There is growing concern that to avoid a grave constitutional crisis that will erupt with the extension of Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim as Chief Justice after Nov. 1, the country may be plunged to another equally grave crisis of confidence in the independence and integrity of the judiciary — the appointment of an UMNO Chief Justice for the first time in the 50-year history of Malaysia, namely Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi.
The appointment of Zaki as Federal Court Judge in early September, which involved an unprecedented “triple jump” without first serving as judge of High Court and Court of Appeal, was the first in the nation’s 50-year history, raising the question whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was paving the way to appoint Zaki as a future Chief Justice.
Nobody questions the legal qualifications and capabilities of Zaki but there are many legitimate questions as to the suitability of his judicial appointment, in particular as Chief Justice.
Is the country going to start the second half-century of nationhood with an UMNO Chief Justice, when for five decades, there had never been any judge who could be said to be an Umno judge in terms of his party membership and his long services to Umno as a political party.
For the past 22 years, Zaki was an active Umno member and lawyer, representing Umno in many controversial and even dubious Umno cases, culminating variously as head of Umno legal advisor, head of Umno disciplinary committee panel and in 2001 as Deputy Chairman of Umno Disciplinary Board of Appeal.
Is Zaki still an Umno member? If he had resigned from Umno, when did he resign from Umno?
Even if Zaki had resigned from Umno, at a time when the greatest challenge of the judiciary is to restore national and international confidence in the independence and integrity of the judiciary after two decades of erosion and devastation, will Zaki’s further elevation in the judiciary to become the Chief Justice be conducive to such an uphill task which had been the bane of Malaysia’s world standing and international competitiveness?
After his appointment to the Federal Court in early September, Zaki said that he was given less than 24 hours to decide whether he would accept the appointment, and he described it as a “national service”.
What is even more important is whether public perception, both national and international, will regard it more as “Umno service” rather than “national service”.
In the circumstances, it would be a major faux pas of the Prime Minister to plunge the country from one judicial crisis of confidence to another, re-opening anew the urgency for the establishment of a Judicial Appointments and Promotions Commission to remove extraneous considerations and factors in judicial appointments which could only undermine public confidence in the judiciary.
Malaysia already has an umno IGP, an umno ACA DG, an umno Elections Commission head, ect. So why not an umno CJ?
These people don’t seem to have any notion of or concern for the importance in the concept of Judiciary’s Independence.
Our constitution, laws are based on common law precepts which in turn are premised on separation of three branches (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary) of powers – a term coined by French political Enlightenment thinker Baron de Montesquieu in his Spirit of the Laws (1748) – to provide the necessary the institutional check and balance to prevent abuse of power and the rights of citizenry being steam rollered by the juggernaut of government! After all government is all-powerful and Lord Acton spoke the truth when he said “all power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutelyâ€Â.
We’re not a Fascist state of yester year, Kymer Rouge or any present day failed states in Africa or South America or Middle East with no tradition of common law and where courts, legislatures, and the executive branches descend in a single, authoritative monolith, directed, so far as events will allow, by a single set of wills from one supremo and by which the very idea of a separation of powers is an anathema!
We have pretension to being civilised and first world, and even if it were just a pretension, at least a modicvum token must be presented, as a public face, to maintain the charade and farce.
Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi might be a fair minded and honorable but by virtue of his ties with UMNO as its member and legal advisor, he would not be perceived as non partisan judge if he were presiding a case between a citizen against UMNO led government.
For it is trite that justice must not only be done but “seen done†for the Judiciary to serve its purpose.
To appoint Zaki as CJ would be to point the other way that we are practicing easy going dispensation of justice under the proverbial coconut tree.
If this were Ok – if the principle of the Judiciary being independent of executive interference – were not important, then why not come out forthright and say it is not important and lets have Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim as Chief Justice after Nov. 1 notwithstanding the Lingam Tape?
As I commented in my posting in earlier thread, one does not remove Fairuz as CJ ostensibly to uphold public perception of independence of judiciary by having him replaced by someone who, by virtue of his past ties with the ruling party, immediately dispel and contradict this perception of judicial independence!
All the fuss over the lingam tape scandal, getting Haidar Panel and ACA to investigate etc will have no meaning since no one in power cares a hoot about judicial independence or the public perception of it!
What is shown is the old feudal patronage system operating – benefits of appointments as a reward of loyalty to factional political interests. What Hang Tuah stood for is held in greater reverence here than Baron de Montesquieu – who the hell was this guy anyway? :)
So many wrongs one after one keeping us busy with not one solved or followed up.
