Mahathir opponents look forward to day in court
'I have waited nearly 18 years, hoping against hope this day will dawn.'
So says Malaysian lawyer Wee Choo Keong, 56, an opposition politician who was elected to parliament in 1990, only to have a judge throw out the results of the vote in what Mr Wee says was an act of political and judicial corruption.
'I tried everything under the law and court process but failed. It was a blatant disregard of all the rules of justice,' he said.
The judge who presided over the case, Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim, went on to become chief justice. Mr Wee had no recourse but to hope that someone would look into the case. And now it appears that day has come.
Mr Wee is among the ranks of complainants who have stepped forward in the wake of Friday's announcement that prosecutors will investigate key political and judicial figures after an official inquiry found evidence of a conspiracy to fix the appointment of judges. Among those to be investigated are Mr Ahmad, tycoon Vincent Tan and former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
The inquiry also found that a 'network of judges' pandered to the desires of their political patrons.
'Our day has come,' Mr Wee said, adding that his lawyers were working on an application to review the 1990 judgment.
The victims of questionable judgments are clamouring for reviews of all the judgments handled by suspect judges.
The inquiry panel did not name members of the 'network of judges' involved, although Mr Ahmad and fellow former chief justice Eusoff Chin were both accused of fixing judicial appointments at the behest of Dr Mahathir's government.
'The cases go back two decades and it is urgently necessary that a mechanism is established to review the judgments,' said Ragu Kesavan, deputy chairman of the Bar Council.
Scores of litigants are expected to file affidavits in the Federal Court in the wake of the inquiry's bombshell findings.
The most high profile litigant will be opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim, who was convicted of corruption but says he was framed.
'We will be filing for a review without delay,' said Sankaran Nair, Mr Anwar's lawyer. 'Anwar and his family have suffered hugely and they have waited for this day for a long time.'
Mr Anwar served a six-year sentence for corruption. He had also faced sodomy charges, but was acquitted. Upon his release in 2004, he refused to seek a royal pardon, saying it would be tantamount to an admission of guilt.
The family of the late journalist M.G.G. Pillai, who was a thorn in the side of Dr Mahathir, would also seek judicial redress, a relative said.
In 1995, a court ordered Pillai to pay M$3 million (HK$7.22 million) in damages to Mr Tan for libel in a judgment rejected by human rights lawyers as political persecution.
Lawmaker Lim Guan Eng, who was jailed for two years for publishing 'false news' in 1996, was banned from politics for 10 years.
He emerged from the ordeal to win a seat in this year's March 8 election and became chief minister of Penang state.
'The government should review all cases handled by the two chief justices and their cabal of judges,' Mr Lim said.
