10
news without borders
Judges were sacked,
says Bar Council
by Karen Arukesamy
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Bar
Council president Datuk Ambiga
Sreenevasan has dismissed the
statement by Minister in the Prime
Minister’s Department Datuk Seri
Nazri Aziz that the six former Su-
preme Court judges were not sacked
but retired early with pensions.
“Three judges were removed
after tribunal hearings,” Ambiga said
when asked to comment on Nazri’s
statement in the Dewan Rakyat on
Thursday.
“In common parlance, removing
the judges means ‘sacking’ them,”
she said.
Former lord president Tun Salleh
Abas was officially removed from
the post in August 1988 and Tan Sri
Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh and Datuk
George Edward Seah Kim Seng were
sacked in October the same year.
Three other judges –Tan Sri Mohd
Azmi Kamaruddin, the late Tan Sri
Eusoffe Abdoolcader and Tan Sri
Wan Hamzah Mohd Salleh – were
suspended but subsequently rein-
stated.
“It must be remembered that
although the three others were
reinstated, they had to undergo
the humiliation of going through a
tribunal hearing,” Ambiga said when
referring to the judicial crisis.
She explained that a panel had
found all the findings of the tribunal
to be “wholly unjustified”.
Last week, Nazri announced in
parliament that Salleh received
RM5 million in ex-gratia payment
from the government while Sulei-
man and Seah each received RM2
million and the rest were each paid
RM500,000.
Replying to MP Wee Choo Keong,
who insisted that the judges were
sacked, Nazri said they were found
guilty by a tribunal and were asked
to retire early, and not sacked.
He also said they have been
receiving pensions and gratuity
for the past 20 years, with Salleh
receiving RM5,102.16 monthly, Wan
Hamzah RM6,508.59, Seah and Azmi
RM5,916.90 each, and Wan Suleiman
and Eusoffe RM4,815 each.
Former de facto law minister
Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has also refuted
Nazri’s claim. An online news portal
quoted him as saying: “The judges
had been sacked and a miscarriage
of justice of the gravest kind had
been committed.”
A daily reported yesterday that
former prime minister Tun Dr Ma-
hathir Mohamad, who was in charge
of the administration at the time,
confirmed the 1988 sackings.
Mahathir said he knew that Salleh
was receiving three pensions – one
after serving as a judge until the age
of 55 years, another for serving until
65 years, and the third for being a
Terengganu state executive council
member when it was under PAS
administration.
Mahathir told reporters that
although the other Supreme Court
judges were also sacked, they were
given pension on compassionate
grounds.
Kok Chung to step in if
college controversy worsens
DEPUTY Higher Education Minister Dr Hou
Kok Chung says the ministry will step in if
the New Era College principal controversy
worsens, the Chinese press reported yes-
terday.
The decision of the college’s board
of directors not to extend the service of
college head Dr Kua Kia Soong next year
has become an issue when several parties
openly called for Kua to be retained.
Hou said as the controversy stemmed
from the college’s administration, he hoped
the college could resolved its internal prob-
lem soonest.
“If the issue goes out of hand, the Higher
Education Ministry will have to act,” he told
the press after attending Malaysian Institute
of Art’s convocation in Kuala Lumpur on
Saturday.
“New Era College comes under the
Higher Education Ministry, and many peo-
ple have asked, ‘Why has the ministry not
intervened in the controversy?’
“As a Chinese, I am saddened by, and
disappointed with, what is happening in
the college. The issue not only affects the
image of the college but also that of the
ministry.”
The controversy further widened on
Saturday when a group of parents formed
the ad hoc “parents in defence of New Era
College action committee” to hand over
a memorandum to Dong Zong (United
Chinese School Committees Association)
president Dr Yap Sin Tian, who is also the
chairman of the college’s board of directors,
to express their wishes for the college to
extend Kua’s service.
There were heated exchanges between
theSun | MONDAY NOVEMBER 10 2008
Press Digest
by Kong See Hoh
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
parents, Kua and Yap when Yap, taking time
off from a board meeting to receive the
memorandum, found that it was not ready
as the committee was still gathering the
signatures of some 200 parents present
at the college. Members of the committee
were also not happy when Yap could not
give them a definite date for a dialogue to
resolve the issue.
The committee pointed out that the
students and parents were the main “vic-
tims” in the controversy and urged Yap to
understand them and hear them out.
On Friday, the “students in defence of
New Era College action committee”, backed
by some 300 students, handed over a similar
memorandum to Yap, who was represented
by his deputy.
It was reported that more than half
the college’s 800 students and academic
staff have signed a petition asking Yap to
consider putting aside the college’s move
to hire a new school head.
A week ago, five department heads at
the college pledged to sink and swim with
Kua after Dong Zong, at its extraordinary
general meeting, voted 10-3 against a mo-
tion to retain Kua.
On Saturday, the youth wings of Chinese
assembly halls from six states made a
strong appeal to Yap to seriously consider
the wishes of the college’s students to ex-
tend the contract of Kua for another year.