ACA has finished investigations into the Lingam tapes just in time to exonerate and clear CJ from any wrong doing. They said it is impossible to determine the authenticity of the clip without the original. If the original is a digital camera, then I suppose the memory stick, SD card or what ever device is the “original”. How do the idiots determine that this storage device is the “original’ and not a duplicate.
They are thinking of film negatives or VCR tapes? How did the police overseas make a copy of the face of a canadian paedophile from an internet clip without the original? The pedophile can now plead innocence because his image is not from original source.
Oh yes we should not comment on Namewee’s Negara Ku Ku because we have not seen the original and only saw the you tube version. Cannot determine whether he really produce such a clip, according to ACA unless he give them the original!
The original of Anwar ( and all of us ) is Adam ( with the aid of Eve ). So the ACA must arrest Anwar’s original, that is, Adam.
More HP6 acts like this will continue from BN and UMNO. This is not a surprise.
This is definitely not the last HP6 act by any means. Why stop now? With judiciary under their firm grip, the only rational expectation is to expect even bigger scale corruptions to come in future years.
It should be obvious by now there is no fast solution to this rat-infested rot, even if the Agong miraculously agree to an RCI, based on a small 5,000 online petition. No easy end in sight.
And with so little existing opposition, and those few tied up to fight fire after fire after fire, there will not be any real justice in the long term.
Over the last 50 years, the momentum for BN is getting stronger and stronger, that even when they stare directly at the public with even bigger lies, they continue to get away with it. Port Klang Free Zone, Lingam-gate, Ali Rustam’s antics, Angkasawan program, Murder cases, Mat Rempits, continued deteriorating comparison against Singapore, Quality of Education, etc, etc, etc.
If one is a practical betting man, the next GE is going to be won by BN. No question. Not a single shred of doubt. As certain as the sun will rise tomorrow morning. As certain as death and taxes.
As Rakyat, our day-to-day lives must go on. We cannot live with continued hatred day after day after day. It is not healthy.
Sadly, to those of you who cannot migrate, the only smallest possible glimmer of hope that I can see is election day. To those of you who don’t care to vote, it is already 100% certain that BN will win. To those of you who don’t touch the lives of those around you with this simple message, then, it is already certain that BN will win. I am not a gambling man, and doesn’t even know what is 4D and how 4D works. But if someone offers me a bet, $100,000 for $10 that BN will win the coming election, I will surely take that bet – to me, the $10 payoff is certain, and my $100,000 is safe.
I really hope someone will prove me wrong!
Obviously, I really hope this guy – Zaki – doesn’t get promoted. But with BN in power, I’m realistic enough to know that he WILL get promoted. It’s just a question of time.
Old observer.
PS. And if anyone knows an underground bookie who is willing to bet that the opposition wins in the next election, let me know. I intend to put my entire life savings on this sure win.
The Opposition will win provided the Proportional Representation Voting system is implemented here
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/polit/damy/BeginnningReading/PRsystems.htm
Proportional representation voting (PR) is the main rival to plurality-majority voting. Among advanced western democracies it has become the predominant voting system. For instance, in Western Europe, 21 of 28 countries use proportional representation, including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The basic approach of proportional representation is simple: legislators are elected in multimember districts instead of single-member districts, and the number of seats that a party wins in an election is proportional to the amount of its support among voters. So if you have a 10-member district and the Republicans win 50% of the vote, they receive five of the ten seats. If the Democrats win 30% of the vote, they get three seats; and if a third party gets 20% of the vote, they win two seats.
Well……if our beloved Agong and the other rulers can for example “denied” a further extension for the current CJ……..then i don’t see any reasons for our royalties to agree for an UMNO member or probably an already ex member to be alleviated to the CJ post.Unless the royalties think that this zaki “candidate” are the best choice from the rest of the rotten apples.It really make no sense at all since we all assume that our royalties are so powerful that they can agree or not to agree on the candidate given by the PM.Hope RPK aren’t pulling our toes.
Malaysian government under BN should stop the practice of extending the service of senior most civil servants by offering contracts of service after the mandatory retirement age.
If it is mandatory, it means it is mandatory. Why the BN government is forever fond of extending these civil servants’ tenure of service by offering contracts? Cronyism? Nepotism? Favouritism?
It cannot be due to a dearth of capable personnel to take over. In any departments or organization, there is the human resource development programme with the succession plan always in place.
