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Letter from Pulau Tikus |
Achieving justice THE INCLUSION of a lawyer in the judicial appointments commission will ensure that the views of the legal profession and the public are put forward without fear, says the Bar Council. Is it not too early to talk about the method of appointing judges when we have yet to hear the government say it is committed to restoring judicial power to the judges who were reduced to being mere glorified clerks wearing gowns by Dr Mahathir? The Bar Council will remember that there is Muhkriz, the up and coming UMNO big shot, telling us that reform of the judiciary is not a priority. Then there is the prime minister saying the AG will not be involved in Anwar's sodomony trial as if he was running the AG's department. And Tan Sri Zaki Azmi, the UMNO politican, has jumped into the chair of the chief justice despite almost universal oppositioin. One paper, 'The Star', ignored the Law Asia meeting in KL It even failed to report that the prime minister had addressed the conference. It carried a report on an address by Perak's Raja Nazrin but failed to tell us it was delivered at that same Law Asia conference. What is all that signalling? In a lawless world headed by a rampaging Bush whose latest victim is bombed Syria, the Bar should demand that the incoming Najib administration restores judicial power to the courts and promise to respect the independence of the judiciary, so that our courts regain the respect it once shared with the courts of the UK, India and Australia. While we are on the subect we note that the new chief justice has harangued his fellow judges as if they were UMNO subordinates, that he will not hesitate to remove those who he thinks are naughty. Instead of threatening the judges, Tan Sri Zaki should first of all demonstrate a will to restore the system of justice destroyed by his predecessors. He should respect his fellow judges as equals, and not address them as he were their headmaster. He should declare that .the administration of justice in Malaya and the Borneo states will be restored to their respective chief judges, that he will follow the practice of former Lord Presidents, Tun Azmi Mohammed and Tun Suffian and act only as the president of the final court of appeal. He should not forget that It was in keeping with the constitution that the three top judges were the Lord President and the two chief justices. The government's confused renaming of the Lord President as chief justice and the two chief justices as chief judges was a grave violation of the equality of the three territories. The assuming of overall powers by the 'chief justice' in effect reduced the status of the two Borneo states to administration of colonies of Kuala Lumpur. |
| Foreshore The NGOs are at loggerheads with the state government over the interpretation of 'foreshore' in the National Land Code. The state argues that once land is reclaimed from the sea the foreshore disappears, their hands are no longer tied, and they can sell the reclaimed land as freehold. The NGOs argue that the Land Code prohibits the disposal of foreshore or sea bed for more than 99 years and you cannot avoid the law by a side stepping argument that the foreshore no longer exists. I just don’t understand the government. Developers want land; surely they do not want to own a portion of the sea and seashore for 99 years. Those who drafted the Land Code must envisioned that buyers would only buy land and not the sea and that they should be limited to a tenure of 99 years. But leaving the arguments on one side, one question has to be answered. What motivates the state government? Why do they want to grant reclaimed land in perpetuity? A lease for 99 years means that the land returns to the public at the end of 99 years. They should think long term, in the public interest. Free press Utusan’s short story - if it can be called that - about the assassination of a politician may shock and anger those who think the freedom of the press has gone too far. Azmi Sharom, for one, thinks it is little more than a a thinly veiled incitement to committing violence on Teresa Kok, the MP. The appearance of that nasty piece of writing only tells us how brutish our society is beneath the surface, often revealed by the uncouth and savage statements made both in and out of Parliament. That the writer is the CEO of the Malaysian Press Institute should not astonish but remind us that that sickness infects the highest levels of society . Some may think it a contradiction for those who talk about a free press to sue the writer for defamation or to run to the police to lodge a report. If the police cannot find a case to prosecute under the Penal Code perhaps it is time that we adopted a law on hatred. Meanwhile Cheras UMNO starts a fund for Utusan’s defence in the libel action. Why? Because the plaintiff, Teresa Kok, “has challenged the honour of the Malays by suing Utusan Malaysia as it is a paper owned by Malays. Challenging Malays is similar to challenging UMNO”. Which reminds me of the UMNO branch leader who said in relation to the Zakaria scandal that to criticise him was to criticise UMNO and that to criticise UMNO was to attack the country, or words to that effect. To think that people like that run UMNO, which UMNO runs the country. ISA puzzles Strange things are going on in this country. Syed Hamid Albar says that the release of Teresa Kok has nothing to do with him. It is a police affair. Strange because the Internal Security Act has always been the Home Minister’s baby and it is he who signs the order. |
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Syed Hamid goes
on to say that Teresa Kok was released not because they could not build
up a case against her but because they were satisfied she was not a
threat to public order. If that be the case should not the home
minister have admonished the police for arresting without reason? Then
there were threats to detain Anwar Ibrahim as an economic and security
threat. Yet there is minister Najib who congratulates him on his
victory
at Permatang Pauh. One wonders how do those fellows think?
