Posted on by Kit

No Malaysian Chinese as Federal Court judge – first time in 50 years

The 50th Merdeka anniversary should be a celebration of the success of Malaysian nation-building after 50 years. Unfortunately, Malaysians are being given proof of of many things that have gone wrong with the nation — whether national unity, civil service efficiency, independence of the judiciary, the police, crime, anti-corruption, education, economic development and quality of education.

I will just give one instance of Malaysian nation-building which has gone wrong highlighted on the occasion of the 50th Merdeka anniversary.

In the 2008 Budget presentation, the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that as part of the effort to inculcate corporate social responsibility (CSR), all public-listed companies will be required from the financial year 2008 to disclose their employment composition by race and gender.

But has the government set a good example of responsibility with regard to ensuring a civil service which reflects the multi-racial composition of the country?

One of the objectives of the New Economic Policy when it was launched in 1970 as a 20-year programme was to ensure that there will be no identification of race with vocation and the government had specifically promised that it would set a good example with regard to the racial composition in the public service.

In 1970, the public service comprised some 60 per cent Malays and 40 per cent non-Malays. Today, the identification of race with the public sector has become more rather than less pronounced, with Malaysian Chinese and Indians falling from some 40 per cent over 35 years ago to less than 20 per cent at present.

For the first time in half a century, there is not a single Malaysian Chinese judge in the highest court of the land, the Federal Court — another sign that Malaysian nation-building has gone wrong.

Malaysians are entitled to know what is being done by the relevant authorities, including the Chief Justice, Tan Sri Ahmad Fairuz Shaikh Abdul Halim to rectify such a serious anomaly.

(Speech at the DAP Balakong Solidarity Dinner organized by DAP Taman Indah Branch, Cheras on Saturday, 29th September 2007 at 9 pm)

53 Replies to “No Malaysian Chinese as Federal Court judge – first time in 50 years”

  1. Monday August 20, 2007
    At the 54th MCA annual general assembly:-

    Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has assured all Malaysians that his policies will be fair and equitable to all communities.

    “I have been fair, I want to be fair and I will always be fair. This is my promise to you,” said Abdullah.

    “If a leader tries to isolate a certain race, he is not fit to be a leader in this country”
    —————————
    Dear YB Uncle Lim,
    Your post just reveals how a race has been systematically isolated for so long.
    By PM’s own words he has just disqualified himself to be a leader in this country!

  2. Don’t expect UMNO to see “unfairness” in this matter, just as they don’t see any unfairness in the ownership of banks, the intake of university students, the eligibility of scholarships, etc etc. And don’t expect the Mute Chinese Association to fight for the Malaysian Chinese once they have received some of the crumbs from UMNO.

    What do you think will happen in 20 years’ time, when the Chinese in Malaysia will be reduced to only 20 pct of the total population ?

  3. Chinese judges have high integrity and will not play ball with the PM and the CJ to fix cases. Similarly, Indian judges (except… deleted…) have very high integrity and they will not sell their souls to fix verdicts.
    With them around there will be many 2-1 majority verdict, with the dissenting judgement from the non Malay judges.

  4. I already said that some of the malay malaysians are becoming more racist and Islamised. And our PM is going around the world and UN promoting malaysia as a model for adoption. But he doesnot know that malaysia is now the butt of joke all over the world. Even Turkey is saying NO to malaysia as a model. LKY is spot on. NOn malays are systemically marginalised. Thats why you dont find chinese/indian as federal judge or as head of GLCs. Why is that private and listed companies must have 30% bumis as staff whilst the public sector, GLCs, federal court etc etc etc are not required to have 30% non bumi staff?
    Libra is right. Non malay judges do not play ball with PM/CJ. [deleted]

  5. It doesn’t matter there’s Chinese Federal Court Judges or not. The point is, the Judiciary is in serious mess since the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas and the government does not even bother to clean up the mess and even claimed by some idiot that “there’s no crisis, no problems.”

    Not only is the Judiciary, but the government and its policies(NEP) which breed corruption, the ACA, the police, the social structure based on race and religion, the media, government linked companies and the education sector that need a major overhaul and reformation.

    Have all these mess been clean up?

    That’s the whole point!