It really makes a mockery of the succession plans of the departments or the organization. There are many capable personnel to take over the jobs left vacant.
These are personnels who will be seriously demoralised when the time comes for them to move up but were stopped along the way just because the incumbent can pull a strong string. Ridiculous.
If the government thinks the retirement age should be lengthened, then do it, so that it is fair to every body.
Who is not indispensable in this world? Nobody!
So when it is mandatory to go, he or she should go. If he or she wants to give service for free, then so be it. Not to be in the way of other equally, if not more capable staff from moving on.
“Is Zaki still an Umno member? If he had resigned from Umno, when did he resign from Umno?” KIT
I don’t believe there is any law in force that requires a citizen and a civil servant not to have his or her own political party affiliations since the right to do so and to vote is the constitutional right of every citizen. I believe what you meant is that Zaki is required to relinquish his party positions he holds within UMNO – which I believe he must have.
“Nobody questions the legal qualifications and capabilities of Zaki but there are many legitimate questions as to the suitability of his judicial appointment, in particular as Chief Justice.” KIT
I do.
We are here talking about the highest judicial post within the Judiciary – probably the third, fourth or fifth most single powerful post after the Prime Minister(?). The envy that others holding elected offices have against the person who holds this appointed office is best remembered when Mahathir commented not too long ago that if the Lord President wanted to represent the people he must stand for elections like everybody else, that the Prime Minister is the elected representative of the people and not the Lord President. What happened after that is history – the Lord President was given the boot!
With Zaki as CJ UMNO need not worry about the man being a loose cannon. Zaki is a die-hard UMNO loyalist who has built his financial empire on the back of UMNO – challenging the results of elections that UMNO have lost and declaring others void and bringing in witnesses who were paid to tell the court what they saw happened etc. He was never paid for these services but was rewarded in other ways with businesses that went to his law firm of Rashid & Lee.
Yes, I believe him when he said he was only answering to the call of duty when he was made federal court judge.
Zaki may be legally qualified to hold such office but a candidate for the highest post in the Judiciary must be compeltely free from controversy. Zaki has had his share of controversy ranging from his frolics with his female legal assistants, his controversial marriage and divorce etc.
Just get one of those female legal assistants to sue him for sexual harrassment. That will finish him off before he can even get to the seat of CJ, or just let him sit there awhile then tear him up. It’ll be fun to see how those baboons and gobloks respond.
Unfortunately those female LAs are now happily married and are not about to spill the beans!
True, it’s not fair to bring them out but if they were reluctant “victims” why not? Such a “tainted” character on the CJ job is a great embarrassment to the country. It will be an insult to the intelligence and integrity of Malaysians as if we don’t have better candidates? As concerned citizens, let’s continue to put the pressure on by exposing his wrong-doings!
[deleted]
Looks like Malaysia has this fanciful craze for the “Like father, like son” syndrome…at least signs of it unless Malaysians snap out of their sleep & put an end to such nonsense.
First, it was Tun Razak as PM, now his son is DPM & aspiring for you-know-what!
Then, it was Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Razak’s brother-in-law; now Hussein’s son, the keris-waving Hishammudin, is in the wings waiting for his cousin Najib to become the you-know-what so that he can also become the you-know-what.
Tun M’s son now seems sidelined because of you-know-who but if Najib comes onstream followed by his cousin, then one of Tun M’s sons will follow the musical chair like you-know-how.
BTW, all this talk of AAB’s SIL waiting to be ‘crowned’ PM is just another facet of this family tree obsession.
Now, just because Tun Azmi was once Malaysia’s CJ, now his son Zaki looks like he has parachuted into the queue to be CJ. God, there just is no end to nepotism in Bolehland!
All in all, there are just about 6 to 7 families that makes Malaysia go round.
The rest are zombies riding on those dumb wooden horses in the circle game.
oh goodness gracious! …sophia loren!
When Zaid the MP from Kota Baharu said Zaki was not morally fit to be deputy Chairman of UMNO Disciplinary Chairman, the PM agreed and accepted the latter’s resignation.If he was not fit to be deputy Chairman how could the PM think that he is fit to be Chief Justice? If this is not disaster of the judiciary of the first order, then what is.
A.person who sent 100 sms in a day wooing a girl half his age,getting married secretly to her in a textile shop in Thailand and then destroying their marriage certificates can become a Chief Justice then what moral standard do we have for a man on the street?
