Malaysia says to review judiciary, seeks apology

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has signaled it would clean up the judiciary and apologize to a former chief judge in the first policy reforms since the government suffered a shock setback in March 8 election, a newspaper said on Sunday.

The country's newly named law minister told the New Sunday Times in an interview that he would propose setting up a body to consider the appointment and promotion of judges to help ensure an independent judiciary.

The reputation of the judiciary has been under question since the late 1980s, when the head of the Supreme Court, Mohamad Salleh Abbas, was removed from office after a clash between then premier Mahathir Mohamad and the judiciary.

Mahathir also introduced constitutional changes in 1988 that limited judicial power and, critics say, effectively ensured that government decisions could be protected from legal challenge.

Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim told the newspaper he would propose to the government that it apologize to Salleh and other judges who had been sacked.

"I'm saying it's clear to everyone, to the world, that serious transgressions had been committed by the previous administration," said Zaid, a prominent lawyer himself.

"I believe the prime minister is big enough and man enough to say that we had done wrong to these people and we are sorry," he added.

But he said the government would not re-open Salleh's case despite calls by lawyers for an impartial review of the case.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, trying to shore up support after the devastating electoral setback, has tapped Zaid, who ran the country's biggest law firm, to help rebuild confidence in the judiciary.

Zaid said the appointments and promotion of judges would be institutionalized to ensure greater transparency.

"There is no more place for one man to decide in the secrecy of his room," he said.

The judiciary came under the spotlight in recent months after the opposition released a video purporting to show a senior lawyer boasting to a judge of his ability to fix judicial appointments.

A royal commission of inquiry, set up to investigate the case, has yet to release its findings.

(Reporting by Jalil Hamid; Editing by Bill Tarrant)