  6. The dimwit feel-good himself PM is actually doing us all a very good favour by managing the country this way. It gives us all an opportunity to see the real side of UMNO and the likes and we can all vote them out ONCE AND FOR ALL eternity! No more beating ard the bush with fanciful slogans. No more hiding behind pious looks. A snake will always be a snake no matter how u slither!

  7. That’s why I always say we are ruled by the most hypocritical and insincere politicians.This bunch of crooks say something very appealing and pleasing to the non Malays but they will do just the opposite.They just do not bother if you are angry and frustrated.It is all because they are sheer arrogant.

  8. Pingback: Colour-Blind - » Another example of marginalisation

  10. How to have chiness or non muslim as federal court judge as more and more cases like the Lina joy case come to court,How can this muslim judges go againts their religion.So that is why more and such cases is being push to the Sariah court.

  11. The BN “dacing” purposely want it to be; so that it will divide and rule the citizen.It will not to the BN advantage if we are all united- the unity will vote out BN government; thus with BN policy we will never unite even 100 years later!

  13. The UMNO led goverment has one of the best scam going on, We see that the MALAY population is growing at such a fast pace compared with the other races,Its not because the MALAYS are having more kids, but its because of inter marriage,

    If a Malay marries a non Malay, His kids will be known as Malays, I have a chiness friend who took a Malay as a second wife .His kids from the second wife are known as Malays,But his kids from the first wife are chiness.

    Now the religious department is harassing him to convert his kids from his first marriage into ISLAM,and they to will be known as Malays in our national statistic.

  14. There is no such word as fairness in the eyes of umno because they think this country only belong to them. No matter what the minority has contribuated to Malaysia, it belong to them only. This is the only country in the world that the goverment not only protects the majority but also marginalised the minority to give away for the majority. It is in their mindset and also the children of their kind. The minority has to prepare to face the worst yet to come. The least we can do is vote for opposition and hope for the change.

  15. Right from day one, the Malays in UMNO have the clear agenda that Malaya (and subsequently Malaysia) belongs to Malays and they will divide and rule. That’s why open-minded Malays, who embraced a truly multiracial political party and nation, were pushed out – keris Hisham’s grandfather would testify to this. That’s why politicians who proposed ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ were asked to leave – Lee KY would testify to this.

    Any surprise why we are in a mess? The BN government, dominated by UMNO, is the most hypocritical and two-face entity. UMNO’s serfs like MCA, MIC, Gerakan, etc. have accepted ketuanan Melayu and are contented with whatever crumbs and spilt gravy from their master.

  16. The non-independent of judiciary has been fixed to serve the interest of UMNOputra to the extent that we can predict the outcome before a trial. Look at Altantuya case where the original judge has been replaced by another judiciary commissioner.
    Dare the government to appoint a Chinese/Indian to head important public sector – eg. ACA and AG and you would see all happily swimming big fishes hiding in government aquarium spa would float up gasping for oxygen.

  18. Comparing the Lion with the Skunk
    http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/newsncom.php?itemid=8689
    In Malaysia, contracts are substantially awarded on a consideration basis. This usually translates into low quality, bad planning, high cost and poor maintenance….the Malaysian tender system used to be competitive but deteriorated after a change of administration policy.

    In Singapore, all tender bids are conducted through their Government Electronic Business (GeBiz) website http://www.gebiz.gov.sg The Government Procurement Procedures requires statutory boards to publish their tender results in the GeBIZ portal not later than three working days after the date of tender award. “Publishing of tender results is part of the system of transparency and fairness in government procurement. It is also helpful to those who tendered unsuccessfully to be informed of the results promptly so that they can release their resources for other projects,”

  19. I just ask a hypothetical question here.

    What if all the Chinese, Indian and Dan Lain Lain races en-mass convert to Islam and thus, ‘masuk Melayu’?

    All would become Malay?

    And all would end up being satu keluarga bahagia (a happy family). End of discrimination, end of racial policy. End of NEP. End of official and unofficial quota system???

    WRONG!

    It would still continue and propagate.

    All of us should understand that it is not a fight of races, etc.

    It is about CORRUPTION. MISUSE OF POWER. CRONYISM. NEPOTISM. It is very much alive now. More alive than 1998.

    Opportunities are getting scarcer with the world opening up and competition driving up added values. We who are left behind and are still forced to buy old technology at huge inflated price (maybe 80% or more goes into the pockets).

