PUTRAJAYA (Jan 11): Attorney-General Tommy Thomas has urged parties involved in the administration of justice to begin a new journey to promote justice in the country and reject injustice.

He said it was a paramount duty of representatives of the judicial branch, public sector lawyers branch or public sector lawyers acting for the executive branch of government or members of the Private Bar to do so.

"We must publicly undertake and pledge to each other, and to the nation, our intention, dedication and commitment to disassociate ourselves with the acts and omissions of the past decades which have brought disgrace to our legal system, and to begin a new journey to promote justice and reject injustice," he said in his speech at the opening of the Legal Year 2019.

Thomas, in his first address as the top prosecutor and legal advisor to the government, said the law must be liberated from the shackles of injustice and allowed to flower, as was the intention when our Merdeka voyage began in 1957 and 1963.

He said the administration of justice has not been immune from the cancer of corruption which spread in the conditions created by the former government.

"The scandals that involved judges, lawyers, prosecutors and litigants for at least three decades since the Judicial Crisis of 1988 are too well known, and no reminders are required for this morning’s audience," said Thomas.

He said the new government would not tolerate any interference or obstruction of the administration of justice, adding that the full force of the law will be applied against wrongdoers.