Re: Malaysian Sultan Blasts Judiciary
- From: "John Delaware" <John Delaware@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 08:50:10 +1100
Howad. There is no response whatsoever from any of the politicians in
government
"pluto" <pluto@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9tlfi3t69rra491r9h617b27hup9uk929h@xxxxxxxxxx
Malaysian Sultan Blasts Judiciary
Tag it:Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob
30 October 2007
The country's judiciary is increasingly corrupt, says Perak's Azlan Shah
In an almost unprecedented speech, Malaysia's Sultan of Perak, Azlan
Shah, one
of the country' s most respected figures, has hit out at the country's
increasingly tainted judicial system. "We must be ever mindful that
written
constitutions are mere parchment pieces," he told a law conference in
Kuala
Lumpur Monday. "Without a reputable judiciary - a judiciary endowed and
equipped
with all the attributes of real independence - there cannot be the rule of
law."
Azlan Shah's speech appears to be dramatically deepening the divide
between the
country's nine hereditary rulers and the government. Since the country won
independence from the United Kingdom in 1963, the sultans, known as the
Conference of Rulers, have mostly stayed out of politics. Whatever power
they
had was largely taken away from them by former Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad
in a series of actions in the Dewan Rakyat, or parliament, in the 1980s,
leaving
them with only the power to appoint judges.
They usually rubber-stamped the government's recommendations until earlier
this
year. But the conference has been in a behind-the-scenes brawl with the
government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi over the judiciary for
months, starting when they rejected the government's choice for the
position of
Chief Judge of Malaya (the old name for the country is still used for the
court). The position, the judiciary's third-ranking post, has been vacant
since
Siti Norma Yaakob, the previous occupant, retired earlier this year.
Now, with Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, the chief justice, due to
retire
Friday, the sultans are refusing to give him a six-month extension while
the
government finds a new chief judge. Fairuz, who will turn the compulsory
retirement age of 66 on Thursday, is the subject of a heated scandal over
judicial appointments that erupted when opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim
held a
press conference in September make public a video clip purportedly showing
well-connected lawyer V K Lingam in a 2002 telephone conversation with
Fairuz on
the other end, talking about using his political clout to get tame judges
promoted.
With the government facing mounting pressure over the scandal, human
rights
groups are demanding an independent Royal Commission of Inquiry to
investigate
the case.
The squabble has spread beyond that case to many others and appears to be
a
growing part of a malaise with Abdullah Badawi in general. Some 2,000
lawyers
marched on Putrajaya, the country's administrative capital south of Kuala
Lumpur, in September to demand that the judiciary be cleaned up. A bigger
rally
is scheduled for November 10, at which as many as 100,000 people are
expected to
attend.
"On the ground, people are very unhappy with Badawi's administration," a
Malaysian lawyer told Asia Sentinel. "His perceived ineffectiveness is one
problem. But the cost of living is rising for everything from flour to
sugar.
Corruption is growing worse, crime is on the rise. Sensational crimes are
definitely up and more daring. Three cops were shot dead in a drug bust a
few
days ago. That's unheard of in Malaysia. Cop Killers!"
As a result, the lawyer says, people are starting to turn to the royals,
something unheard of since independence. However, he adds, the United
Malays
National Organisation, the biggest ethnic party in the country and the
leading
power in the ruling national coalition, "is getting weary of the sultans
challenging their power."
Azlan Shah, the former lord president of the Supreme Court also served for
five
years as the country's king under the constitutional rotating kingship. He
is by
far the most distinguished of the nine sultans and he is said to be the
force
behind the Conference of Rulers' denial of Fairuz's additional
appointment. In
his speech to Malaysia's 14th Law Conference Monday, he told the assembled
legal
community that the judiciary "loses its value and service to the community
if
there is no public confidence in its decision-making."
"Sadly, I must acknowledge there has been some disquiet about our
judiciary over
the past few years and in the more recent past. Recently there have been
even
more disturbing events relating to the judiciary reported in the press,"
he
added, calling attention, although not by name, to a book by NH Chan, a
former
appellate court judge, citing erroneous and questionable judgments
delivered by
the higher courts in a chapter under the heading "When Justice is Not
Administered According to Law".
"I am driven nostalgically to look back to a time when our judiciary was
the
pride of the region, and our neighbours spoke admiringly of our legal
system,"
he continued. "We were then second to none and the judgments of our courts
were
quoted confidently in other common law jurisdictions. As Tun Suffian, a
former
Lord President of the then Federal Court, said of the local judges who
took over
from the expatriate judges after Merdeka (independence) that
transformation was
without 'any reduction in standards.'"
Nothing, the sultan said, "destroys more the confidence the general
public, or
the business community has in the judiciary than the belief that the judge
was
biased when he decided a case, or that the judge would not be independent
where
powerful individuals or corporations are the litigants before him.
Confidence
in the judiciary may also be eroded where the business community perceives
incompetence in decision-making. A judgment in a banking or commercial
transaction that is contrary to the established norms or which is
incomprehensible in its reasoning is bound to give rise to suspicion and
loss of
confidence."
He pointed to a recent World Bank survey on resolution of commercial
disputes
that ranked Malaysia 63rd among 178 countries, and a report by the US
State
Department warning American businessmen that cases before the Malaysian
courts
take inordinate amounts of time to be adjudicated. One case of medical
negligence, he said, took 23 years to reach the Court of Appeal.
"Countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong, who have a similar legal
system and
who share similar laws, and whose judges and lawyers are trained as ours,
are
ranked in these surveys as amongst the best in the world (Hong Kong is
placed
first and Singapore ranks fourth). The reason is obvious: these countries
have
undertaken major reforms in their court structure and procedures and have
introduced more efficient and transparent commercial courts so as to
attract the
foreign investor."
Noting the alleged conversation between Lingam and Fairuz, once again
without
naming names, he said that "the relationship between judges and lawyers
must be
a proper and correct one. As I have said earlier, judges are supposed to
be no
respecters of persons who appear before them. This rule applies not only
to
litigants but also to lawyers. It is not just a matter of prudence and
good
practice, but fundamentally one of ethics."
He also alluded to the recent race-based case of Lina Joy, a Malay woman
who was
denied the right to change her religion from Muslim to Catholic when the
courts
referred the matter to a religious court, saying that "We in Malaysia live
in a
multi-cultural and multi-religious society. Our founding fathers
accommodated
this diversity into our constitution that is reflected in the social
contract,
and saw this diversity as strength. Judging in a diverse society is not
an easy
task."
Judges in Malaysia, he said, "must be sensitive to the feelings of all
parties,
irrespective of race, religion or creed, and be careful not to bring a
predisposed mind to an issue before them that is capable of being
misconstrued
by the watching public or segments of them.
"I have found it necessary to speak at some length on these matters
because it
is my earnest hope that the Malaysian judiciary will regain the public's
confidence and it will once again be held in high esteem as it once was
held."
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