Malaysia will set up an independent panel to help appoint new judges as part of legal reforms in the wake of high-level judicial scandals.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the plan on Thursday night as part of his pledge to clean up the judiciary, which has been plagued by allegations of influence-peddling, favoritism and corruption.
Abdullah said the Judicial Appointments Commission will be set up to identify and recommend candidates for the bench. He said the commission would “involve all primary stakeholders,” but he did not elaborate or say when the panel would be formed.
“The government proposes a change to make the process of nominating, appointing and promoting judges more transparent and representative,” Abdullah said in a speech to the Bar Council that received thunderous applause from some 300 top lawyers.
Currently, senior judges are chosen and recommended for appointment by the prime minister. The prime minister is not obliged to take seniority or track record into account, even when appointing the chief justice.
“The commission will help to evaluate and vet candidates in a systematic and credible manner to the prime minister based on clearly defined criteria,” Abdullah told the council. “The government gives its commitment to the Malaysian public that it will begin a process of judicial reforms.”
Malaysia’s Bar Council, which represents more than 12,000 lawyers, has long called for an impartial commission to nominate candidates to become judges, saying the current system is too secretive and prone to political manipulation.
Still, under the new plan, the prime minister appears to retain the biggest say, but observers hope an independent body could weed out unwarranted candidates.
Calls for reforms have grown louder after opposition leaders leaked a video in September that showed V.K. Lingam, a well-known lawyer, allegedly speaking on the phone in 2001 to a former top judge, Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, about the promotion of judges.
The prime minister also announced “goodwill” monetary compensation for several top judges who were dismissed or suspended in 1988 by then-leader Mahathir Mohamad on claims of misconduct.
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