No experience as a judge, no moral standard then what does he has to be appointed to the Federal Court directly and be the Chief Justice? And being a hard-core UMNO member then what can a non-UMNO people expect to get from the judiciary.We are doomed!
Endangered Hornbill,
“Craze” or “obsession” whatever you call it. It’s there because we the rakyat in umno are ‘dungo’ enough to allow it. Why should they be given special preference?
Look at Zaid Ibrahim MP for Kota Bahru, to me he looks like one endangered specie in UMNO, more level-headed and a much better man than any of their No.1, 2, 3 or 4 to lead UMNO but he is not getting near the top, why? Money politics? No wonder our fren is busy collecting his dues in France?
In the olden days there were Court Jesters to please the king; today there are so-called Chief Justices to please the pm… their functions are just the same, just a change in names
The current Badawi Administration is fast catching up with the old Marcos Ideals.
In Philippines, President Marcos has the Complete Reign on the people with all Arms of Authority singing the complete tune of Marcos without fail.
Any dissent or truth, for the good of the people are severely punished by every administrative arms of the Government. Through such tactics, President Marcos amass tremendous wealth for his own family and close associates.
The current malaysian Government is plagiarising the Marcos ideals 100%, rather 110%, because the mainstream media in Malaysia are so tightly reign-in.
Lets invite Corizon Aquino to guide us in disposing the current despicable government.
Well lets hope Raja Petra could prove all of us wrong,,,when he hinted that the royalties are much stronger than we all assume……..God bless Malaysia…
ENDANGERED HORNBILL: “Looks like Malaysia has this fanciful craze for the “Like father, like son†syndrome…at least signs of it unless Malaysians snap out of their sleep & put an end to such nonsense.”
There is nothing wrong with a son wanting to emulate the father. But when the father is a corrupt politician and if what they say is true i.e. about the ‘apples not falling too far away from the tree’ then this country’s future could well be in constant jeopardy.
The first PM the Tunku, has a son. He was a military officer turned businessman – the exception rather than the rule.
“A person who sent 100 sms in a day wooing a girl half his age,getting married secretly to her in a textile shop in Thailand and then destroying their marriage certificates can become a Chief Justice then what moral standard …” fighter
Precisely – and more!
In the U.S. to be appointed Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, you have to pass the litmus test in your private life too and not just in your public life. The President can only nominate. His nomination would have to be approved by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Cases of the President’s nominee failing to get the necessary approval are quite common. There is nothing to be embarassed about because the standards applied are very stringent. The slightest controversy about issues affecting your private life is enough not to get the President’s nomination. If by chance it does, rest assured it would not pass the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
In other words you’d have to be squeaky clean to hold the top job in the Judiciary.
The longer time flies, the more difficult it will be for Pak Lah to agree to a Royal Commission without “losing face”.
Perhaps his indecision is due in part to the coming UMNO General Assembly due in about two weeks time? Does he fear criticism if he acts and also criticism if he doesn’t? Either way he seems to lose and should perhaps weigh which is the “better” alternative for him. His “control” or lack of it, will become evident soon.
Watch about for attacks on or support for Ali Rustam the CM of Malacca for insulting the MBs of Perak and Pahang and other UMNO and BN leaders and also the PM directly.
Will we see fireworks ala 50th Merdeka Anniversary? Will we see schisms in UMNO as camps are formed? Long time no Team A, Team B and Team C. Maybe they are trying to work out a nice, smooth retirement plan for Pak Lah and for a new leadership to emerge.
I almost fell of my chair when I saw over the news that upon being questioned about this, the PM reply was that he would give guarantee the safety of witness to the independent panel?
It was so pathetic, I felt shocked, embarassed, scared, incredulous – all at the same time.
Is our PM just clueless or is he just pathetically weak as a leader?
Dear PM, no one cares for your words assurances or otherwise, anymore at this juncture!!!!!
The onus is on the PM to act and stop talking otherwise, his legacy is that of weak and pathetic.
No Moral shame!!
But it will come to pass and it looks like we shall have to trust that the Agong will put his foot down and make sure the PM does what is right!!
In any society there are ideals to inspire and there are realities, and in between, the gap.
The ideal of Chief Justice? He must, first and foremost, be a good judge ie learned in the law and with intellectual ability to resolve complex problems; in temperament, measured and patient to hear all sides and in character, integrity and independence bowing to no pressure except the imperatives of justice and truth; someone who is not obsequious to the powerful and arrogant towards the humble; who is prepared to set aside personal ambition and greed for higher public duty; someone who, in personal life, is in accord with the standards of the community, a model citizen, normally a good family man – not a deviant or scandalous. He must also be a good administrator to run the court system. Also public relations skills of how to promote the justice system to the general populace as consumers and how to harmonise and work cooperatively with the government, NGOs including the Bar and other associations without compromising the independence of the administration of justice.
