royal commission for anwar case?

Another royal commission of inquiry for the sex is not required, as suggested by Bar Council..

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Published: Saturday April 9, 2011 MYT 5:22:00 PM
Updated: Saturday April 9, 2011 MYT 6:57:49 PM

Bar Council questions calls for RCI on sex video

KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has questioned calls by various quarters for the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to probe the sex video clip allegedly implicating Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Malaysian Bar president Lim Chee Wee described the calls as "misguided" as under the Commissions of Enquiry Act 1950, an RCI was usually set up to enquire into matters of unarguable public importance, commonly involving or implicating public institutions having authority over some aspects of the lives or the welfare of citizens.

He said RCIs had been set up in the past to investigate the conduct and functioning of public institutions such as the police and judiciary, in relation to the nude ear squat issue and VK Lingam video clip.

"Viewed against this backdrop, it is not surprising that the sudden enthusiasm displayed in the call for an RCI in this instance (sex video) raises a serious sense of skepticism and indignation in the minds of many enlightened Malaysians," he said in a statement.

Additionally, he said the establishment of an RCI to probe the sex video would invoke more questions in people's minds than the suggested exercise might hope to answer. As such, Lim said the Bar Council called on the government to restore its proper sense of priority and to channel its energy, resources and political will in ways that would truly benefit the people.

On Friday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had said the Cabinet had decided to wait for a police investigation on the sex video clip to be completed before considering an RCI. He said that the police probe would determine the authenticity of the video and identify the characters in it.

"The government would then consider setting up a royal commission, should there be a dispute over the outcome of that investigation," he had said.