The Bar was also concerned that it could be called as a witness should a legal suit be filed as a result of the report by the special task force.
“This decision was made by the Bar Council back in February 2022, even before the declassification of the report by the task force and the legal suit by Thomas against the task force,” Bar president Karen Cheah said in a statement.
Cheah said the Bar’s stance on the matter was justified following the declassification of the report and Thomas’ subsequent lawsuit.
Her comments come days after law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar slammed her for questioning the impartiality of the task force, saying it was “baseless and inaccurate”.
Wan Junaidi said to question the impartiality of the task force while refusing to participate “should not be the Bar’s way to confront issues of this kind.”
Cheah tonight also said it was not entirely accurate to say that “the Bar was not keen to participate” as stated in the task force’s report.
Neither is it accurate to state that the Malaysian Bar had “failed” or “refused” to participate, without considering or taking into account the context as to how and why the Malaysian Bar’s non-participation came about.
The Malaysian Bar maintains that there is no correlation between not participating in the task force and the right to question the legitimacy and legal standing of the task force.
“Declining to participate in the task force does not preclude the Malaysian Bar from expressing its views on the legitimacy of the task force.”
The task force was established by the Cabinet last December to investigate allegations of judicial interference, exposure of government secrets, abuse of power, professional negligence and seditious statements in Thomas’ book, “My Story: Justice In The Wilderness” published in January 2021.
The report was declassified and Thomas has since filed a suit against a special task force and the government, alleging that their publication of a report on his memoir was a breach of law and his constitutional rights.