Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al Mahdzar also rubbished any need for a tribunal on the issue, saying the call for such a panel was motivated by race and religion.
“The call to establish a tribunal to try the chief justice is misconceived as dancing at a social event is not judicial misconduct,” he told FMT.
Syed Iskandar was responding to the Muslim Lawyers Association of Malaysia (PPMM), which had suggested that the prime minister recommend that the king set up a tribunal to take action against Richard Malanjum for dancing at the opening of the Sabah and Sarawak legal year in Kota Kinabalu.
PPMM president Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar said the king had the authority to sack a judge if the tribunal found him in breach of ethics or guilty of any other acts warranting action under the law.
However, Syed Iskandar questioned where Rijal and PPMM had been when then-chief justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim asked his judges and registrars to dance and sing in the presence of lawyers at a judges’ conference in Kota Bahru.
“Similarly, where was PPMM when then attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali danced in public with Barisan Nasional and Umno Cabinet members?”
Syed Iskandar said the mindset of the legal fraternity in East Malaysia differed from the communal and religious extremism which he claimed formed part of PPMM’s doctrine.
“Other commonwealth jurisdictions will laugh at us if a tribunal is set up,” he added.
He suggested that PPMM concentrate on making known its views on incompetent judges who fail to deliver their written judgments.
“Article 125 can be used to discipline judges who refuse to write their grounds of judgments, not those who indulge in social activities in the open,” he said.
The issue surfaced following a video clip which showed Malanjum, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak David Wong Dak Wah, Attorney-General Tommy Thomas and de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong dancing to the tune of “Let’s Twist Again” at the event organised by the Sabah Law Society (SLS) on Friday.
Other notable personalities on stage were former Malaysian Bar presidents Ambiga Sreenevasan and Christopher Leong, and lawyer-activist Siti Kasim.
Rijal had said Malanjum, Wong, Thomas and Liew should have rejected the offer when they were invited to the stage.
However, SLS president Brenndon Soh said it was disappointing that certain groups were attempting to politicise the matter.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of legal affairs Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said the incident had been blown out of proportion although everyone had the right to express their views.
Hanipa, a former lawyer, said the function was just another tradition of the legal fraternity whose other customs, sometimes regarded as “very English”, include a “call to the Bar” by trainee solicitors and using expressions like “my learned friend” in court.
“Yes, I admit it may look a bit Western and may be seen by the ‘holier-than-thou’ as not shariah-compliant,” he said.
PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said members of the judiciary must be mindful of their conduct, while Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin recalled criticism against Apandi for dancing with ministers.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla meanwhile said Malanjum and Thomas dancing together with the executive could have a negative impact on the perception of judicial independence.
“Dancing with Liew could create the perception that the separation of powers between the judiciary, the attorney-general and the executive has been compromised,” he said.