Reports are that Raja Petra, the writer, was held in solitary confinement. I have always understood that solitary confinement is a severe punishment for convicted persons held in prisons e.g. violence on another prisoner. Raja Petra is a detainee and not a prisoner and it is not reported that he was a vicious inmate and had attacked a fellow prisoner with violence. Talented film makers Going to the recent Freedom Film Fest, I see from a sign at the car park that a space is reserved for “YB”. It turns out to be for Jeff Ooi, the blogger now elected a member of Parliament. Call me ‘YB Jeff’ he tells us in his blog. The new VIPs it seems love the self-glory tradition of UMNO which encourages MPs to be called YB, even though it is a misuse of “the honourable member for ...” which is a form of address to be used during debates in Parliament. MP’s seem to think that they have gained a title like ‘Lord’ or something. I notice that Teresa Kok is the rare one who asks not to be addressed as YB. Turning to the festival, the films exhibited reveal the great talents in this country, shackled by the police state. I liked Abror Rival’s on the March elections. But it left a rather bad taste when the Asia Foundation intruded. This former CIA creature, now said to be devoted “to advancing the mutual interests of the USA and Asia,” prattled on about how it was promoting democracy in that suffering victim of the American pre-emptive strike. It made me laugh out loud. Poh Si Teng on Muslim transsexuals was excellently done. ‘Who speaks for me’, by Justin Johari Azman, also impressed. Minimum wage It was pleasing to read that PAS supports the Minimum Wage. Their information chief Mahfuz Omar is reported as saying that it was "unreasonable" for anyone to have a salary lower than the RM900 proposed by the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) especially in high profit sectors. "Workers have to face increasing costs of living and it is unacceptable to oppress the working class at a time when even the price of rice is on the rise," says Mahfuz, who is also MP for Pokok Sena. The MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud says there should be no excuse for the government not to legislate the Minimum Wage Act. He pointed out that the government's move to increase the salary of civil servants twice in recent years did not cause adverse side effects to the country. The prime minister had earlier pre-empted the peaceful assembly by saying that the government simply could not afford to legislate the Minimum Wages Act which would trigger further inflation. Is that the reason or is it that the US investors will not like it? |
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Welfare
for the rich
Chicago Business School Professor Luigi Zingales argues that bailing out the financial system with taxpayers’ money is wrong. The rescue will buy toxic assets at inflated prices thereby creating a charitable institution that provides welfare to the rich – at the taxpayers’ expense. Profits are private but losses are socialised? The decisions of the administration he says matter not just to the prospects of the US economy in the year to come. They will shape the type of capitalism we will live in for the next fifty years. Do we want to live in a system where profits are private, but losses are socialised? Where taxpayer money is used to prop up failed firms? Or do we want to live in a system where people are held responsible for their decisions, where imprudent behaviour is penalised and prudent behaviour rewarded? Behave! Najib Abdul Razak has urged Malaysians to respect leaders ‘... as rude behaviour targeted at those in power could lead to economic losses and national instability'. # |
| Sea gardens  Developers, emboldened by lack of comment on their claim to 'private' beaches are now building gardens right out of the sea Haven't they been warned that everything, from the beach stretching out to the sea, belongs to the state? And what if the public picnics in that garden?  The current fashion: no trees at roundabouts Go to the top |
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LESTARI HERITAGE NETWORK
www.lestariheritage.net for urban conservation |
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| ______ INDEX Point to the article that you want to read, and CLICK Index page Animal & Insect Act Book review Calvin Chua 'Clare Street' on 'Gold in the South' Control of societiesFood guide Gold in the South (5) J B Jeyaratnam Lau Tat Hong Penang ABC Redressing imbalance Samad Ismail Unknown history - exhibition |
| _____________________ The Penang File Issue 62 |
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