Court critics be patient: Mahathir

Court critics be patient: Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia's newly appointed chief judge must be given a fair chance to clean up the country's tarnished judiciary, the national news agency reported on Thursday.

"People must give some leeway," he said, asking critics to watch and wait as Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, who took office on Dec. 20, begins his term.

"There may be charges (against the judiciary) but they (judges) are not angels. They are not people who are perfect. So, they have their problems," Mahathir was also quoted as saying.

The interview, carried by the Bernama news agency, is the closest Mahathir has come to admitting a problem exists within the nation's judiciary,

The integrity of Malaysian courts came under serious question at home and abroad after the trials of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has been found guilty of sodomy and corruption and sentenced to 15 years in jail.