FORMER A-G DENIES USING DR M’S NAME WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE
Ex-PM agreed to setting up of tribunal that fired former lord president, says former A-G
FORMER attorney-general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was involved in the sacking of former lord president Tun Salleh Abas, in 1988.
Abu Talib said the 1988 Constitutional Crisis was made possible via a tribunal that received the consent of then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the late Sultan Iskandar Sultan Ismail.
“It is untrue to say that I had used Dr Mahathir’s name without his knowledge. At the time, I had advised him that removing an active chief justice could not be done without following the Federal Constitution.
“I also reminded Dr Mahathir that as the prime minister, he has a responsibility to protect and uphold the Federal Constitution.”
Abu Talib said Salleh’s removal could be done only via Article 125 (3) of the Federal Constitution, which requires a tribunal to be set up to establish whether any misconduct had taken place before the chief justice could be sacked.
“The tribunal can be established only on a representation by the prime minister to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“And as Dr Mahathir and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong agreed that action should be taken, I drafted the necessary papers for the establishment of the tribunal.”
He added that communications with the palace to inform them of the establishment of the tribunal were handled by the Prime Minister’s Office.
“In this matter, the names of the prime minister and his office were used as the Federal Constitution states that a tribunal can be formed only via a representation made by the prime minister.
“This happened in 1988, and we cannot expect Dr Mahathir to re“Even member every single piece of information concerning what happened at that time,” he said. Abu Talib was AG from 1980 to 1993.
Dr Mahathir first made his claim that Salleh was sacked for complaining about the construction din at the king’s private home in his autobiography, A Doctor In The House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in 2011.
Dr Mahathir had denied removing Salleh, along with five Supreme Court judges, as a retaliation against the court for having declared Umno illegal after the 1987 party election, which saw Dr Mahathir narrowly beating Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
The removal of Salleh and suspension of five Supreme Court (as the the apex court was called at the time) judges were the height of the judicial crisis in 1988.
Salleh had reportedly written to the then-Yang di-Pertuan Agong on behalf of the judiciary, expressing disappointment with the accusations made by Dr Mahathir against the judiciary.
In the same year, the Federal Constitution was amended to remove the term “judicial power” from Article 121(1), subordinating the judiciary to Parliament.
The procedure removing the sitting lord president is prescribed in Article 125(3) of the Federal Constitution, which states that a tribunal must be set up to enquire whether there is a case of misconduct or inability from infirmity of body or mind or any other cause before carrying out the removal.
It was a six-member tribunal, chaired by Supreme Court judge and former lord president Tun Hamid Omar, that sacked Salleh.