Lingam Tape: Cry for judiciary – from Minister for “tables and chairs” to Minister for Chief Justice

Cry for the judiciary — for the first time in 50 years, there is a Minister for the Chief Justice when seven years ago, the then Chief Justice declared that there was no Minister looking after the judiciary and ridiculed the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the law and justice portfolio as Minister for “tables and chairs” for the courts!

Yesterday, when trying to explain why he had issued a denial on behalf of the Chief Justice, Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim in connection with the Lingam Tape, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Nazri Aziz said that this was because “I am his minister”.

He said: “I am his minister. I am the minister in charge of legal affairs. He is clever enough to know that the reporters will ask me for a response.”

In one fell swoop, Nazri had not only reduced the Chief Justice to that of a subordinate junior but also repudiated the cardinal principle of the independence of the Judiciary and destroyed the fundamental doctrine of the separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

In the five decades of nationhood, the Minister delegated the law and justice portfolio by the Prime Minister was never regarded as a Minister for the judges because of the doctrine of separation of powers of the three branches of government and the principle of the independence of the judiciary.

In June 2000, Malaysians were offered a glimpse of judicial goings-on when the contretemps between the then Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Tun Eusoffe Chin and the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Dr. Rais Yatim erupted after the latter chastised the former for his improper judicial behaviour in “socialising” with lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam during a New Zealand holiday in 1994.

Eusoffe said he coincidentally “bumped” into Lingam when holidaying in New Zealand, and relegated Rais to a Minister for “tables and chairs” for the Chief Registrar’s Office and not law.

Eusuff said: “I suppose when we need tables and chairs or a new courtroom, we go to him.” He stressed that the minister “doesn’t look after the judiciary”. (Star 7.6.00).

However, there seems to be a sea change seven years later, and Nazri has arrogated to himself a position, which is recognized by the Chief Justice, of the status of Minister for the Chief Justice and the judiciary — when in 2000 such a Minister was “only in charge of the Chief Registrar’s office relating to logistical matters”! (New Straits Times 7.6.2000)

For agreeing to subordinate the position of the Chief Justice to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of law and order, and unconstitutionally reducing the judiciary to a subservient position to the Executive, Ahmad Fairuz has committed a gross judicial misconduct bringing the judiciary into disrepute, both nationally and internationally.

This is sufficient ground to refer Ahmad Fairuz to a Judicial Tribunal to ask him to show cause why he should not be dismissed as Chief Justice!

Since the arbitrary and unconstitutional 1988 sacking of Tun Salleh Abas as Lord President and Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman as Supreme Court judges, Malaysia has never really recovered from a series of body blows to the independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism of the judiciary for almost two decades.

Malaysians had hoped that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will as Prime Minister usher in a change and fully restore national and international confidence in the Malaysian system of justice with a truly independent judiciary and a just rule of law — but Abdullah had failed to deliver this promise in the past four years to the extent that more and more Malaysians are looking to the Conference of Rulers to provide the final checks and balances against abuses and misuses of power which should have been spelt out in built-in provisions in the system itself.

The problem of the crisis of confidence in the judiciary are not on all fours with those of the previous administration. Just one instance.

In the previous administration, the judiciary lost its independence, impartiality and integrity because it was held in thrall by one man, the Prime Minister, but this judicial subservience was not extended to the Cabinet or other Ministers.

This was why there was the 2000 farce of the then Chief Justice bristling at the criticism of the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the law and justice portfolio, publicly reprimanding the Minister that he had no responsibility over the judiciary but only for the “tables and chairs” required by the Court Registry!

Today, however, the Chief Justice seems to have accepted a much lowly position – that he is even subordinate or answerable to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department to the extent that Nazri can unabashedly claim in public: “I am his Minister”. This is a notion none of Nazri’s predecessors, whether Rais Yatim or Datuk Mohd Radzi would have been so presumptuous to entertain, whether publicly or privately!

Nazri’s explanation as to why Ahmad Fairuz evaded the media was another “gem”. Nazri said it was because Ahmad Fairuz is not answerable to the press.

If true, then this is another indictment as to why Ahmad Fairuz is not fit to continue as Chief Justice, as he clearly had never heard and does not understand the meaning of judicial accountability.

I am reminded of his shocking comment early this year, likening the proposal for an independent judicial commission on appointment and promotion of judges as akin to nudity rather than transparency.

In his four years as Chief Justice, Ahmad Fairuz has failed on both scores of judicial accountability and transparency.

The Prime Minister and the Cabinet must not abdicate from their responsibility to end the haemorrhage of national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism of the judiciary as it is a major handicap in Malaysia’s efforts to enhance international competitiveness to face the challenges of globalization.

The Cabinet tomorrow must address not only the scandal of Lingam Tape but the crisis of confidence in the system of justice by give a quick and positive response to public demands for a Royal Commission of Inquiry for a world-class judiciary respected internationally for its independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism.

