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Do take the trouble to understand before you find fault with the judges of the Court of Appeal

by N H Chan

Before you go about judging the judges of the Court of Appeal on their five minute oral decision which they handed down on Friday, May 22, 2009, please bear in mind the wise words of the most liberal of American judges, judge Learned Hand who once wrote – The Spirit of Liberty, p 110:

… while it is proper that the people should find fault when the judges fail, it is only reasonable that they should recognise the difficulties. … Let them be severely brought to book, when they go wrong, but by those who will take the trouble to understand.

I shall now try to help you take the trouble to understand the oral findings of the Court of Appeal. First of all we will look at what the New Straits Times, Saturday. May 23, 2009 has to say:

PUTRAJAYA. … In allowing the appeal by Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir that he was constitutionally appointed as menteri besar by the sultan on Feb 6, Court of Appeal judge Datuk Md Raus Sharif said there was no clear provision in the state Constitution that a vote of no confidence against Nizar must be taken in the assembly.

Continue reading “Do take the trouble to understand before you find fault with the judges of the Court of Appeal”

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New police crackdown in Ipoh?

From http:// twitter.com/limkitsiang

26/05/09 16:19
Have to run from Thai Parliament and the twitter of the disgraceful police episode today from Bangkok ends here as well

26/05/09 16:18
All 14 heroes and heroines walking out now to the Ipoh police hqrs gate – to close another Day of Infamy in the Perak capital.

26/05/09 16:17
Yes, Kula the 14th and last to be released, on personal bond of RM1,000 and to report back to the police station on 26/6/09

26/05/09 16:16
MP Ipoh Barat Kulasegaran – where are you?

26/05/09 16:15
Assemblywoman Lim Pek Har 13th to be released

26/05/09 16:14
Most famous Speaker in the Commonweath V. Sivakumar signed and released
Continue reading “New police crackdown in Ipoh?”

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Najib is the primary target in Penanti by-election – referendum on his first 2 months as PM

The Penanti by-election has been described as a dull and unexciting contest because of the absence of the Barisan Nasional candidate.

The PKR and PR candidate, Mansor Othman is challenged by three independent candidates. The real battle however is not between Mansor and the three independent candidates, but with the main protoganist publicly “hiding” from the contest, the Barisan Nasional and its leader, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Although there is no BN candidate, Najib is undoubtedly the primary target in the Penanti by-election, which is a referendum on the credibility, integrity and legitimacy of Najib in his second month as Prime Minister

Last night, Najib allowed the police to do what five previous Prime Ministers, Tengku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah had never done – police raid on DAP Hqrs in Petaling Jaya, the first time in 43 years, as if the DAP is a terrorist organisation when we had demonstrated our commitment to peaceful, democratic and constitutional change for over four decades.
Continue reading “Najib is the primary target in Penanti by-election – referendum on his first 2 months as PM”

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Losers On All Sides

By M. Bakri Musa,

It reflects how low the public’s respect for our judiciary is that a unanimous reversal by the appellate court of a High Court’s decision should be greeted with such widespread scorn.

We must await the Appeal Court’s written judgment so we could weight its wisdom, legal and otherwise, and compare it to that of High Court Judge Aziz Rahim who made the initial ruling in Nizar vs. Zamry. Justice Aziz gave his within a week. Let us hope the Appeal Court judges, being more senior and higher in the judicial pecking order, would do better and come out with theirs faster. After all they have to set the proper example.

At least the Appeal Court had the common sense to have a quorum of three to hear the appeal. It would have been better on a case of such import involving fundamental constitutional issues to be heard with the full quorum. At least those judges showed better judgment if not common sense than Appeal Court Judge Ramli who in his wisdom decided to hear by himself the appeal on the associated stay of execution.
Continue reading “Losers On All Sides”

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Emergency assembly an option to end Perak crisis? Forget about it Najib, impasse will get worse. Only option – hold elections now!

Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today that an emergency meeting of the Perak State Assembly is an option to end the political and constitutional impasse in Perak.

Let me tell Najib – forget about it, as such an emergency Assembly meeting is no viable option and it could only make the impasse worse, dragging the nearly four-month-old political and constitutional crisis and stalemate indefinitely into the future.

What is worse, the protracted political and constitutional crisis and stalemate will stand as the strongest testament debunking Najib’s slogan of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”.

