have the power to dismiss judges because, under the Constitution, a judge can be removed only by the King on the recommendation of a tribunal of peers.

The sacking of Tun Salleh as well as that of two other judges created one of the most tumultuous episodes in Malaysian history, plunging the judiciary into a crisis of confidence.

The reopening of this near-forgotten episode could prove embarrassing for Tun Dr Mahathir as it is still widely seen as the event that started the downslide of the judiciary.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz told The Straits Times that the episode would not be reopened.

'It was discussed in passing in Cabinet, and they agreed with me,' he said.

But the debate, which was reported widely in the media yesterday, is enough to highlight one of the greatest controversies in the Mahathir administration.