KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 — Tan Sri Muhd Shafee Abdullah’s call for action against the Bar Council for criticising the sodomy prosecution against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim he led was an attempt to undermine the independence of the professional body, lawmakers said.

DAP’s Kluang MP and national political education director Liew Chin Tong said it has been a “national sport” for the ruling administration to attack the Bar Council, especially since the 1987 judicial crisis during the Mahathir administration that witnessed the removal of Tun Salleh Abas as Lord President of the Supreme Court.

“But he (Shafee) is not prepared to address the points raised by (Bar Council president) Christopher Leong on the Anwar Ibrahim case. Why can’t Shafee just respond to those legal points?” Liew told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

At a forum organised by Umno Youth on Tuesday, Shafee claimed the Bar Council was now a “political animal” and urged the government to take “drastic action” to neutralise its alleged bias towards the opposition.

He also claimed that Leong was in contempt of court for his remarks on the prosecution, alleging that these suggested that Federal Court judges were incapable of impartial conduct in their handling of Anwar’s trial.

A day after Anwar’s sodomy conviction, Leong said “glaring anomalies” in the prosecution of the federal opposition leader fuelled suspicion that case was one of political persecution, but reserved comment on the judgment itself.

The Bar Council chief noted that Anwar’s accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, was remarkably not charged despite the decision to prosecute Anwar for consensual anal sex.

Liew countered that it was Shafee who was in contempt for impugning the legal system with his continued public attacks on Anwar despite already securing the latter’s conviction.

“What he said last night (Tuesday night) is sufficient grounds for a judicial review of the case. And if anyone is to be cited for contempt of court, he is the candidate. He has made a mockery of Malaysia’s judicial processes, of which the AG’s chamber is part of,” he said.

PAS’s Parit Buntar MP, Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, said the Bar Council was simply critiquing Anwar’s case, and defended it against Shafee’s allegation of bias.

“They are criticising the legal aspects and its workings, not because they are supporting the opposition… Shafee should be more mature,” he said.

PKR vice-president and Batu MP, Chua Tian Chang noted that Shafee’s posturing went against how a civil democratic system and the courts should operate in defending and protecting individual liberties.

DAP’s Segambut MP, Lim Lip Eng said both he and party colleague cum Ipoh Timur MP Thomas Su are mulling over whether they will lodge a complaint with the Malaysian Bar’s disciplinary committee over Shafee’s statements and conduct after the apex court’s conviction of Anwar.

“As a member of the Bar himself, he could easily raise this issue in Bar AGM or EGM. Why didn’t he? Why only do it in a Umno forum?” he said.

Last week, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful, and sentenced the Permatang Pauh lawmaker to five years’ jail.

Anwar will be disqualified as MP and federal opposition leader within 14 days of his conviction unless he files a petition seeking a royal pardon.