What right has anyone to talk about 1Malaysia when he is incapable of promoting 1Perak, in fact single-handedly responsible for the political and constitutional impasse in orchestrating the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab since early February?

Najib should bite the bullet and agree that the only way to end the political and constitutional impasse in Perak is to dissolve Perak State Assembly and return the mandate to Perakians in a state-wide general elections so that Malaysians can turn from the Perak stalemate to reunite to face the worst global economic crisis in a century. Continue reading “Emergency assembly an option to end Perak crisis? Forget about it Najib, impasse will get worse. Only option – hold elections now!”

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Perak – the epicentre of Umno fault-line

by Augustine Anthony
22.3.09

(This article was written in anticipation of the Court of Appeal judgment in Nizar vs Zambry)

The judgment of Justice Abdul Aziz Abd. Rahim in the case of Nizar vs Zambry has attained clairvoyance status.

It had positioned the institution of rulers above politics, dignified the sultans and preserved the revered constitutional monarchy for generations to come.

In the ancient times the announcement of gestation or birth of crown prince will usually send sages and spiritual leaders into solitude in meditation and prayers in the harsh wilderness with the hope that the ruler to come will be benevolent to the subjects. History bears testimony of such adoration with monuments and poems of virtues and valour of such kings. Continue reading “Perak – the epicentre of Umno fault-line”

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5-minute finding (not judgment) of Ct of Appeal shot-gun session declaring Zambry lawful Perak MB – hydra-headed monster claims another victim

The hydra-headed monster of the Perak crisis has claimed another victim with the 5-minute finding (and not judgment) of Court of Appeal shot-gun session declaring Zambry lawful Perak Mentri Besar.

All who packed into the Court of Appeal in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya to hear its judgment in the Nizar vs Zambry appeal could not believe that the whole shot-gun session was over in five minutes of delivery, not of a judgment, but findings of the Court of Appeal.

There was no reasoned grounds of judgment but mere findings of the Court of Appeal in an unanimous decision, i.e. 3 – 0.

As Professor Shad Faruqui had presciently written in his weekly newspaper column, the Perak crisis has become “a hydra-headed monster that cannot be eliminated by ding-dong judicial decisions”, and today, the hydra-headed monster has claimed another victim with the five-minute finding (not judgment) of the Court of Appeal shot-gun session declaring Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir as the lawful Perak Mentri Besar.
Continue reading “5-minute finding (not judgment) of Ct of Appeal shot-gun session declaring Zambry lawful Perak MB – hydra-headed monster claims another victim”

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Zambry’s first Black 100 Days as squatter/usurper Perak MB – will Perak be Umno’s graveyard and Zambry the cause of Najib’s downfall as the last Umno PM?

Today is Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir’s 100 days as the squatter and usurper Perak Mentri Besar – and the question on everybody’s mind on Zambry’s first Black 100 Days is whether Perak would be Umno’s graveyard in the 13th national general election and Zambry the cause of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s downfall as the last Umno Prime Minister in Malaysia.

Professor Shad Saleem Faruqi has coined the most apt and powerful imagery when he likened the Perak political and constitutional crisis to a “hydra-headed monster that cannot be eliminated by ding-dong judicial decisions”.

Shad Faruqi opined that recourse to the courts is pointless and called for a stop to “this insane and naked show of unprincipled politics”.

The only way to end the hydra-headed monster of the Perak political and constitutional crisis is to return to first principles of democracy and the Constitution as spelt out by the landmark Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim judgment on the Nizar vs Zambry case last Monday that once a mentri besar is appointed, he is only answerable to the state legislative assembly and he could only be removed by a vote of no-confidence in the State Assembly and not by the Sultan.
Continue reading “Zambry’s first Black 100 Days as squatter/usurper Perak MB – will Perak be Umno’s graveyard and Zambry the cause of Najib’s downfall as the last Umno PM?”

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Abdul Aziz judgment on Nizar case

Today the Court of Appeal at the Palace of Justice, Putrajaya is hearing the appeal against the landmark judgment of Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim in the Nizar vs Zambry case delivered last Monday, 11th May 2009 declaring Nizar as the lawful Perak Mentri Besar.