    What chance do we stand? When the global crisis erupts (not matter of will it, but WHEN) – resources and opportunities get scarcer.

    I dare not think of what would happen.

    Already I am very bitter against my own kind who practice corruption, feed the officials and in turn, drive up the cost of living for the rest of us.

  21. Kit, I do not wish to sound rude because we are talking about our PM. But when we are referring to a person who hasn’t an inkling of what it takes to lead a nation, I honestly feel like giving him the middle finger and tell him to go and jump in the lake. No way am I going to disclose racial figures of my company and if there is such a law, then it is a very bad law indeed. The evil of racialism in UMNO really knows no boundary. Geeeez!!!

  22. Jonny Says:
    September 30th, 2007 at 13: 35.16

    What if all the Chinese, Indian and Dan Lain Lain races en-mass convert to Islam and thus, ‘masuk Melayu’? All would become Malay?
    ———————————————————————–
    Nope, there will then be the Malay “Tulin” and the Malay “Pendatang”,
    with another NEP catering for the former because they “suffered from 400 years of colonisation(!?)”. The Malay “Pendatang” had not “suffered from 400 years of colonisation” and so are not so crippled as the Malay “Tulin” (this is umno philosophy, not mine)

    BTW, how about the Hindoos who suffered 600 years of colonisation under the Moguls and the Brits?

  24. Of course, even among Malays, there are divisions: those within UMNO, those outside UMNO, those related to Umnoputras, those with no political connection, etc. And it is a fact that certain categories of Malays benefited most under UMNO’s rule.

    Eventually in Malaysia, the struggle will be between the super-rich Umnoputras and their serfs (Malays and non-Malays) versus the others (unprivileged Malays and non-Malays).

  28. The Judiciary, Police, Army, Navy, JPJ, Immigration,Inland Revenue, CVLB, all other civil service departments should reflect the Government’s commitment of it’s pledge for a non-racial, equal opportunity Malaysia, and lead the way forward by establishing afirmative action to redress the current racial imbalances at present in the civil. What is the government doing about this issue, and perhaps the Honourable Ling Kit Siang would kindly ask the Honourable Prime Minister for the details of action plans to date?

  30. The legal system has been so corrupted ,Just ask the lawyers themself,Got caught for urine test no proplem ,even when its positive just pay a few hundreds ,HOLD AND BEHOLD after two weeks your result will come back negative.

    Got caught for drug pushing a few thousands RM changes hand and evidence can dissappear from the the balai police

    All this is happening but nobody is talking about it.A simple case in our courts will take a minimum of 3 years to settle. The lawyers know what is happenning but what can they do.Report to who,The police ,The ACA ..If they do they will see all their cases if found guilty will be given the maximum sentence.So they just play ball

  32. # rojak Says:
    September 30th, 2007 at 15: 21.57

    “What’s the story here?

    Are Judges appointed based on merits or skin colour?

    If all appointments are on merit then I don’t care if they all happen to be Martians.”

    EXACTLY.

    So what if a Malaysian Chinese is appointed to the Federal Court level but he/she has integrity that has been suspected [deleted]

    Race is irrelevant to me, integrity is.

  33. Still harping on the RUKUNEGARA. Refer to it for “fairness”, then cross-check it in a dictionary to find its true meaning. I believe these guys do not own dictionaries or they may not even know what a dictionary is!!!

  34. “No Malaysian Chinese as Federal Court judge – first time in 50 years”.

    Thank God, there is none. All the FC judges now do not know where to hide their faces. All of them have to suffer the ignominy of association to the FC and have their integrity suspect!

    Intrepid FC judges who see the wrongs and injustices can speak up extrajudicially at an appropriate forum.

  35. “In the 2008 Budget presentation, the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that as part of the effort to inculcate corporate social responsibility (CSR), all public-listed companies will be required from the financial year 2008 to disclose their employment composition by race and gender.”

    It wouldn’t surprise me some public listed companies are in the red by just looking at their employment composition by race and gender. This CSR thing, is just another thing, nothing that is! It is now not enough to provide food on the table, this time you also have to feed them straight into the mouth.

  36. No Chinese on the panel of the highest court? That’s not surprising because the primary qualification is that you must be from the ruling coaltion (read: UMNO).