The fact is that there is no one person on earth, a paragon of men, that can have all these qualities all rolled into one. One can be brilliant but he cannot restrain his testosterones and is embroiled in sexual escapades; another may have all the social restraint but is either not diligent or not brilliant to write judgments and so on and so on.
Whatever the realities, the perception of the nearest to ideal representing the aspiration – the public face – must be there. We can’t have at the outset a CJ who is perceived corrupt or beholden to Power. Or somebody whose libido is so unrestrained that he gets his female employees to sit on his lap or engage in trickery of marrying women and destroying the marriage certificates thereafter.
But to be honest there’s no perfect man. We also know that perception of the ideal, even if possible, is not reality. So the trick is not just the person or the person of the CJ but the court system comprising a diversity of judges picked from various interests. This is where the importance of vesting judicial appointments with a Judicial Commission (“JCâ€Â) lies.
First of all, the JC must be constituted of members of impeccable credentials drawn from different sectors of society distinguished for their present and past contributions to the society and country.
The JC then canvasses candidates with legal qualifications and practice experience from various quarters : the government, the AG Chambers, the Judiciary and Judicial Services, the Bar Association, past and ex judges, the Academia/Universities, the Business Community whether represented by the Federation of Manufacturers or SMIs.
JC members then shortlist all candidates and recommend them to the PM and Yang di-Pertuan Agong to select amongst those recommended the CJ with the rest as judges.
As much as we need by way of check and balance a separation of powers between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches, so within the specific context of the Judiciary alone, we would require judges recommended from a diversity of quarters to check one another in their execution of their judicial duties.
Under present system the recommendation comes principally from the CJ though PM has theoretically final say. If we have a crooked CJ he will seek to pack the court system with his own kind; or if we have a PM who wants to make the judiciary subservient to his power he will ensure only the obsequious and subservient are appointed.
Those who advocate the JC are people who are realistic to know that humanity is not perfect and that the best safeguard for an important institution like judiciary against normal human greed ambition and foibles is to pack the court system with eligible people of different perspectives and diversity of ideological background to check and balance one another.
Those who advocate JC are realistic to maintain a healthy skepticism of human nature or the perfectibility of man and that is why they rely on institutions of check and balance to neutralize Man’s imperfection.
“Or somebody whose libido is so unrestrained that he gets his female employees to sit on his lap or engage in trickery of marrying women and destroying the marriage certificates thereafter. ”
It is not all about testosterones running wild!
This is also about a man married to the country’s Solicitor-General, had himself kicked out of the house by his wife together with his clothings strewn all over the lawn and who years later shacked up with someone young enough to be his daughter – much like someone who goes to Las Vegas to get married knowing how easy it is to divorce.
Is this by any measure a man fit to hold the highest judicial office in the country??
In the political world, we need to have ‘supporters’ as many as we can grab. T4 boys are very good to scouting for the ‘right’ candidate for every possible vancancies that highly important to perform the ‘fair and balance’ constitution on behalf of this country.
All these seats are basically required under the Commonwealth countries to represent ‘human rights’,’equality of opportunities’,’social economy balance’ and all other laws.
That’s a must.
Our T4 boys are great in putting the ‘right’ candidate in every seats to ensure that all passing of laws and decision siding the government all the way.
The Done Master have been given the right opportunity to execute the first blood back in the early 80s and things have been changing eversince then.
That’s why I have never wished that The Done Master got any chance to follow Uncle Lim so soon and I pray each day for his longevites to witness all his doings and ‘selfish’ acts to become an ICON ( I con ) to the world.
y,y always d related man b gvn opportunity to b on d important seat,y not d capable man?
isnt wat tinktank LKY said was right?he was insulting d Bolehland,and it’s a fact!
D BN dogs will bark at him,but tat is a LION country,only d fit will stay,ppl r alredy in d international level,v r still struggling amongst ourselves!
Bolehland’s policy is damn contradicting!1 hand v promote democracy,another hand v promote NEP………damn intimidating policy…
the first case for this “JUDGE AMNO” will be all opposition representative null and void, AMNO and BARISAN NAJIS forms the next government, 100%