KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — The Malaysian Bar today clarified that its march to the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya next Monday is not meant to protest the government’s decision to not extend the tenure of the two highest-ranking judges in Malaysia.
Instead, the Malaysian Bar said the upcoming “Walk to Safeguard Judicial Independence” is about defending the independence of the judiciary as an institution.
In a press statement today, Malaysian Bar president Mohamad Ezri Abdul Wahab said it was misleading to describe the walk as a protest against the government’s decision not to extend the tenures of the former Chief Justice of Malaysia (CJ) and the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA).
Last week, Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim retired as both the CJ and PCA, as they had reached the mandatory retirement age for judges at 66 years old and they had not been given a six-month extension.
“The Walk is not about individuals; it is a stand for institutional integrity,” Ezri said.
On behalf of the Malaysian Bar, Ezri said: “Let there be no misunderstanding: The Malaysian Bar walks not in protest of individuals, but in defence of the institution.”
Among other things, Ezri said the Malaysian Bar’s walk is for the sake of justice and also for the public.
Ezri explained that the Bar Council — acting on a mandate given by Malaysian Bar members in the Bar’s 79th annual general meeting (AGM) on March 15 — had decided to organise next Monday’s walk after carefully thinking about it.
The Malaysian Bar said the walk is aimed at expressing grave institutional concerns about the state of the judiciary, prolonged vacancies, the need for leadership continuity, and to call for reforms to safeguard the judiciary’s independence.
The Malaysian Bar said its focus is on structural and systemic issues affecting the judiciary.
It said recent developments have raised deep concerns, referring to examples such as alleged unexplained delays in appointments to fill up vacancies in the courts and alleged possible interference in judicial affairs.
Stressing the need to protect the judiciary from external influence, Ezri said the upcoming walk is a “lawful, peaceful and symbolic act of civic responsibility”.
“This is not just a Walk for lawyers; it is a Walk for the Judiciary, the Bar, and for every Malaysian who values justice. When judicial independence is weakened, the whole nation suffers,” he said.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Bar informed its 23,000-odd members that the peaceful walk will start at 2pm on July 14 from the Palace of Justice’s (POJ) main entrance, with lawyers to trek 2.6km to the Prime Minister’s Office to hand over a memorandum on judicial independence and the judiciary.