    With the politicization of the Judiciary, third branch of the government, the process is now complete.

  37. “No Malaysian Chinese as Federal Court Judge – in 50 years”

    This fact speaks volume about the uselessness of the 6 chinese cabinet members from MCA, Gerakan and SUPP. Their method of representation is: Say nothing. See nothing. Hear Nothing.

    1) Say nothing.
    When important appointments are discussed in the cabinet, they just sit (or sleep) quietly.

    2) See nothing.
    After the appointments are decided, they will not bother to see who are those appointed.

    3) Hear nothing.
    When LKS pointed out that for the first time in 50 years there is no Malaysian Chinese as Federal Court Judge.These 6 Chinese cabinet minister will just pretend they have nothing to do with it.

  38. With the politicization of the Judiciary, third branch of the government, the process is now complete……

    It’s becoming apparent this BN led govt is turning this country into a fascist regime. These politicians are abusing their powers with impunity with no recourse for action by us rakyat.
    It’s our fault for giving too much mandate to a very weak leader to lead us. We definitely need to change this fast-becoming-fascist govt or the very least vote in more opposition for some check and balance.

  39. Here we are not talking of race per se.Morever, we are also not talking of Chinese quota in the Federal Court(FC).
    What we are talking about is that for the 1st time in 50 years there is not a single Chinese in the FC. You mean to say that after 50 years there is not a single Chinese who has the integrity nor the ability to be in the FC?
    You mean to say that a Malay judge who did not write written judgement not once not twice but on 35 cases is better than a Chinese who wrote hundreds of written judgements and therefore the Malay judge deserved to be promoted to the FC whereas the Chinese did not.
    One can see that that for some judicial appointments there is a semblance of tokenism: out of 7 appointments\promotions, 1 will be a Chinese but for FC ,the Chinese did not even deserve a tokenism.
    One must either be blind or a moron if one cannot see such gross injustice not only for the Chinese but for the Malaysian justice system!

  41. Its there any avenue for us to express our frustration peacefully without been threaten with the draconian XSA.
    We all know NAMEWEE will be trouble if he comes home just because he express his frustration.
    We all know our Keris Sham will not hesitate to bath KL with you know whose blood. (ALA BURMA JUNTA)
    And I am not about to give up my citizenship because that would amount to giving IN to KETUANAN MELAYU.
    But I vow one day I will hit them where it hurts hardest.

    Sorry,, I am just vetting out my frustration here.

  42. We failed to understand how by disclosing their employment composition by race and gender, the MNCs are working towards the corporate social responsibility of their corporations.

    That is very surprising how the CSR was defined by the government? Other than at its whims and fancy to suit its agenda of picking again on the racial-based policies in the country.

    The first among corporations that need to publicise their CSR on employment composition by race and gender are the government linked corporations (GLCS).

    We see no non Malays in the GLCS, and they are capitalised using public funds from tax payers, and not private funds. And who pay the most taxes in this country and yet receive the least in terms of return? Obvious.

    Then the civil service too where employment composition by race and gender are obvious and need further elaboration by anyone!

    At the end, this type of perverted policies is only driving the real talents, entrepreunerism offshore, that is all.

    Do we expect mediocrity to bring growth and developemnt? Mediocre breeds worse mediocre. It is the dump that such shallow policies are bring to the society, nothing to be chauvinstic.

  43. “Why did former lord president Hamid Omar refuse to withdraw from chairing a tribunal that led to the removal of his boss, Salleh Abas, during the 1988 judicial crisis?”

    I don’t believe Hamid would have been sacked as he had claimed or said to Param. The deal must have been made by Mahathir earlier. Hamid also hailed from Alor Star, Kedah – like Mahathir. Both shared the same alma mater. Had he expressed his reservations to Mahathir, Mahathir would have found somebody else. It was set up to facilitate the transition.

  44. Dont non malays have a say in how the public funds are used? Dont non malays have a say in how GLCs are runned and funded? Aren’t GLcs funded by taxpayers/EPF contributors? Then why are non malays being marginalised?

  45. //I don’t believe Hamid would have been sacked as he had claimed or said to Param// – Undergrad2.

