KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): A lawyer representing Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in a court case was today asked to try to help get the government to hasten Covid-19 vaccination for court staff.
High Court judge Datuk Mohd Firuz Jaffril made the request to lawyer Rosli Dahlan, who is acting for the prime minister in his defamation suit against UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Puad Zarkashi.
Puad’s lawyers had earlier applied to the court to postpone today’s hearing of his application to set aside the interim injunction obtained by Muhyiddin against the UMNO politician for alleged false and defamatory statements.
They told the judge that the politician’s lead counsel G Rajasingam is asthmatic and in view of the high number of Covid-19 infections, the court should consider a virtual hearing instead of a physical hearing.
Muhyiddin’s lawyers led by Datuk DP Naban and Rosli replied that they had no objection to the request.
Following this, Justice Firuz agreed to defer the hearing to June 11 and extend the interim injunction granted to Muhyiddin.
The judge then turned to Rosli, as the prime minister’s lawyer, to stress that court staff should be regarded as frontliners and be given priority in receiving Covid-19 vaccination.
“If judges and court staff are vaccinated then they too would not be afraid to face counsel, witnesses and accused persons,” he said.
Rosli answered that he is not a representative of the government but will use whatever little goodwill he has as the prime minister’s lawyer to raise the matter with Putrajaya.
It was previously reported that Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed contracted Covid-19 last month and was warded at the Sungai Buloh Hospital for treatment. Justice Azahar was said to have recovered earlier this month.
Malaysian Bar president AG Kalidas issued a statement today hoping that judges and members of the legal profession be prioritised for vaccination.
“This is particularly true for those who are involved in the criminal justice system.”
“Lawyers who provide legal representation to accused individuals who are brought in from prison or detention centres may face a higher risk of contracting the virus. This is due to the living conditions of inmates which may be a hotbed for transmission. Judges and judicial and legal officers also face a heightened risk of contracting the virus due to the front-facing nature of their jobs,” Kalidas said in a statement.
On Feb 9, Puad made various Facebook postings titled “Kuarantin pun ada dua darjat” (Double standards of quarantine), alleging that Muhyiddin and his entourage had caused a ruckus at the airport, upon returning from an official visit to Indonesia, by refusing to be quarantined.
Puad also claimed that a government gazette dated Feb 8 to shorten cabinet ministers’ quarantine period was passed to reduce Muhyiddin’s quarantine period.
The Prime Minister’s Office on Feb 9 issued a statement saying that Puad’s allegations were false and without basis as the prime minister and his entourage were at the time serving a full quarantine period.
Muhyiddin’s lawyers on March 1 launched a defamation suit and obtained an interim injunction against Puad.
Three days later, Puad deleted all his Facebook postings but insisted that he would fight to remove the injunction but failed to do so on March 12 when the injunction was further extended until today to allow both parties to exhaust their affidavits.
