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Malaysian Bar President's Speech at the reference
©The Sunday Star
(Used by permission)
HE made his life count. He fought for justice and he made his mark as a man and
a judge of unquestionable integrity.
Even months after Tan Sri Abdul Malek’s passing on May 31 last year, those who
knew the late Court of Appeal President and had worked with him wanted to pay
homage to the outstanding man that he was and the values he upheld.
This was apparent on Thursday at the remembrance organised by Universiti Malaya
and the Malaysian Inner Temple Alumni Association when hundreds who had turned
up heard speakers from the university, alumni, judiciary, Attorney-General’s
Chambers, Malaysian Bar and family talk about different facets of Malek and yet
said the same thing – he was a man of unquestionable integrity.
“The late Malek knew what it was to be a Judge,” said Bar Council chairman
Ambiga Sreenevasan.
“He knew that to be a great judge one had to have independence and integrity,
courage and compassion, dignity and honour. He knew that in him was vested the
heavy burden of deciding the fate of his fellow man and that this burden had to
be discharged honestly and to the best of his ability.
“He knew it; he cherished it; he lived it.”
Strong stand
She added that those who are left behind owe it to his memory to do what is
right and to set things right if possible.
It was certainly difficult to always do the right thing and Malek paid a
professional price with his uncompromising stand on integrity.
Former colleague and dear friend Datuk K.C. Vohrah declared to thunderous
applause at the gathering: “He (Malek) was the Chief Justice that this fair
country should have had but never did.”
All those who have been following the Royal Commission investigation into the
scandalous video clip showing the alleged brokering of judicial appointments
would be aware that the previous prime minister allegedly twice blocked Malek’s
rise to the post of Chief Judge of Malaya, the conventional first step to the
post of Court of Appeal president, the number two position in the judiciary.
“He also refused to succumb to doing what was wrong and rebuffed two top judges
who tried to importune him to do just that,” said Vohrah, a retired Court of
Appeal judge, currently a Suhakam commissioner.
Malek had also spoken out against a deputy minister sitting on the Bench when
judges were being sworn in and advised the judiciary against inviting the Prime
Minister to the Conference of Judges in Glenmarie and in Kuching (1996), when
the anonymous letter on improprieties in the judiciary was circulating.
As Vohrah said, for Malek, it was a simple issue of separation of powers; the
judiciary was not another government department.
Malek’s views were brushed aside but the repercussion, he added, was that word
had been passed to judges not to fraternise with Malek and his friends!
And that is what set this remembrance apart from many others – a retired judge
and two serving judges speaking openly about the injustices and practical
difficulties those with integrity face in the judiciary.
Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamed related the time Malek, who was ill by
March 2006, had visited him in hospital after his open-heart surgery out of
concern for Hamid’s future in the judiciary.
“I said to him: ‘Malek, whatever happens, I will never beg!’ “ disclosed Hamid,
whose appointment last year had all the markings of an intercession by the
Conference of Rulers.
“Judges lost a brother who was a pleasure to sit with and a friend who was
always full of laughter. The country lost an honest judge. I lost Malek,” said
Hamid.
Born in Singapore on July 28, 1944, Malek, at 40, was one of the youngest to be
elevated to the High Court on Jan 1, 1985. He was elevated to the Court of
Appeal on Dec 1, 1995, and the Federal Court on May 1, 1999.
His appointment as Court of Appeal President on July 12, 2004, was seen by legal
observers as a move by premier Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to restore the
judiciary’s image and integrity.
Acting alumni president and Court of Appeal judge Datuk James Foong said there
was much hope when Malek became Court of Appeal president but “the demands were
too overwhelming, expectations too great, the forces in opposition too strong
and the powers he had too limited”.
In spite of his busy schedule, Malek was involved in various activities.
Having read law at the Inner Temple in London, he was called to the English Bar
in 1966. On Feb 21, 2005, the inn elected him an Overseas Bencher in recognition
of the honour he had brought the society.
Instrumental in forming the alumni in Malaysia in 2006 and elected its first
president, he also established an educational fund for deserving students to
become barristers of the inn in London.
University Vice-Chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim described Malek, who had been a
pro-chancellor, a towering intellectual and a great judge.
Tan Sri Arshad Ayub, the university’s board of directors chairman, said Malek
was an external examiner for a record of six academic sessions, adding: “Faculty
members were amazed that such a busy judge would busy himself further with the
reading of exam scripts.”
The difficulties Malek faced at work didn’t stop him from having a full family
and social life and wide interests. He was even a composer of popular Malay
songs!
Farhan Ashraq, speaking on behalf of his mother Puan Sri Roziah Sheikh Mohamed
and his five sisters, said his father was a religious man who stressed the
importance of integrity and family.
Norenshah Sahari said in an interview later that her uncle was her surrogate
father after her father died when she was only six.
“He taught us much about religion in his own way. He never preached it nor did
he ever nag us about it,” she said of her dance partner when she was a teenager
wanting to practise dance steps.
“Uncle Malek could be fierce but he raised us to be fair and to always consider
both sides of any argument or situation. He always reminded us to look at
ourselves before criticising others”
Norenshah said that because of Malek, she and her brothers listened to a variety
of music, from jazz to pop and grew up as fans of Tom Jones, Engelbert
Humperdink, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vee and Vinton, Sharifah Aini, Khatijah
Ibrahim, the Bee Gees and Johnny Mathis.
“He took us to Michael Caine, Steve McQueen, Ryan O’Neal and even Charles
Bronson movies. He loved jamming on the piano and organ, something he taught
himself, while we became critics of his compositions and lyrics!”
Some of Malek’s songs became hits, one of the most well-known being Sanisah
Huri’s Joget Lambak.
On Thursday, many shared about Malek’s wit and humour. Norenshah had this
anecdote to share: ”He never failed to send us birthday cards. They were always
the humorous kind.
“When he was posted to Kota Baru in the 1970s, I was surprised to receive one
without any jokes. When I asked, he quipped: ‘Trying to find a funny card in
Kota Baru is like looking for a needle in a haystack.’”
It’s easy to make the departed a paragon of virtue and put him on a pedestal but
anyone who knew Malek would know he would never stand for that.
He’d like you to stand up and be counted wherever there’s injustice. 
Devoted family: From left: Farhana Ashriqin, Farina Adila,
Faiqah Amalyn, Puan Sri Roziah Sheikh Mohamed, Farhan Ahraq, Farissa Alyna and
Fatin Azalea after the remembrance organised by Universiti Malaya and the
Malaysian Inner Temple Alumni Association for the late Tan Sri Abdul Malek Ahmad
at the university's Dewan Tunku Canselor on Thursday.
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