Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KUALALUMPUR1458
2007-09-26 12:10:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kuala Lumpur
Cable title:  

MALAYSIA'S LAWYERS TAKE TO THE STREETS OVER

Tags:  PGOV PREL KDEM KJUS MY 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8190
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #1458/01 2691210
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 261210Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0024
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUALA LUMPUR 001458 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KJUS MY
SUBJECT: MALAYSIA'S LAWYERS TAKE TO THE STREETS OVER
JUDICIAL CORRUPTION

REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 1446 (VIDEO OF JUDGE FIXING)


B. KUALA LUMPUR 1377 (POLICE BREAK UP OPPOSITION
RALLY)

Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark for
reasons 1.4 (b and d).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUALA LUMPUR 001458

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KJUS MY
SUBJECT: MALAYSIA'S LAWYERS TAKE TO THE STREETS OVER
JUDICIAL CORRUPTION

REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 1446 (VIDEO OF JUDGE FIXING)


B. KUALA LUMPUR 1377 (POLICE BREAK UP OPPOSITION
RALLY)

Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark for
reasons 1.4 (b and d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) With limited government response to the September 19
allegations of corruption and judge fixing (ref A),the
Malaysian Bar Council announced its intent to march on the
Prime Minister's office and demand the establishment of a
royal commission of inquiry. Malaysia's law minister quickly
defended the judiciary and castigated the Malaysian Bar for
siding with the opposition. In an effort to diffuse protest
actions, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the
appointment of an "independent panel" to investigate the
veracity of the now infamous VK Lingam tape. Malaysian Bar
members remained unsatisfied with the appointed panel and
claimed it fell short of what was really needed to restore
credibility to the judiciary. On September 26, some 2000
lawyers gathered in Putrajaya, defying police road blocks,
and marched on the Prime Minister's office and demanding the
appointment of a royal commission of inquiry. Bar council
leaders confide that they do not expect much action on the
issue and only expect that the government will have to deny
the Chief Justice's contract extension. The public protest
of so many professionals is a startling development in
Malaysia's staid political environment, and gives the
opposition a boost, with the likely effect of pushing back
the date for the national elections. End Summary.

Bar Accused of Supporting the Opposition
-------------- --------------


2. (U) Following the September 19 release of the now infamous
VK Lingam video tape (ref A) the Malaysian Bar Council began
calling for the establishment of a royal commission to
investigate the claims of judge fixing and endemic corruption
within Malaysia's judiciary. Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz made
no immediate rebuttal of the publicized charges. While the
issue brewed in the press and in the greater legal community,

the Chief Justice waited two days before faxing a letter to
the online news portal Malaysiakini merely stating he had "no
comment." Lacking an adequate GOM response, Bar Council
President Ambiga Sreenevasan announced on September 22 that
the Bar would sponsor a demonstration on September 26 styled
a "March for Justice" to petition the Government to establish
a Royal Commission to investigate the judiciary. In
announcing the demonstration, Ambiga stated: "We have gone
from one crisis to another since the 1988 judicial crisis.
It is time to confront fully and completely all the issues
that have arisen since then with a view to strengthen the
administration of justice."


3. (U) As word of the pending demonstration spread, de facto
law minister and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department
Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz took to the Chief Justice's defense.
Nazri announced to the press that he had received a phone
call from Fairuz denying his participation in the alleged
phone conversation. Nazri chided the media for "rumor
mongering" in giving widespread attention to the release of
the tape by Peoples' Justice Party leader Anwar Ibrahim. He
also attacked the Bar Council for planning a demonstration.
"Lawyers are officials of the court; they have a place in
society. They shouldn't behave like the opposition," Nazri
said. "Why do they want to lower their standard, unless they
want to show they are hostile (to the government) and (that
they) support the opposition," he concluded.


4. (U) In an open letter to the press, Bar Council President
Ambiga Sreenevasan quickly responded to Nazri's attack
against the Bar. "The Malaysian Bar stands up for justice,"
she wrote. "It is non-partisan and only issue oriented.
Justice is for all people, regardless of political
persuasions. The present situation is a matter of justice,
not politics. The expression of views seemingly contrary to
the government's position may be wrongly labeled as 'a
display of hostility; in autocratic countries, but in truth
(and in the free world) it is called democracy." Ambiga
reiterated the Bar's plans to hold the demonstration and
called the "independence of the Judiciary" an ideal which the
Bar must "cherish and be prepared to stand up for."

Government announces appointment of independent panel
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) In an apparent attempt to preempt the Bar Council's

KUALA LUMP 00001458 002 OF 003


"March for Justice" and calls for the establishment of a
royal commission of inquiry, Deputy Prime Minister Najib
Razak announced on September 25 that the government had
appointed a special independent panel to investigate the
authenticity of the tape. Najib announced that the
three-member panel would consist of former Chief Judge of
Malaya Haidar Mohd Noor, National Service Council chairman
Lee Lam Thye, and former Court of Appeal judge Mahadev
Shankar. Local commentators immediately mocked the
appointment of the panel. As one senior lawyer explained,
"Haidar was involved in the 1988 judicial crisis. Lee has no
legal training. Shankar served under Tun Eusoff Chin (former
Chief Justice accused of similarly conspiring with lawyer VK
Lingam) and also in the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the
black-eye incident involving the former Deputy Prime
Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim which only implicated the
then Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor, but
took no action against police officers who were present at
the time the former IGP Ramli assaulted Anwar."

