The findings of a Royal Commission into judicial corruption are about to be made public in Malaysia and the Cabinet has pre-empted the findings recomending investigations against six officials, including Dr Mahathir.
Presenter: Bill Bainbridge
Speakers: Karpal Singh, Lawyer and MP for the opposition Democratic Action Party; Khoo Kay Peng, political commentator; Ambiga Sreenevasan, President Malaysia's Bar Council.
BAINBRIDGE: Mahathir Mohamad is becoming increasingly frustrated. The man who ruled Malaysia for 22 years has quit the party he once lead after spending most of the past few years at bitter odds with his chosen successor. Now, after being a party member since UMNO's inception in 1946, Dr Mahathir is calling on other members to quit and to join the opposition.
The last straw may well have been the Malaysian cabinet's decision on Friday to order an investigation into its former leader over a judicial scandal.
A Royal Commission into the scandal has been probing allegations of dubious appointments of judges while Dr Mahathir was in power. With its findings set to be made public the government has ordered its chief prosecutor to investigate six people, including Dr Mahathir and two top judges, for possible criminal offences.
Opposition MP Karpal Singh says the Royal Commission's findings are being used by the current Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi to try to neutralize the constant criticism from his predecessor.
SINGH: It's designed for that purpose and rightly so because a lot of things were in fact swept under the carpet during Dr Mahathir's time. Instead the then Attorney General had to close all the files on what is now becoming quite apparent, so there's no doubt about it, I think they have been at each other's throats for quite some time now. I'm sure the present Prime Minister has got his own agenda.
BAINBRIDGE: Dr Mahathir has stepped up his campaign against his successor since UMNO suffered disastrous losses in the election six weeks ago, almost costing them government.
While he has tried to use his influence to oust Abdullah Badawi, political commentator Khoo Kay Peng says he may still command respect but he no longer has the authority to act as kingmaker within the party.
PENG: The party's leadership is still quite reluctant to take any form of action against Mahathir. One of the reasons is because I think Mahathir is held in high regard within the party. He has influence definitely but not necessarily people will listen to his so-called suggestions and directives. And one of the directives that is definitely not followed up by a great number of leaders in UMNO is to topple Abdullah Badawi.
BAINBRIDGE: When the Royal Commision's findings were leaked to a government aligned newspaper last week it was seen by some as a measure designed to embarass the former PM.
But Malaysian Bar Council President, Ambiga Sreenevasan, disagrees.
SREENEVASAN: The leaking of the report to the press to me actually it is not a mystery issue because it's going to be made public anyway and don't forget we have been calling for it to be made public. A lot of the members of the public and a lot of organisations have been calling for it to be made public. So I would disagree that it's being politicised.
BAINBRIDGE: And she says the cabinet really had no choice but to order an investigation.
SREENEVASAN: The cabinet position is really based on what the royal commission has said and quite frankly I don't think the public would have expected anything less than that in relation to the issue of investigation and prosecution. Obviously sufficient evidence has to be found where it is lacking. In some instances the commission has said there is sufficient evidence, in other instances they have said it should be investigated.
BAINBRIDGE: Dr Mahathir responded with typical bravado saying he would welcome an opportunity to go to court and threatening to reveal a great deal more about Malaysia's judiciary.
For his part Karpal Singh says the royal commission's findings are only the first step.
SINGH: The royal commission has only made recommendations, that doesn't take us very far. It is the directive to the Attorney General which will bear fruit, or rather the Attorney General taking an active or rather ordering an active investigation which will ultimately reveal the truth. And that is what we will be pushing for in parliament.
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