Nizar is not getting a five-member Court of Appeal panel. The three judges hearing Nizar’s application to discharge Zambry’s “stay order” obtained by a single-judge Court of Appeal within 24 hours of the historic judgment and Zambry’s appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment are justices Md Raus Sharif, Zainun Ali and Ahmad Maarop.

As I said in my tweet two hours ago:

“Parties agree that appeal proper b heard 1st and if at the end of hear’g ct cant give decision then discharge of stay will have 2 b heard.”

While we wait for the outcome from the Court of Appeal, the landmark Abdul Aziz judgment which illuminates the complicated terrain thrown up by the Perak constitutional crisis is worth reading (here).
Continue reading “Abdul Aziz judgment on Nizar case”

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Shad Faruqi’s article on Perak crisis becoming a “hydra-headed monster” should be compulsory reading for Najib and Cabinet

Professor Shad Faruqi’s latest Star weekly column “Reflecting on the Law” on “Put interest of the nation first” and how the Perak crisis has become a “hydra-headed monster” should be compulsory reading for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Cabinet.

Shad Faruqi has made many points which I had tried in the past three -and-a-half months to communicate to the Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional leaders but to no avail.

For instance, Shad Faruqi started his article thus:

“THE Perak political crisis can be likened to a malignant cancer that is voraciously spreading to the lymph nodes of our other institutions – the Sultanate, the judiciary, the federal executive, the civil service, the police, the law officers of the Crown, the court registry, the Anti-Corruption Com­­mission and the Election Commission.

The longer we wait, the farther the affliction will spread. It is time, therefore, to stop this madness, this divisiveness, this polarisation.”

Continue reading “Shad Faruqi’s article on Perak crisis becoming a “hydra-headed monster” should be compulsory reading for Najib and Cabinet”

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Ganesan’s presence caused and contributed to State Assembly ruckus

By P Ramakrishnan | President Aliran
18 May 2009

The claim by self-proclaimed Speaker of the Perak State Assembly, R Ganesan, that he had no choice but to summon the police into the House at the height of the ruckus during the May 7 sitting, is dubious and deceiving (Sunday Star 17 May 2009). There is no merit in his claim.

In the first instance, his entry into and his very presence in the Assembly is questionable. How on earth did Ganesan get into the Assembly? The Assembly building was out of bounds to all except the elected members of the Assembly.

There was a police cordon to prevent all the others from entering the Assembly. A 500 metre no-access zone was declared and anyone found anywhere near this perimeter were either chased away or were arrested when they resisted the police orders.

Even Perak Members of Parliament were denied access to the Assembly. Veteran MP Lim Kit Siang was refused entry into the building in spite of the fact that he had come with the invitation letter from the Speaker to attend the Assembly sitting.
Continue reading “Ganesan’s presence caused and contributed to State Assembly ruckus”

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Is Najib prepared to emulate his father Razak and order Zambry to vacate and stop squatting in the Perak MB Office?

The reasons given by the Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak why the Barisan Nasional is not contesting the Penanti state assembly by-election in Penang on May 31 does not bear scrutiny.

Najib said the Penanti by-election is not an election provided for by the Constitution but a political game being played by the Opposition and the BN did not want to play to their tune.

He declared: “Barisan’s priority is to serve the people and work to revive the country’s economy.”

What political gobbledegook! Continue reading “Is Najib prepared to emulate his father Razak and order Zambry to vacate and stop squatting in the Perak MB Office?”

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Why is Zambry getting ‘special treatment’?

(When I spoke at the public forum “From May 13 to 1Malaysia – The Future of Malaysian Nation Building” at the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre on Wednesday, 13th May 2009, I had posed two questions, viz:

1. Why the Court of Appeal could fast-track to hear within three hours Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir’s application for “stay” of Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim’s landmark judgment delivered on 11th May that Nizar was the lawful Perak Mentri Besar and grant it in another hour; while it was snail-pace in needing five days to hear Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin’s application to discharge Zambry’s “stay”; and

2. Whether Malaysians can expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when there is an Umno Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi?

This proved to be an understatement, as last Friday, it was announced that Nizar’s application to set aside the stay order, filed on 13th May, was postponed from May 18 to May 21 – the hearing date for Zambry’s appeal.

Zambry required less than three hours after filing his application to get a single-judge Court of Appeal to hear his “stay” request, while Nazry requires eight (from the earlier five) days to get his application to discharge the “stay” order heard.

