JANUARY 23 — In the Foreword to the book, May Day for Justice by Tun Salleh Abas, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Malaysia’s first prime minister and Father of Independence wrote:
“In my time I participated in and witnessed a great many dramatic events in the national life. There were great days and there were tragic ones, there were days of high euphoria and days of great sorrow, there were days to be proud of and some days to be ashamed of.
“But nothing that happened in all those years from 1955 to 1970 when I headed the Government, or in the days of Tun Abdul Razak who succeeded me and later in the years of Tun Hussein Onn, nothing occurred in all those years that so sullied the fair name of this country so completely as this sordid affair: it struck a terrible blow, not only to the independence of the Malaysian Judiciary — and ruined the careers of at least three honourable men — but to national pride itself.
“This affair has disillusioned and demoralised many lawyers. It has severely damaged the people’s faith in the law and brought several judges into disrepute. It will take a long time for us to recover from the horror and shame of this episode.”
“This affair” and the earlier “this sordid affair” refer to the sacking of the Lord President of Malaysia, the head of the judiciary — one of the three branches of government.
he book, in the words of Tunku — as the man was affectionately called — “tells the most shocking story in modern legal and judicial history.”
It never occurred to Tunku that the day would come when the head of the judiciary, a ‘Tun’, would be faced with charges of conduct unbecoming of a judge, publicly humiliated and then removed from his post on what Tunku could only describe as “trumped-up charges”.
History has recorded that a ‘Tun’ was probed and removed from office.
On the third anniversary of Tun Salleh Abas’ passing on January 16, the nation can reflect that perhaps it is easier to probe a ‘Tun’ than to probe a prime minister.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
