SIBU: Judge Datuk Ian Chin has asked the deputy registrar of the High Court here to lodge a police report against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for comments made in the latter's blog.

In a statement upon the resumption of the hearing of the election petition for the Sarikei parliamentary seat at the High Court here beginning yesterday, Chin said it was wrong for Dr Mahathir to suggest that he had erred in two cases at the Kota Kinabalu court.

Both cases involved the Sa-bah Foundation suing its former director, Datuk Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed, over profits on a timber licence and on the enhancement of land belonging to the foundation and its two companies.

Chin said that if there was implied impropriety on his part, the appellate courts would not have upheld the judgments.


He said he had made mistakes in his decisions before and would probably make mistakes in the future as he was not infallible.

"I have accepted that as part of the hazard of being a judge and with no right of appeal while litigants do.

"However, there exists the luxury for a High Court judge, who can afford to err or misdirect himself in his decision since there is the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court to take care of that."

Chin said that was why he could make so many decisions in a week or month while taking comfort in the knowledge the appellate courts would verify judgments he made.

"It is easy to arrive at a decision in cases where one can be regarded as having no interest at all." -- Bernama