Is this justice.

No wonder Leong Cheok Keng, Nizar’s solicitors, raised a very pertinent question in his six-point statement below, framed by Malaysiakini as “Why is Zambry getting ‘special treatment’?”: Continue reading “Why is Zambry getting ‘special treatment’?”

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BN SC tomorrow – dare UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders speak the truth to Najib to cut losses in Perak and face state general election?

Tomorrow is the first Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and it is shaping up to be an acid test whether the BN Supreme Council is going to be a new meeting of equals or of just like the past, between the Umno hegemon with subservient characters from the other Barisan Nasional component parties.

The May 31 Penanti state assembly by-election in Penang will be on the agenda, but even more important is the three-and-a-half-month-long Perak political and constitutional crisis which have brought one national institution after another into disrepute as well as undermined Malaysia’s international image and competitiveness.

Not only Pakatan Rakyat parties of DAP, PKR and PAS, but also independent organisations and NGOs like Suhakam, Bar Council, Council of Churches, Chinese guilds and associations, but also individual leaders from BN component parties have spoken up for the only viable solution to the Perak constitutional and political impasse – dissolution of the Perak State Assembly to return the mandate to Perakians in state wide general elections.

The question is whether Umno, MCA, Gerakan and MIC top leaders dare to speak the truth to Najib at the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting tomorrow that Najib should put national interests above party and personal interests, cut losses in Perak and face Perak state general elections to allow the people of Perak to decide their own political future. Continue reading “BN SC tomorrow – dare UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders speak the truth to Najib to cut losses in Perak and face state general election?”

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Najib improperly intefering with Court of Appeal hearing on Nizar vs Zambry case

It is most improper and irresponsible for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to try to influence the Court of Appeal hearing on Thursday on the Nizar-Zambry case, undermining judicial independence and integrity.

This is the first time in my memory in the past 43 years that a Prime Minister had made a public pronouncement on a matter which is the very subject of litigation before an appellate court, as if the Executive is sending out a clear, unmistakable and even threatening message to the Judiciary of the executive interests in a case pending before the Appellate court.

And if such impropriety had not happened in the past 43 years, it would not have happened in the first nine years of the nation’s independence, as Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman would have been very careful and meticulous in ensuring that there could not be any speck of suspicion that the Executive was interfering with the judiciary.

Hasn’t Najib heard the doctrine of the separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary and the principle of the independence of the judiciary and the need for the Executive not only to respect, but also to be seen to respect, the integrity of the judiciary?

None of the previous five Prime Ministers had gone so far as to openly dictate to the judiciary how to it should adjudicate cases involving the Executive – despite the judicial darkness of the past two decades.

Why is Najib prepared to commit such a flagrant and blatant act of Executive disrespect and contempt for the Judiciary in such public and international manner?
Continue reading “Najib improperly intefering with Court of Appeal hearing on Nizar vs Zambry case”

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Perak crisis has become national crisis – PR leaders meeting today

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has said that Pakatan Rakyat must not set terms or conditions if it wants to talk about the co-operation to resolve the Perak political crisis.

As I said in my speech at the public forum “From May 13 to 1Malaysia – The Future of Malaysian Nation Building” at the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre last night, Pakatan Rakyat leaders will meet today and this subject will be top on the agenda.

On Saturday, while travelling between Kangar and Alor Star, I received news that the remaining three Hindraf leaders, DAP Selangor State Assemblyman Kota Alam Shah, P. Uthayakumar and K. Vasanthakumar, had been sent off from Kamunting Detention Centre for release under the Internal Security Act.

In a media conference in Alor Setar at about 4.30 pm, I said that the time had come for Najib to have a summit meeting with Pakatan Rakyat leaders to resolve the protracted Perak constitutional crisis and political stalemate.

I said that the release of the Hindraf leaders by themselves were not adequate measures to restore public confidence in key national institutions in the country, especially when the Perak constitutional crisis had become a Malaysian political crisis undermining national confidence in the key national institutions and impairing Malaysia’s international image and competitiveness.
Continue reading “Perak crisis has become national crisis – PR leaders meeting today”

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Zambry (self-claimed 3-in-1 Mandela, Gandhi, King) returns to SUK as a doubly illegitimate Perak MB

Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir (self-claimed 3-in-1 Mandela, Gandhi, King) returns to the Mentri Besar’s office in SUK (State Secretariat) Perak this morning as a doubly illegitimate Perak Mentri Besar.

