Paying tribute: Tengku Maimun (second from left) viewing the special exhibition of the reference proceedings for the late Salleh at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. — Bernama
PUTRAJAYA: Judges, in all circumstances, must be faithful to the Federal Constitution and be resolute in upholding the rule of law.
Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tun Mat said there were lessons to be learnt from the events of 1988 which “infamously led to the upheaval of the nation’s judicial system and a shattering blow to the judiciary and the Constitution”.
Speaking at the reference proceedings yesterday to honour the memory of former Lord President, the late Tun Dr Mohamed Salleh Abas, she said 1988 would always be remembered as the darkest chapter in the history of the Malaysian judiciary.
It was then that its independence, vouchsafed by the Federal Constitution, was stunned by the removal of Salleh as Lord President.
Tengku Maimun said the 1988 episode should be taken as a lesson by judges because, despite attempts to undermine the independence of the judiciary, judges must always be faithful to the Federal Constitution and be resolute, Bernama reported.
In paying tribute to Salleh, Tengku Maimun said the former Lord President was a great and courageous legal luminary who had staunchly defended the Constitution and championed the judiciary’s independence to the very end.
She said Salleh had said that judges must observe and respect the concept of separation of powers and should not encroach into the domain of the executive or the legislative branches of the government.
Salleh had acknowledged that it was the role of the judiciary to invalidate any acts of the executive or the legislative using prerogative writs or declarations should they transgress their powers beyond the limits granted to them by the Constitution.
During Salleh’s tenure as Lord President, the Malaysian judiciary was hailed as a model for other countries in terms of the independence of credibility of the judiciary, she said.
Seven months before his death on Jan 16 last year, the judiciary invited Salleh to the Palace of Justice to commemorate him as a special feature in the Malaysian Judicial Yearbook.
Tengku Maimun said Salleh had repeatedly said it had always been his fervent hope to address the Bench or at the very least to have a simple do, to mark his departure as the Lord President.
“For the past few decades since his removal, he said there was no closure for him. He never got the chance to bid goodbye to the court staff, the judiciary and the legal fraternity. The evening ended with a simple send-off ceremony for Tun Salleh,” she said.
“Little did we know that that evening would be our final parting.”
The reference proceeding was chaired by Tengku Maimun, who sat on the bench with Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf, Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Parliament and Law Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin and 39 members of Salleh’s family were at the reference proceeding, a time-honoured tradition held in remembrance of departed members of the legal fraternity.
Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun and the Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah, as well as Salleh’s grandaughter Nuralissa Norrazak, also delivered speeches.
Salleh, from Kampung Raja in Besut, Terengganu, died at the age of 91 last year at Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah in Kuala Terengganu, two days after he tested positive for Covid-19.
He served as Lord President for four years from 1984 before being removed in 1988 during a constitutional crisis when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed was the prime minister.
He then joined politics and won the Jertih state seat in Terengganu on a PAS ticket in 1999.
After quitting politics, Salleh practised law and appeared frequently in the Federal Court and Court of Appeal.