    It is hard to say because to TDM you’re either with the ‘renegade’ judges led by Tun Salleh Abas against him or with him!

    However if Tun Hamid Omar was sacked by TDM because he chose to uphold the law and independence of the judiciary he would have earned a good name instead of a resolution from the Malaysian Bar passed against him unrescinded…..but Hamid chose otherwise, whether to protect his remuneration or advance his ambition, whichever.

    According to former Bar Council President/ UN “special” rapporteur, Param Cumaraswamy Hamid said, ‘Param, if I don’t accept, I will be sacked. If I am sacked, will you or your Bar Council compensate my losses of remuneration?”

    This would suggest that, to Hamid, his remuneration was more important that the Rule of Law and Executive (TDM)’s emasculation of the Judiciary – Period!

    As senior judge he knew well the basic principle of law that a litigant should not appoint the Judges or sit in tribunal (as chairman) to decide a case in which he was personally involved. (Hamid was a respondent in the proceedings brought by Tun Salleh Abas, and that this factor would disqualify him from participating in any matter connected with the proceedings involving Salleh Abas).

    Acting Lord President of Tan Sri Wan Suleiman and judge George Seah refused to be in Kota Bharu as directed by Hamid. They wanted to join Eusoffe Abdoolcader and 2 others in KL to convene the Supreme Court to immediately hear the application by Salleh Abbas’s counsel Raja Aziz Addruse against Salleh Abbas’s dismissal.

    Tan Sri Haider Mohd Noor then was Chief Registar of the Supreme Court. He told Hamid that the 5 member Supreme Court was convening. Hamid instructed him that the Court staff should not be involved and the Court room be not made available to the five Supreme Court Judges, that the Supreme Court seal should be made available to them. Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman in his capacity as the Presiding Judge of a specially constituted 5-member Supreme Court of Malaysia instructed Haidar that the Supreme Court would sit and he would be cited for contempt if he obstructed. However Haidar sided with Hamid in flagrant defiance of the 5 member Supreme Court in support of Hjamid supported in turn by the then PM TDM, and the rest is history : the 5 judges were eventually removed, Hamid became Lord President, Haidar was appointed a Judge of the High Court in Borneo; then returned to the High Court in Malaya and was elevated to the Court of Appeal and subsequently to the Federal Court before his appointment as Chief Judge of the High Court in Malaya.

    Upon retirement he is a big time corporate man – and now appointed as chairman of the supposedly independent 3 man panel to investigate authenticity of Lingam’s videoclip !!!!!

  47. Yes, Malaysian Chinese may not be appointed into the Federal Court for the past 50 years, so is the Orang Asli, the Baba and Nyoya community, the Portugese minority and the Sikh community and other minority communities. Aren’t these minorities group deserved a chance too? Why only highlight the Malaysian Chinese and leave out the rest?

    Do you mean to say that pre-1988, the Judiciary is already rotten? Or rather, in the pre-1988 period, the appointment and promotion of judges is already in doubt and not based on merit?

    Come on, the issue highlighted by Uncle Lim(No Malaysian Chinese as Federal Court Judge-first time in 50 years) is just a trivial matter. Please look at the issue as a whole. The issue at hand is about the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary that has been questionable since the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas in the year 1988. Like I said earlier, the Judiciary after 1988 is in total mess and chaos. Clean up the Judiciary first, then everything such as the appointment and promotion of judges based on merit will automatically fall into its place and be in the right track.

  49. “In the 2008 Budget presentation, the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that as part of the effort to inculcate corporate social responsibility (CSR), all public-listed companies will be required from the financial year 2008 to disclose their employment composition by race and gender.”

    Uncle Lim wrote about this too. Too trivial?

  52. A sad day for the M’sian judiciary.

    The M’sia law, order & justice system has been rendered impotent since the time of Mahathir, so this had to happen sooner or later.

    As for me, I’ll been visiting Elder Brother Wu (my local godfather) when I need justice.

  53. Which learned and wise senior lawyer would want to get “tied up” or “tied down” by the authorities by being a judge. It can be pretty frustrating if you were promised all the freedom in the world to make judgments when they offer you the job just to find that such promise mean nothing in the end. The judiciary in Malaysia is simply not INDEPENDENT! The Executive puts its hands in every sector and turns the whole system topsy turvy!!!!!

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