MP urges protection for judges when hearing trials involving govt lawmakers like Najib, Zahid; minister says no complaints of threats

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — There have been no complaints of threats towards the safety of judges in Malaysia, minister Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said today.

Takiyuddin, the minister in the prime minister’s department in charge of Parliament and law, said there were no clear threats against judges’ safety.

“About the protection of judges, so far in our country, we are grateful that there are no obvious threats towards judges as the citizens of Malaysia respect judges.

“So far, there are no cases involving any threats at all that were reported by judges, and we are confident that this is thanks to the peace and harmony of our country,” he said.

Takiyuddin was responding to DAP’s Jelutong MP RSN Rayer, who had questioned the reduction in allocation of government funds for the protection division under the judicial and legal services section in the Prime Minister’s Department’s budget for 2021 as compared to the 2020 allocation.

Urging for sufficient protection to be given to judges, Rayer went on to highlight that key MPs from the ruling Perikatan Nasional coalition were facing criminal trials in court.

“Just now, Padang Rengas MP (Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz) said the trial of important cases involving Pekan, Bagan Datuk, Baling MPs — all are backbenchers from Perikatan Nasional. I don’t want the judges to be worried about their safety. The safety of this country’s judges cannot be compromised,” he said when pressing for an explanation on the reduced financial allocations by the government raised by him.

In his Budget 2021 debate at the committee stage on the Prime Minister’s Department’s allocation, Rayer was referring to Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is a former prime minister, Bagan Datuk MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is a former deputy prime minister, and Baling MP Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim.

Takiyuddin however clarified to him that the protection division in the Prime Minister’s Department relates to the protection of protected witnesses under the Witness Protection Act 2009 for those who face threats to their safety before they become witnesses, instead of the protection of judges.