JOHOR BARU, April 22 — PKR’s Johor parliamentarian Hassan Abdul Karim said the Malaysian judiciary must remain independent, neutral, and authoritative to ensure the separation of powers is upheld.

He said this was important as without the independence of the judiciary, Malaysians would not be celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri peacefully.

"Without that, we will be celebrating Aidilfitri with the fear of rockets falling and firearms being fired, similar to war-torn disputed areas such as in Ukraine and Sudan,” he said.

Hassan pointed out that this was despite Malaysian political leaders from opposing parties constantly being "at war” with each other.

"Unlike war-torn areas, the difference in Malaysia is that the disputes end up in court.

"In Malaysia, there are two very powerful weapons in political conflict. First is the prosecution of criminal cases. Second is the act of suing for defamation in civil cases,” he said in a statement today in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

"Therefore, it is clear that the system of separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judiciary is still relevant in Malaysia,” he said.

The Pasir Gudang MP gave examples of the ongoing disputes among the country’s political leaders.

"When the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government was in power for 22 months, two figures from Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) were charged in court. The former sixth prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"Shortly after the fall of the PH government and the rise of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government under the leadership of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in 2020, former Penang chief minister and former finance minister Lim Guan Eng was dragged to court.

"Following the unity government coming to power led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the prime minister, Muhyiddin was charged in court,” said Hassan.

The activist lawyer added that the national political figures named have been accused in court of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering.

"If they are found guilty, the punishment is imprisonment and a fine. It is proven that in Malaysia everyone is equal under the law as provided in Article 8 of the Federal Constitution,” he said.

On the civil litigation front, Hassan said the courts do not have enough hands to deal with a series of defamation cases involving politicians.

He said although Article 10 of the Federal Constitution provides for freedom of speech, defamation suits that sometimes narrow the democratic space for individuals to speak freely are "springing up like mushrooms after the rain”.

"Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sued former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid, who in turn sued Muhyiddin.

"The there’s Anwar who sued Muhyiddin and the latest may be Dr Mahathir suing Anwar for defamation,” he said, while likening the slew of civil suits to musical chairs for politicians.

However, Hassan assured Malaysians that they can celebrate Aidilfitri worry free.

He said no rockets will fall as our Malaysian political leaders only fight among themselves verbally.

"In fact, they are all still sane and responsible for bringing their disputes to the court of justice.

"For that, we all hope that the Malaysian judicial system remains free and fair in upholding the peace,” said Hassan.