KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 - The newly-elected chairman of the Parliamentary Caucus on the Integrity and Independence of the Judiciary wants Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi to include the promotion of judges among the key responsibilities of the soon-to-be-formed Judicial Appointments Committee (JAC).

“What we want is not only the appointment of judges… but also the promotion of judges, especially in light of the appointment of Tan Sri Zaki as Chief Justice,” said Karpal Singh, its first chairman.

He added: “You can’t have independence of the judiciary with a former Umno disciplinary head in it, whatever he may say.”

Zaki was a former legal advisor with Umno. He catapulted into infamy as the newly-appointed Chief Justice early this month.His fast-moving career had broken many norms, raising eyebrows and causing many tongues to wag at the perceived irregularity within the judicial promotion system. He was a lawyer last year until September when he was promoted to become a Federal Court judge and subsequently Court of Appeal president before arriving at his present position.

Karpal Singh told reporters in Parliament after its inaugural meeting that he was delighted to learn that the government was now preparing the Bill for the setting-up of the JAC to be tabled in Parliament in this session.

But, he stressed that the JAC should be a “high-level commission” with members appointed directly by the King.

“We don’t want the Judicial Appointments Commission to end up like Suhakam, no teeth, no bite,” the Bukit Gelugor MP quipped, referring to the eight-year-old Malaysian Human Rights Commission, which is widely-perceived to be ineffective.

The caucus was formed in Parliament at lunch time today. About 30 lawmakers attended its first meeting, including the sole representative from the Barisan Nasional Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

It was a poor turnout, considering the fact that the Dewan Rakyat is currently in session, unlike the earlier parliamentary caucus against the Internal Security Act, formed in September this year while the House was in recess.

Six MPs from the Pakatan Rakyat coalition were selected to be in the caucus. They are: Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju), Yusmadi Yusoff (PKR-Balik Pulau), M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat), Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah), Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman (Pas-Pengkalan Chepa) and Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa (Pas-Parit Buntar).

Karpal Singh clarified that the de facto Law Minister Nazri was not in the committee but had been requested to enlist the participation from among the government alliance lawmakers to ensure bipartisanship in the caucus.

The position of deputy chair will be elected from among the BN lawmakers.