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36 Replies to “Lingam Tape: Cry for judiciary – from Minister for “tables and chairs” to Minister for Chief Justice”

  1. Maybe the phone call from CJ to Nazri doesn’t exist in first place and Nazri was trying to be gung-ho to be perceived as the hero-of-the-day.

    First tactical blunder by Nazri. For the time being, we should ignore the “logistic arrangement minister” and focus on the rally “Save the Judiciary” tomorrow, how the Government is going to react on the memorandum will clearly determine and qualify Pak Lah’s determination to uphold the integrity of Malaysia’s judiciary system.

    Otherwise, I believe royal like Sultan Azlan Shah will run out of patience soon and the outcome would be even more interesting than the first shock when the VK Lingam tape was revealed to the public.

  2. At least the monks sacrifice their safety and stand for what’s right…….in Malaysia…Malaysians pandai cakap belakang……but will never have the guts to stand up like these monks….the shame is on us……..

  3. When everything were roped under political environment and personal interest becoame the main reason of ‘them’ networking within our country legal judiciary system, this will be our reward.
    We have to thanked The Done Master for all these because it’s in his vision that things went overboard.
    As shared , there are no shortcuts in life … anyone that tried any attempt will have their chances cut short.

    Now, BN government have to run around further to cover up or create denial acts to ‘holding on’ to their power and saveguarding their ‘forts’.

  4. Nazri’s an Idiot! Malaysians, we deserve what we get! Don’t complain if we continue to ‘undi-lah BN’. That’s the calibre of umno MPs, more of his kind are waiting out there.

    We have enough of him. It’s time we show him the door!

  5. Our foreign minister said in the “Hard talk” – “In our country we do things our way”

    Well, “our way” has gotten us to this kind of “mess”-
    1) Our education system is going down the drain -Singapore university now ranks top 20 in the world & Malaysia has slpped further down to 162.
    2) Our judicial system is up the wall for all to see.
    3) If not for petroleum, our economy would also have slipped.

    Well, its high time to change that “our way” before the whole roof comes down on all of us.

    This is the world opinion on us – Want a joke? Click Malaysia!

  6. “..Today, however, the Chief Justice seems to have accepted a much lowly position – that he is even subordinate or answerable to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department to the extent that Nazri can unabashedly claim in public: “I am his Minister”.”

    We should ask ourselves why would a CJ reduce himself to be subordinated to the Minister in the PM’s Dept? Whatever his faults may be, at the very least I am sure the CJ knows the fundamental doctrine of the separation of powers of the Executive, Judiciary and the Legislative. So, assuming he knows this but still submit himself to be subordinated to the Minister clearly indicates he(CJ) is in a very weak position. And why is he in a weak position? Because besides the mess of judges under him not submitting their written judgements for years without him being aware, this latest episode of the video clip has put the final nail into his coffin. He now desperately need someone to help him out and if Nazri can do it, kowtowing to him would be a small price to pay, whatever the long term damage to the independence, dignity and intergrity of the judiciary may be.

  7. If the CJ cannot defend himself, he was the wrong person for the job in the first place.

    This is a joke….they will do anything to avoid responsibility and accountability. The future of the country in these irresponsible politicians’ hands is not good!

  8. Like what our Tun Mahathir said recently if the rakyat do not use their voting power wisely they deserve to get the rotten government which they have voted in. So wake up and vote for a change in the coming GE. Enough is enough!!!

  9. Now they have decided that they better have a commission of inquiry after all the public outcry. Question is whether the commission members – Lee Lam Thye and two ex-judges – are considered to be “beyond reproach”.

  10. Tun Dr Mahathir talks alot, as if when he was the PM the same govt, the same cabinet of monkeys weren’t rotten?

    He is the cause of this rotten situation and is much to be blamed. There’s a saying, “Fish always rot from the head”. Monkeys see, monkeys do.

  11. Mr Investigating Officer/ACA and other dungus in charge of investigation. Can you please go to Celcom/Maxis/Digi and trace the call. It is so simple – why all the fuss? Come clean, show us his bill for that month – convince us he was NOT talking to the alleged!

    Come on boys, you can do better then that!

  12. THIS IS GOD SEND MIRACLE.

    the barisan nasional can only self destruct by implosion.

    THANK YOU VERY MUCH NAZRI.

    NOW THE whole world knows that the ketua hakim negara reports to cabinet minister ie. nazri.

    this will happen and more will happen.

    manusia yang rancang, TUHAN yang menentukan.

    since nazri reports to abdullah badawi. so our constitution now is only left with ONE PILLAR.

    BUT THIS rotten issue started with mahatir , and badawi is enjoying the perks that comes along.

    IT IS A MIRACLE. THANK YOU GOD.

