September 10, 2014
Restoring Faith in the Judiciary’s integrity
Will Justice be finally done?
Malaysia’s Judiciary has taken a severe beating in the last few years in regard to its perceived lack of fairness and lack of adherence to justice. Notorious cases such as those involving Lina Joy, Anwar Ibrahim and Nizar vs Zambry among others have raised doubts as to whether our judges – especially in cases with politically sensitive outcomes – are able to arrive at fair and just decisions.
Public concern that our courts – including at the highest level – may in fact be filled with partisan, unfair or even corrupt judges, has been rising non-stop since the Mahathir period. This includes the present batch of ridiculous sedition cases which have made the Attorney-General’s Chambers (pic The A-G) a laughing stock among knowledgeable legal circles all over the world. It has also led many to conclude that the Malaysian Judiciary is under tremendous political pressure when arriving at their judgements.
Why are there incompetent judges?
The highly respected former Court of Appeal judge N H Chan (right) when commenting on the number of
incompetent judges in Malaysia concluded that there was something very wrong with our system of appointing judges.
Many people from the legal fraternity tend to agree with him. There was a time when judges were appointed from the cream of the legal profession and the law departments in our universities produced graduates who knew their law in-depth.
With the decline in educational standards especially after the implementation of the New Economic Policy, it became inevitable that the standard of law graduates in the country – and with it, also the standard of judges recruited to administer justice – would also fall.
Apart from the decline in educational standards, the factor of politically biased appointments has played a role. The Lingam (pic left) case and the shocking disclosures arising from the Royal Commission of Inquiry in particular showed clearly that the appointment of judges in the country has been tainted; and that there was evidence of ethical and criminal misconduct by lawyer Lingam, various judges, politicians and businessmen on the matter of judicial appointments.
Despite this finding, the Attorney-General chose not to put Lingam in the dock. This was not because no law had been broken but because of the fear that the skeletons that would emerge from the closet would bring down the government.
We are still living with the legacy of a compromised Judiciary and the dark shadows cast by prominent members of the judiciary who are more interested in the pursuit of power and self interest rather than with the pursuit of justice.
Importance of the Teoh Beng Hock case
However, every now and then, a verdict comes from out of the blue which shows that there are also good and honourable judges in the system who are not interested in the pursuit of power and self interest and who are willing to stand firm in the administration of impartial and principled justice. The most recent example arrived in the form of the Teoh Beng Hock case, a landmark case, which has riveted the nation for over five years now.Members of the public who were expecting this case to go unpunished by our judiciary were pleasantly surprised to see this was not to be.
As a result of the latest Court of Appeal verdict, we see on social media praises heaped on the three appeal court judges – Ariff Yusuf, Mah Weng Kwai and Hamid Sutan for striking down the earlier open verdict and refusing to set aside the coroner’s open verdict in the inquest of Teoh Beng Hock.
In their unanimous decision, the panel of judges held that Teoh’s death was caused by multiple injuries from a fall from the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam as a result of, or which was accelerated by an unlawful act or acts of persons unknown, inclusive of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers who were involved in his arrest and investigation.
Police must start investigations
Teoh’s sister, Lee Lan has since lodged a report at the Shah Alam Police Headquarters to speed up police investigations. The Police must remember that several MACC officers caused the death of Teoh and the culprits must be caught and punished adequately.
Whatever happens next, it is important that we should not lose faith in the integrity of our Judiciary which forms the first line of defence in the protection of our constitutional rights.It is not only judges who must exercise vigilance so that their independence is not compromised by political, legislative and other pressures, it is all Malaysians who must stand firm so that there is no political or executive interference with the judicial process.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
Both the MACC Chief and Attorney-General should be asked to appear before Police investigators to explain their role in the Teoh Beng Hock case. Why was no action taken against MACC officers who were mentioned in the TBH Royal Commission of Inquiry Report? I read somewhere that they were cleared of any wrongdoing by A-G Gani Patail.–Din Merican
At every level of politics and administration of a nation the fundamental principle is that those elected to power at all levels and those selected for position of power at all levels do not abuse it for their self interest.
Those MACC culpirits may be able to escape judgement in this world but they won’t be able to escape God’s judgment in the afterlife.t
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Divine justice is sometimes too slow in coming.The AlMighty is ever so patient. What we need is Justice now.–Din Merican
Dato
WE not only have to restore public’s faith in the judiciary but also in all other public institutions. The rot is probably so ingrained that I doubt whether we who are witness to the glory days of yesteryears will ever be lucky enough to see a return to the said period. Whatever little hope that arise occasionally is swallowed by the endless horrendous news and events that have dominated the nation.
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Hilmi, don’t expect it to happen anytime soon. It will take a generation or more since our public institutions are rotten to the core. Without dissent which is the foundation of democracy, nothing can change. We needs the flowing and cross fertilization of ideas to feel liberation and enjoy freedom. In his talk Dr Lee Hwok Aun of MU said yesterday at the Solidarity for Azmi Sharom bash that “Development and Freedom go together”. Mahathir’s “Asian Values” concept was to justify his authoritarianism.–Din Merican
To add insult to injury, not only the MACC officers were cleared of any wrongdoing, one was even elevated (promoted) to a higher post. As quoted above, “.. the fear that the skeletons that would emerge from the closet would bring down the government..” may hold true.
