'Cite Nazri for contempt for attack on judge'

An opposition leader today urged attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail to initiate contempt proceedings against Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang said the minister, who also oversees legal affairs, should be brought to book for his caustic remarks concerning high court judge Lau Bee Lan, who made the controversial ‘Allah' ruling.

In a statement, Lim condemned Nazri (right) for "(attacking) the independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism" of a judge.

"Nazri launched a most improper, unwarranted and unprecedented attack on Lau, not only saying that her Dec 31 decision was wrong, but also maligning and besmirching her judicial competence and role by declaring that she is not a Muslim and had improperly ruled over a matter that concerned the ‘akidah' (faith) of the Muslim community.

"This is the first time that I know of a judge being attacked on the ground of her religious credentials rather than her judicial competence and temper - and coming from the de facto law minister, it must be regarded most seriously as a totally unacceptable attack on the independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism of the judiciary," he said.

Responding to an article published in an online news portal, Lim said when asked if he had read Lau's written grounds of judgement last week, Nazri responded: "You must study the psyche of the Malays. The Chinese can be Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, no problem, but the Malays, the race itself is defined in the constitution."

Nazri then went on to say, "Who is a Malay? In the constitution, a Malay is one: a Muslim; two: speaks Malay and three: practises Malay culture. In the constitution, there can't be a Malay who is not a Muslim. Anything at all, any suspicion will confuse the ordinary Malays. They become so protective because Malay and Islam cannot be separate."

Dangerous perversion

Describing the minister's remarks as "a dangerous perversion and subversion of the constitution," Lim questioned if Nazri was suggesting a new law where non-Muslim and non-Malay judges are barred from adjudicating cases that concern the ‘akidah' of the Muslim community and the Malay psyche.

"Fifty-two years after Merdeka and 46 years after the formation of Malaysia, is the country going backwards with a further dichotomy of the judicial system where (certain) cases (are) to be adjudicated solely by judges who fulfill the two conditions of being Muslim and Malay?" he asked.

Lim (left) also called on MCA, Gerakan, MIC, Sabah/Sarawak Barisan Nasional and other Umno ministers to either endorse Nazri or get the cabinet to repudiate his stand that it is too late for inter-religious dialogue to resolve the "Allah" controversy.

Throwing another challenge, the opposition leader asked if there were ministers prepared to resign on a matter of principle if the cabinet refused to repudiate and dissociate itself from Nazri's stand.

He also questioned why Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's administration is talking about inter-religious dialogue and council if the Herald controversy is to be completely excluded on the ground that "it is too late".

Instead, Lim is adamant that the issue should be the first priority item of the agenda.

He added that what is at stake here is no less than Najib's 1Malaysia, which is now facing its most critical test.