KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim reiterated the government's commitment to not encroach into judicial matters and to defend the independence of the judiciary at all costs.
Anwar said in the past, some people in the judiciary system had abused their power, causing harm to the institution and contributing to tyranny and unfairness.
This, he added, has brought about concerns among the people that the current executive arm would engage in similar acts.
To this, he vehemently denied.
"There was a time in our nation's history where certain black sheep of the judiciary, working hand in glove with certain powers that be, committed gross transgressions against its very institution, bringing infamy and disrepute on the one hand and feeding the virulent spread of tyranny and arbitrariness, on the other.
"Trust me, this was certainly no enlightened despotism.
"Today, and of late, we hear disconcerting rumblings – not necessarily reflective of the majority – that the executive arm of the state organs is committing the same shenanigans, interfering with due process and strongly arming the judiciary.
"There is not one iota of truth in these scurrilous allegations, which are now being repeated ad nauseum in the social media," he said at the 14th Asean Law Association (Ala) General Assembly and the Asean Law Conference 2023.
Also present were Law and Institutional Reform Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said and Asean Law Association (Ala) Malaysia president and Chief of Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.
Anwar also emphasised the importance of an independent, impartial and competent judiciary.
"Let me reiterate what I have said before: As Prime Minister, not only have I not encroached upon even a single inch of the sacred terrain of the judiciary, but I shall defend, at all costs, the independence of the judiciary."