Well, like all things else it’s easier said than done. But there’s a ray of hope which may shine in our direction. For those who depend on divine justice to intercede think again. Time is of the essence. Like Din has said God has other matters to attend to rather than punish a bunch of heartless and barbaric MACC officers and an equally inept AG (formerly a Tamparuli tamu trader) who is beyond reproach.
My Pessimistic Self keeps telling me not to rejoice yet for the Court of Appeal decision on the TBH case is just a flash in the pan. The judgement will be appealed and overturned. All will be hunky-dory with those who has a hand in TBH’s demise. The 3 judges would somehow be retired soon or assign to try traffic accident cases.
But then, that’s my Pessimistic Self talking. My Hopeful Self, however, suggests that there is still a speck of hope in the country.
To Hilmi’s point about whether good changes will come to Malaysia during our lifetime, I hope some of it will, but then we owe it to our children and their grandchildren and theirs to start now to make Malaysia better, even if we do not get to reap the fruit.
Din,
What Malaysia needs is to treat it like a Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon. That means maximum public disobedience. Of course, many people would use the word derhaka to describe the situation
Rosli,
If UMNO can control the sultans and agongs and It’s a fact as with Ghazali Jawi manhandled Sultan Idris II of Perak so much for derhakaness, you think UMNO can really go down and buried under 6 feet underground just as what LKY had done with UMNO in Singapore in the 50s and 60s.
Hilmi,
It will never happen unless all of us and not just my matey ktemoc who heavily relies on the melayus to take up actions. Start by restoring the original constitution. Malay special position is only meant for 10 years only.
The amount of effort put in to hide a murderer is just too much. Something is very very very very fishy about the whole thing. They don’t do this just for a rank and file or even a middling officer, you have to be a VIP or usually its VVIP for the machinery and AG and IGP to do this..They are hiding something very very important. to Malaysian, particularly Malay voters..
Something is WRONG somewhere…Many cases have been thrown out without going through detailed or thorough investigations. And some cases go to court just for the sake of going to court in order to show the seriousness on the actions taken by the Authorities concerned…We should look back at how the judiciary and the police handle the case that involved the murder of Altantuya and Norita….What are the results???? The real culprit is enjoying life…” FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD”.
Let’s not rejoice too soon over recent verdicts at the court of appeal. To put it mildly we still have many ‘conservatives’ in the judiciary.
Once again I must repeat my adoration for the late Justice Harun Hashim. This is the man who acted fairly and without fear and favor. Unfortunately most people never understood him, especially in his decision to declare UMNO illegal. These people failed to understand that regardless of his verdict Mahathir would have done what he did.
Rosli Kamarudin,
Yes, you’re right. The key IO during Teoh Beng Hock’s case was promoted to Director of MACC Negri Sembilan! WTF!!!!
The people of Malaysia can only look to the Judiciary to dispense justice and fair play in this country. It is nice to nite that many people still believe and have faith in the Judiciary. I hope this will continue.
One swallow doesn’t make a summer. Want happen to Altantuya case? Where is justice?
What is there to say about the MACC..? Nothing encouraging at all…$ince its inception and long before dating back to the NBA days this supposedly graft buster body has destroyed many lives.. Its sop has always been to produce false testimony in the court of law, to instill fear in the minds of agent provocateurs of severe repercussions if they refuse to abide to a blatantly dramatized script to the extent of appearing as false witness in order to secure a conviction at the expense of normally a low level civil servant or any person(s) who dares to threaten the integrity of the government machinery as in Rosli Dhalan’s case.. This is done primarily to deliver a message of fear to wannabe dissident and for statistical purposes to camouflage their true role which is to protect the high and mighty regardless of how corrupted they may be? Judges realized the commissions MO but somehow tango with them for reasons best known only to the judges themselves
Ya, restoring Faith in the Judiciary’s integrity!
Don’t simply prosecute the innocents, like two former Transport Ministers, Tan Sri Dr. Ling and Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy, wasting time and money…
http://rightwaysrichard.blogspot.com/2014/01/stupid-fellow-ling-slams-attorney.html
When court decisions are in their favour,the opposition celebrated that there have faith in our judiciary system–but when the opposite happens,they will condemn the system (remember their flip flop comments on the judgements on the Anwar Ibrahim trial?–praising the system when Anwar won BUT condemning it when Anwar lost and was convicted!) and will bring in other irrelevant arguments such judges not well educated due to our poor education system,choice of judges,bla..bla..bla.I am pretty sure the same flip flop opinion will happen in the case of this never ending TBH case,depending on the outcome of the soon-to-be-heid trial.
A sign of bias–none of the above comments mentioned about the background of the TBH case that originated from the proven corruption/abuse of power by several politicians which led to the ‘elimination’ of TBH (for heaven’s sake pls do some research and read other blogs as well–do not have a preset mind and be open minded).Be rational,just as I could not find the rationale for the MACC people to kill TBH (which many of the articles in this forum insinuate).
FOOTNOTE: Remember the cases in which the government and BN/UMNO lost–remember too government IS NOT BN/UMNO–such Rahman Talib case in the 60’s,UMNO BARU,Khir Toyo,Klang PFZ zone,Rahim Thamby Chik of Malacca,IGP Rahim Nor vs Anwar Ibrahim and many others…IN SINGAPORE THE GOVERNMENT/PAP WON ALL THEIR CASES.