KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asserted in court today that he has been “completely misunderstood” as praising his own performance in leading the prosecution against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the Sodomy II appeal before the Federal Court last year.

In his defamation testimony, the prominent lawyer insisted that the question he was asked during a public forum after the apex court case, on how he had handled Anwar’s 14 defence lawyers, should be considered.

“How could I be praising myself when I said I’m especially more scared of young lawyers?” he asked, referring to his answer in the forum that the actual danger was one-to-one legal battles with lawyers, particularly the younger ones who would be very thorough.

Shafee was quizzed in court on various remarks he had made in a February 17 public forum organised by Umno, where he had said among other things that Anwar’s massive legal team was a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

He denied “running down” Anwar’s defence lawyers in the high-profile sodomy case, pointing out that the late Karpal Singh and others had not complained against the alleged insults.

“Not true. And if I may add, none of the defence team had ever written to me or verbally spoken to me that I had run them down, not even the late Karpal or Datuk Gopal Sri Ram.

“If they feel insulted, I think they should complain rather than the Bar,” he told the High Court here as he denied running down Anwar’s defence team.

When it was later suggested that Shafee had demeaned Anwar’s defence team through the talk, he replied: “I disagree because I said the same thing in open court to them.”

While cross-examining Shafee, defence lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan pointed out that there was media coverage and live online streaming of the Kelana Jaya forum, and asked: “Publicity is something you have no problem with?”

“I have no problem,” he replied Ambiga, indicating he believed that the more people heard what he had to say, the better it would be.

Shafee was testifying in his defamation suit against two senior lawyers — Tommy Thomas and Tan Sri VC George over their proposed motion for last year’s Malaysian Bar AGM to censure Shafee’s conduct following Anwar’s February 10 sodomy conviction.

Shafee claimed the published motion was intended to damage his reputation, citing among other things the motion’s accusation against him of drawing attention to his prowess allegedly as a top-rate prosecutor and demeaning Anwar and his legal team, and the way the defence was conducted.

The motion had accused Shafee of giving interviews to the media on his performance prosecutor as well as participating in a nationwide roadshow with a political party, with the purpose of insulting a convicted prisoner and for bringing attention to his role in the conviction.

The motion urged the Malaysian Bar to pass a resolution to condemn Shafee’s behaviour, also urging the incoming Bar Council to lodge a complaint with the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board and to take further steps in order to prevent Shafee from “continuing to bring the legal profession into disrepute.”

On February 10, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s conviction of Anwar for sodomising his former political aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, also retaining a five-year jail sentence on the PKR de facto leader.

The hearing before High Court judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah for Shafee’s defamation suit against Tommy, George, the Malaysian Bar and its former president Christopher Leong resumes tomorrow morning.