PM must make Lingam report public
Malaysiakini.com
May 15, 2008 

Civil society group Aliran urges Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to make public the Lingam Tape royal commission report when the cabinet meets tomorrow.
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In a statement today, Aliran president P Ramakrishnan said Abdullah does not have an option but is instead obligated to make public the report.

vk lingam judge fixing 161107 abdullah badawi royal commission"It concerns the nation. The citizens are the stakeholders. As such, it cannot be left to one individual to decide whether this nation should have access to the information disclosed in the report," he added.

Abdullah and his cabinet would deliberate on whether to release the report at their weekly meeting on Friday.

Previously, the prime minister said that he had to read the report first before deciding on whether to publicise it.

Not his privilege

Citing the case of former High Court Judge Syed Ahmad Idid who tried to expose judicial corruption in a 33-page letter in1996, Ramakrishnan said the government failed to capitalise on the allegations and restore the integrity of the judiciary.

"That episode was buried by a sham investigation by someone who thundered that he would get to the bottom of the truth: ‘we will ferret them out, whoever they are, and bring them to justice,’ so proudly promised the former attorney-general.

"The truth was never allowed to prevail because (Syed Ahmad) himself had been implicated in the sordid affairs of the judiciary. They put the lid on the expose and forced the whistleblower to resign in spite of the ‘highly seditious, defamatory and derisive allegations against certain judges.’

"There were, according to the then A-G, ‘112 allegations against 12 judges: 21 were allegations pertaining to abuse of power, 39 corruption and 52 misconduct, immorality and personal attacks.’

"And yet the whole case was hushed up!" said Ramakrishnan.

He said the Lingam Tape episode must not similarly be swept under the carpet and therefore it was crucial that the royal commission report be made public.

"The contents do not concern this one man (Abdullah). Therefore it is not his privilege or prerogative to decide whether to make the report public," he added.

The royal commission was established last year to probe the veracity of a video clip allegedly depicting lawyer VK Lingam brokering judicial appointments with a top-ranking judge.

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