Observers criticize government's "independent" panel
-------------- -------------- --


6. (SBU) Opposition parties naturally took issue with the
Government's response and complained that the panel was too
limited in scope and did not have full powers to summon
witnesses. Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang
joined the Bar Council in calling for a royal commission "to
conduct a full and comprehensive investigation to restore
public confidence in the judiciary." Anwar's wife,
parliamentarian Wan Azizah Wan Ismail agreed: "a
Cabinet-appointed panel with no actual legal power to do
investigation lacks the ability to properly investigate the
scandals exposed by the video or the video itself."


7. (SBU) Ambiga commented that the Bar welcomed the
government's move to set up an independent panel to look into
the Lingam tape, but stated the appointment fell short of
what was needed. "This shows that the government recognizes
that there is a problem. However, we still want a royal
commission of inquiry."

"Permits are for wimps"
--------------


8. (C) As the Bar continued its preparations for Wednesday's
"March for Justice," poloffs asked Bar Council vice-president
Ragunath Kesavan on September 24 if the Bar had secured a
permit from the police to hold their demonstration, given the
recent events in Terengganu (ref B). Without skipping a
beat, Ragunath responded, "permits are for wimps." Ragunath
announced the Bar Council would charter buses from Kuala
Lumpur to Putrajaya and that numerous NGOs had pledged to
join in support.

"I am here for my grandchildren"
-------------- --------------


9. (SBU) On Wednesday morning, September 26, lawyers from
around Kuala Lumpur and from as far away as Johor and Penang
began to assemble on the steps of the Palace of Justice in
Putrajaya to begin the "March for Justice." Police set
roadblocks along all the major exits leading to Putrajaya,
and eventually stopped seven bus loads of lawyers from
entering the administrative capital. Undeterred, the lawyers
unloaded the buses and began walking into town to participate
in the demonstration. Bloggers had styled the demonstration
the "Black and White March" after the typical dark suits and
white shirts traditionally worn by Malaysian attorneys, and
many prominent bloggers joined in solidarity with the Bar
Council. Poloffs overheard one blogger asking an elderly
woman attending the demonstration if she was a lawyer. "No, I
am not here because I am a lawyer," she replied, "I am here
for my grandchildren."

"When lawyers walk something's wrong"
--------------


10. (SBU) Delayed but not deterred by the police road blocks,
lawyers and activists trickled into Putrajaya. Many were
ferried from the stopped buses to the assembly area by those
who brought their private vehicles. Despite the presence of
riot police and police warnings that the group would not be
allowed to march from the Palace of Justice to the Prime
Minister's office, some 1500 meters away, the crowd of black
and white grew to nearly 2,000 supporters, most in suits and
ties. At 12:00 noon, Ambiga took a bull horn and announced:
"We walk peacefully and with dignity." She commented at how
proud she was of the number of lawyers who turned up and
declared that the demonstration was indeed "a walk for

KUALA LUMP 00001458 003 OF 003


justice" as Malaysia deserved "a first class judiciary."
"When lawyers walk," she added, "that means there is
something wrong."


11. (SBU) Unwilling to exacerbate the situation, the police
relented and some 2,000 people walked along the main
boulevard to the Prime Minister's Office. Riot police and
the police water cannon rolled in trucks along side and
eventually deployed in front of the PM's office, and despite
the constant buzzing of a police helicopter there was never
any threat of police interference nor of violence among the
demonstrators. Many demonstrators carried banners or
placards saying "Save the Judicary," "Stop the Rot," "Say no
to corruption," and "The People are the Nation's Judge," but
most simply walked in their white shirts and dark suits.


12. (SBU) Eventually Ambiga, Ragunath and two other senior
Bar Council members were allowed to enter the Prime
Minister's Office and deliver their petition to PM Abdullah's
political secretary Wan Farid. (Abdullah was out of the
country for the UN General Assembly in New York.) Despite a
heavy rain that set in after the crowd reached their
destination, over 1,000 demonstrators remained on the main
square until the delegation returned from their meeting.

Malay lawyers stay away
--------------


13. (SBU) Many observers recognized and lamented to poloffs
that the majority of those attending the march were
non-Malays. Muslim lawyer and social activist Latifah Koya
told poloffs that the UMNO sponsored Malaysian Muslim Lawyers
Association had initially sent out a notice to its members
not to attend the march. But, she added, "it is encouraging
to see at least 10 per cent of those who turned out were
young Malay lawyers."

Comment
--------------


14. (C) Despite government attempts to diffuse this most
recent judicial crisis, it has not slipped quietly out of the
news. The Bar Council's leadership has confided in us that
they clearly do not expect the government to appoint a royal
commission, and they, too, expect the government to simply
not extend Fairuz's contract as Chief Justice. Nevertheless,
the government has clearly been forced to devote more
attention to this matter than would have been preferred, and
the impact may be felt in a push back in the date for the
national election. Opposition parliamentarians told us that
elections seem less likely to happen before the New Year, as
Abdullah's government will necessarily have to circle the
wagons and appear to be more proactive in addressing
corruption.


15. (C) The peaceful marching of some 2,000 lawyers and their
supporters in Malaysia's administrative capital to protest
judicial corruption may not seem significant by regional
standards, but it is a startling event in Malaysia's recent
staid political history for professionals to take to the
streets in such numbers. We can anticipate the political
opposition, which is struggling for focus and a means to
reach the voters, will try to take full advantage of this
public display of protest, even while the Bar Council
approaches the issue as a matter of justice, not politics.
KEITH