Lawyers' march unbecoming, says Nazri

Lim Kit Siang's press statement dated September 27

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:45:12 +0100

Lingam Tape - “Unbecoming, irregular, improper” characterise latest developments “Unbecoming, irregular and improper” are three adjectives which best characterize government and Independent Panel responses in the latest developments on the Lingam Tape scandal. It was the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who was doubly “unbecoming” in launching a tirade against the Bar Council and Malaysian lawyers for their historic march for justice yesterday from the Palace of Justice to the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya despite unwarranted police obstructions and in dismissing the Bar Council’s memorandum to the Prime Minister calling for a Judicial Appointment Commission. Nazri had alleged that the lawyers’ march in Putrajaya yesterday was “unbecoming” while proclaiming: “There is no crisis in our judiciary. No crisis, no problems. I don’t seen any scandal.” What makes Nazri think it is beneath the station of lawyers to be involved in a march for justice? The 2,000 lawyers and supporters of the cause of justice have done themselves and the nation and the 50th Merdeka anniversary proud in the March for Justice in Putrajaya yesterday, in the true tradition of the great marches in the struggle of humanity for justice and freedom, like Gandhi’s Salt March in 1930 to help free India from British colonial rule and Martin Luther King’s March on Washington for Freedom in 1963 which culminated in his electrifying speech “I Have A Dream”. Gandhi and Martin Luther King are now recognized by history and mankind for their great marches while their detractors, the Nazris of their era, have been forgotten! It is also most unbecoming of Nazri to arrogate to himself the powers of the Prime Minister to dismiss offhand the Bar Council’s memorandum to the Prime Minister calling for a Judicial Appointments Commission or has Nazri been authorized to usurp the powers of the Prime Minister? Nazri has also shown utter contempt for the other Cabinet Ministers who are treated as utterly irrelevant, incompetent and unfit to give any input on the Bar Council’s memorandum to the Prime Minister. A lot of irregular things are happening in Malaysia today. It is irregular for the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to announce on Tuesday before the Cabinet meeting yesterday the decision to set up a three-man Independent Panel to investigate into the authenticity of the Lingam Tape. Such a decision should be taken by the Cabinet or has the Cabinet been reduced to just a rubber-stamp for the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister despite all the talk about a functioning Cabinet where there is genuine power-sharing among the Ministers? It is also most irregular for Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor, Datuk Mahadev Shankar and Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye to meet informally yesterday in their prospective capacities as members of the three-man Independent Panel to investigate into the authenticity of the Lingam Tape when they had not received their letters of appointment and nobody, including the trio, knew about the actual terms of reference of the panel! They are expected to receive their letters of appointment and be informed of the panel’s terms of reference later today. Haidar said yesterday that the panel would need help from third parties. He said: “The panel’s job is to determine whether the clip is authentic or not. “Being laymen, we will need people to come forward and assist us on this point.” It is not a question of asking technical people to “assist” the panel but to do the entire job of the panel to determine its authenticity, which would have been the first task of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape scandal. Is the three-man panel just going to adjourn and close shop and report accordingly to the government, ignoring all the explosive revelations about the perversion of the course of justice such as fixing of judicial appointments and manipulating court judgments? Isn’t this reducing a very grave issue about the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary into pure farce? There is also gross impropriety – particularly with Haidar, as Chief Registrar of Supreme Court at the time who played a major role in the 1988 Judicial Crisis resulting in the arbitrary and unconstitutional sacking of Tun Salleh Abas as Lord President and Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh as Supreme Court judges now heading an Independent Panel concerning the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary. It is no exaggeration to say that if Haidar in 1988 had not been a party to the “mother” of all judicial crisis in 1988, the high international reputation and esteem of the Malaysian judiciary would have probably remained intact as the arbitrary and unconstitutional sacking of Tun Salleh as Lord President and Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman as Supreme Court judges might have been averted and the country saved from a generation of seismic shocks caused by one judicial crisis after another. - Lim Kit Siang

SALUTE TO NOBLE SPIRITS

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:19:48 +0100

Fellow lawyers We see the man, and we see the politician in Nazri. But where is the lawyer in him? That should have come first and foremost. We asked for something that is more than reasonable in the circumstances that we did not ask to find ourselves. But his reply was more political than ministerial. I pay tribute to all those who took part in the march. From the bottom of my heart, I salute all such lawyers who have shown their nobility of spirit. Stephen Tan Ban Cheng - Stephen Tan Ban Cheng

RESIGN!