  13. The CJ himself should know better than anyone in the country that the executive and the judiciary are independent of each other, and that is what the judiciary had been clamouring all along.

    And why now suddenly he become subservient to the minister? and he wanted the minister to speak on his behalf? Terribly wrong somewhere in the judiaciary led by the CJ.

  14. The root cause is the lack of meritocracy undermined further by corruption. How can he be CJ when he does not know the meaning of conflict of interest? any layperson knows that. Most of the federal and appeal court judges are appointed not based on merits but on influence and networking.

  15. There has been so many lies told since TDM came to power. TDM started the ball rolling. The ministers were trained for 22 years to tell lies. The media echoes these lies as truth. The police and ACA were roped in to maintain these lies as the truth. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know the end result. This is a compromised Government. Bodohwi’s Malaysia terbilan and the Towering Malays.

  16. “We should ask ourselves why would a CJ reduce himself to be subordinated to the Minister in the PM’s Dept? ”

    He has never come across the concept of the separation of powers?? He thought he worked under him? He thought he was still working in the AG’s Chambers?

  17. A quote from above – “This is sufficient ground to refer Ahmad Fairuz to a Judicial Tribunal to ask him to show cause why he should not be dismissed as Chief Justice!”

    A few questions:
    1. What is that first step to refer Fairuz to a Judicial Tribunal?
    2. Who should initiate it?
    3. Why is this not being done immediately?

    If you’re telling me a BN person (e.g. PM) must initiate it, then, isn’t this a hopeless case already???

    Old observer.

  18. Malaysians had hoped that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will as Prime Minister usher in a change and fully restore national and international confidence in the Malaysian system of justice with a truly independent judiciary and a just rule of law.

    Honestly as you had said, this guy will not not hesitate his to sacrifice his integrity(that is if he has any) to protect the judiciary because it has given the government protection since the dawn of TDM and obviously he will want this to continue.

  19. So where is Datuk Dr Rais Yatim now?. Obviously he has been demoted to minister of culture which is same level as the minister of sports which is usually a junior minister for newbies.In act at one time this 2 ministry was one under a Minister of culture, youth and sports.
    So in UMNO, it never pays to be honest, do your job well and with intergrity. Have you also not seen the changes in Rais Yatim nowadays?

  20. Abdullah has been Mahathir’s foot soldier throughout his years as DPM. You cannot expect a foot soldier, used to taking instructions from his officer, to all of a sudden issue orders of his own, do you??

    Right now he’s comfortable just being the Head of State instead of chief of the Executive.

  21. I was in a court in the North with a family member and was shocked at the judge who precided over our case, she was in her early 20s at best and did not even know how to answer my queries on legal procedures such as rights of defendent to due process and even the principles involved.

    I later found out it happens in many parts of courst all over the country.

    We have a monkey court system and our laws are made by monkeys…

  22. Now I know why they wanted to abolish Common Law. This is so that they can run the country with their “uncommon law”. In fact, they have been using “uncommon law” all along. Look at the way they remove the Lord President and five high court judges in one single day. It would be an almost impossible task to do so if this happened in the United Kingdom where Common Law prevails, but in Bolehland, everything pun bolehlah!!

    Separation of Powers? What Separation of Powers? In Malaysia, BN decides when to separate the powers and when not! Party interest is supreme and is above the law and judges have to toe the line or else get out.

  23. I think the erosion of the judiciary system is blatantly seen. Look at the recent reports of obvious murderers, rapists and robbers being let off by the court scot-free, conveniently blamed on the sloppishness of the prosecution or “insufficient” evidence even when the criminal has admitted doing it or caught red-handed! The truth is, some $$$ has got into the pockets of the judge and thus these people get away for free.

    Let me tell a true but scary story for the benefit of these corrupt judges. If they believe in Langkawi’s legendary story of curse of 7 generations then they should believe this. One of my friends in college never had a male in the family living longer than 35 years. So much so there is always fear for the newly weds in the family who give birth to a son, not knowing if he would live beyond the age of 35 years. They all die of strange illnesses, freak accidents or something or other. Finally, the matriach of the current generation of this family has had enough and approached an enlightened person for an answer. The enlightened person only had one thing to say, “One of your ancestors was a judge who accepted bribes and wrongly executed the innocent, so the descendants have to pay the blood debt for 7 generations with no male heir to carry on the family name”. Now the family is trying to do a lot of good deeds to cover up for the sins of the ancestor. Mind you, this family is not Chinese – so it is not a matter of superstition!

    You think this kind of thing only happen in stories or history? Our corrupt judges better beware.

  24. First HE is the Minister for Parliament, then Minister of Law and now HE is the Minister of the Judiciary-wow what power vested in one person named Nazri?! Just appoint HIM to “investigate” and all of us can rest eazy. Oh my God, what state the affairs of our beloved country? Is there any hope for our future kids?

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