When Zambry first entered the Perak Mentri Besar’s office on Feb. 6, 2009, he was just illegitimate Mentri Besar as it was the result of an unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab based on three “political frogs” who have since disappeared from public view and dared not return to their constituency to meet their voters.

When Zambry re-entered the SUK today, he had become doubly illegitimate Mentri Besar as a result of the landmark Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment that there was never a vacancy for him to become a lawful and legitimate MB.

Zambry knew that since Monday, he had become doubly illegitimate as pretender Mentri Besar after the judgment by Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim declaring Datuk Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin as the lawful Mentri Besar.
Continue reading “Zambry (self-claimed 3-in-1 Mandela, Gandhi, King) returns to SUK as a doubly illegitimate Perak MB”

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Perak in limbo with no Mentri Besar – PR lawyers to set aside Court of Appeal single-judge “stay” decision

Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir has likened himself to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, causing all-round derision, outrage and revulsion.

If Zambry dreams of being a Gandhi, he would not want to be an illegitimate and unlawlful Mentri Besar even for a second.

He would not lay claim to be the Perak Mentri Besar as after the Nizar vs Zambry judgment of Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim yesterday, he is doubly illegitimate as the Perak Mentri Besar.

Zambry went against everything Gandhi stood for in announcing that he would again “gate-crash” the Perak State Secretariat building tomorrow to illegitimately re-occupy the office of Mentri Besar!

Zambry was defaming the memory of Gandhi in suggesting that the great Indian moralist would have approved Zambry for being a doubly illegitimate MB.

The most astounding single-judge Court of Appeal decision to grant stay of the Abdul Aziz declaration does not in any way salvage Zambry’s position as a doubly illegitimate MB.

Abdul Aziz declared Zambry as an unlawful and illegitimate MB and Nizar the lawful and legitimate MB.
Continue reading “Perak in limbo with no Mentri Besar – PR lawyers to set aside Court of Appeal single-judge “stay” decision”

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Perak has no one who can legitimately occupy the MB’s office

The incipient hope of start of restoration of public confidence in the independence of the judiciary sparked by the courageous and landmark judgment by Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim in the Nizar vs Zambry case was cruelly crushed in less than 24 hours.

The Court of Appeal’s super-fastracking of the appeal by the usurper and illegitimate Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir for a stay of the declaration by Justice Abdul Aziz, with the stay granted by a single judge, has created a firestorm of outrage and disillusionment that justice and fair play can be expected from the present judiciary.

This is one email which I received immediately after the extraordinary speed with which Zambry’s application for stay was granted by the Court of Appeal through a single judge:

“I only wish that the courts act like this in all cases, super fast and super efficient. I am intrigued why in some case, it takes months or even years, when, in the above situation and case, it only took several hours for a panel to be set up.

“Why the double standards?

“The man who steals a loaf of bread has to rot in jail for months before his case is even heard. The rationale behind this and the usual excuse is that there is backlog of cases.”

Continue reading “Perak has no one who can legitimately occupy the MB’s office”

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Najib – cut losses and hold Perak state elections or he will fail his “important quest” to regain public trust

Twitter Flash : 12/05/09 13:40
The Court of Appeal fast-tracked Zambry’s case originally fixed to start at 2.30 p.m. – decision delivered at about 1.20 pm granting stay.

12/05/09 13:28
Court of Appeal (single judge Justice Ramly Ali) grants stay to Zambry. Does this mean Nizar moves out and Zambry moves in to SUK?
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In his keynote address at the 13th Malaysian Banking Summit, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that he was now on the “important quest” of “regaining public trust”.

If Najib is serious about his “important quest” to regain public trust, he should not prolong the Perak political impasse; be bold enough to “cut losses” and stop all appeals against the judgment by Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge, Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim yesterday in the Nizar vs Zambry case declaring that Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin is the valid Perak Mentri Besar; and agree to the dissolution of Perak Assembly to hold new state elections for Perakians to elect the government they want.

Najib should pay heed to Tengku Razaleigh’s call to the Sultan of Perak to dissolve the State Assembly to end the Perak crisis.
Continue reading “Najib – cut losses and hold Perak state elections or he will fail his “important quest” to regain public trust”