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:08:52 +0100

I refer to the contribution by Mr Lim Chee Wee entitled "The great and mighty spirit of the Malaysian Bar" of even date and I quote:- "From the day the Bar Council decided to organise the Walk for Justice, we were in constant contact with the press secretary of the Deputy Prime Minister who chaired yesterday's Cabinet meeting and we informed him that the walk would be peaceful and that we intended to submit the 2 memorandums on the Royal Commission and the Judicial Appointment Commission. We were told that the DPM is sympathetic to our concern, did not object to the walk and would organise a representative to accept the memorandums on behalf of the Prime Minister." If the DPM did not object to our walk, why is Nazri objecting? Perhaps, Nazri now believes that he is also the Minister of the DPM! It is unbecoming for Nazri to object to and oppose the cause when the DPM has no objection to the same. I thought he couldn't comprehend the concept of Separation of Powers but now he appears to have difficulty understanding the notion of collective responsibility of the cabinet. He is acting like an opposition member (although I think that would be an unfair statement to the opposition members/parties). We have been told that there are two camps in the judiciary but now it appears that even in the cabinet, there are different camps. The DPM being sympathetic to our cause and the de facto Minister of Law commented that our Walk was "unbecoming". The office of DPM organised a representative to collect the Memorandums on behalf of the PM and the de facto Law Minister "shot down the Bar Council's Memorandum". I call on the office of the DPM to issue a statement to clarify the inconsistencies displayed by the de facto law Minister and as to why the De facto Minister seems to act like an "Opposition Member"! If the de facto law minister cannot toe the line with his colleagues or his superior in the Cabinet, then the Honorable Minster should do the honorable thing - RESIGN! Secondly, can the de facto law Minister shoot down the Memorandums when the Memorandums were presented to his Boss? His Boss, the PM not CJ ya, has not even read the Memorandums and he has the audacity to shoot it down! The de facto law Minister shot down the Memorandums even before he has the opportunity to read the contents unless he has read it even before the PM does. Wouldn't that be considered a misconduct? I think that the de facto law Minister now owes the PM, DPM and us an explanation unless the de factor law Minister now feels he is also the Minister to the Prime Minister!!! Thirdly, if DPM has no objection to our walk, why did the Police blocked and prevented the buses from ferrying our fellow lawyers to the POJ, why did the Police request us to stop the Walk and informed us that the appointment was cancelled and why was it necessary for the police helicopter to hover above us? I would like to know on whose instructions the Police was acting upon. These actions by the Police would tarnished the reputation and the integrity of the DPM's office as the Bar Council was given the assurance that the DPM's does not object to our Walk. The DPM's office should and must give and issue an explanation. Is the Police ignoring the office of DPM? Kelvin Ng Sin Huat - Kelvin Ng Sin Huat

Living in Denial

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:45:21 +0100

What a convenient way to deal with things - seems like our Minister is so simple minded to think that his "assurances" and "denials" are gonna downplay the entire scandal. Come on my dear Minister (I'm sorry but I'm so ashamed to even refer you as my country's Minister though for now, this is a sad fact that i am compelled to acknowledge ) - who are we kidding, really? No crisis, ..no problems? Please do not treat us like ignorant morons. We, the Malaysian Bar clearly knows what's becoming and what's not. You can continue to be in "denial" and appease us with your foolish comments...but we will do what is right and see that justice is done at the end of the day. Ivy Quek Jin Tan - Ivy Quek Jin Tan

Better to keep quiet

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:46:39 +0100

It is better to keep quiet and let people think that you are a dumb rather than to let people to confirm so Pek Chin Choo - Pek Chin Choo

Unable to handle such issues

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:09:17 +0100

Merely consoling himself for his failure to handle such issues! Bah!!!!!!!!! Makes me sick! Lim Yeeu Ren - Lim Yeeu Ren

Unbecoming?

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:39:50 +0100

What is more 'unbecoming' are the words of the Minister! Is that the way our minister face problems? Ding Chu Teck - Ding Chu Teck

Violating independence of the judiciary?

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:26:57 +0100

Whether there is a crisis in the judiciary depends on how the public feel and how much confidence the public has in them, it is certainly not up to anyone to SAY there is or is no crisis. If the Parliament is the not the right place to discuss on misconduct of judges, then where else? Of course the minister might hope that anything concerns judges should be referred to him since he is THE minister. To hear him saying violation of judiciary independence hurts my ears, imagine a crook goes around & tell people "Don't be a crook!" By the way, may I suggest to stop displaying his pictures at here? We don't want any eyesore to hurt our eyes. Shim Wai Loon - Shim Wai Loon

Stupid..

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:44:28 +0100

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid !!!! (Back at you Mr. Minister) Edward Saw Keat Leong - Edward Saw Keat Leong

Is the Minister backtracking?

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:02:07 +0100

I recall in a dialogue that the Bar had with the Honourable Minister, which I attended, the Honourable Minister said that on the question of an independent judicial commission, the Bar had to convince the CJ. The Honourable Minister himself said that he was OK with the idea of an independent judicial commission, but that the Bar had to convince the CJ that it was a good idea. Now it appears as though the Honourable Minister is backtracking. Andrew Khoo Chin Hock - Andrew Khoo Chin Hock

Correct, Correct, Corrupted Mind...

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:53:54 +0100

STPM Pengajian Am taught some of us that Separation of Powers that we have in Malaysia isn't actually the same like separation of powers in other countries..weird...but if I'm not mistaken and if I can recall correctly the intention of the Fed Const drafters were to put the Prime Minister in the middle of the Executive, Judiciary and Legislative's Circle to have the bodies inter-connected to each other to check and balance to prevent abuse of power...but people, it says PRIME MINISTER and not some other de facto law minister or any other people... and it is weird that Nazri took the role of our PM to shoot down our Memorandums before it even reaches PM's hand. Now, judges report to Nazri and PM PRIME MINISTER listens to Nazri...weird system... :rolling eyes: Dara Waheda Mohd Rufin - Dara Waheda Mohd Rufin

keep talking, Datuk Seri Nazri, keep talking

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:33:26 +0100

Keep talking, dear minister, so we rakyat can have clear direct evidence of your stupidity. You're unlike our PM, who at least is smart enough to delegate the dirty work, to his deputy Najib, for example. Alex Tan Ken Seng - Alex Tan Ken Seng

Minister doesn't understand separation of powers

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:18:21 +0100

"There's no need for such a judicial commission as there is no crisis in our judiciary," said Nazri. "No crisis, no problems. I don't see any scandal." Mr Minister, now I understand why you couldn't understand the doctrine of separation of powers which all of us learnt at law school. Jaspal Singh Gill - Jaspal Singh Gill