©The
Straits Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Leslie Lopez, South-east Asia Correspondent
Govt's perceived reluctance to deal with crisis of confidence is causing much unhappiness
KUALA LUMPUR - WHEN the Malaysian government
established a three-member panel last month to investigate a video clip that
alleged judicial corruption, it sent out two separate messages.
First, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's administration acknowledged that
widespread concerns over the independence of Malaysia's judiciary needed to be
tackled urgently.
By setting up the independent panel, the government also tacitly admitted to a
lack of public confidence in the ability of enforcement agencies, particularly
the police, to carry out the simple task of determining the authenticity of the
video clip.
The controversial clip, showing a senior lawyer allegedly brokering the
appointment of judges, was released by the country's former deputy premier,
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
This week, two separate events underscored the seriousness of the problems
afflicting the judiciary and the police.
On Monday, Perak's Sultan Azlan Shah delivered a sharp rebuke to the country's
judges when he told a conference of lawyers that the judiciary was in serious
need of reform.
'Sadly, I must acknowledge there has been some disquiet about our judiciary,'
said Sultan Azlan Shah, who at one time served as the country's chief judge. 'I
am driven nostalgically to look back to a time when our judiciary was the pride
of our region and our neighbours spoke admiringly of our legal service.'
A day later, Malaysia's third most senior police officer alleged that the
country's two other main enforcement agencies - the Attorney-General's Chambers
and the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) - were undermining police efforts to arrest
criminals.
Datuk Ramli Yusoff, who heads the Commercial Crime Division, also accused the
Attorney-General's Chambers and the ACA of harassing police informants over the
detention of an alleged underworld warlord.
Datuk Ramli was charged in court on Thursday for failing to declare some of his
assets.
To an outsider looking in, the picture is not pretty.
Datuk Ramli's claims, coupled with the caustic remarks that Sultan Azlan Shah
made, present Datuk Seri Abdullah with the serious challenge of trying to
convince the local and international business community that Malaysia is a safe
investment destination.
Disquiet over Malaysia's judiciary and the country's enforcement agencies is not
new.
The problems date back to 1988, when former premier Mahathir Mohamad clashed
with the judiciary over several decisions by the courts that went against his
administration.
Then the widely published trials of Datuk Seri Anwar in the late 1990s not only
raised fresh questions over the judiciary, but also brought the enforcement
agencies, particularly the police, under close scrutiny.
Analysts and businessmen said that the Anwar trials helped cement the perception
that enforcement agencies and the judiciary were open to dictates by the ruling
elite and even some politically powerful business groups.
'The perception remains, and all of these are the remnants of Dr Mahathir's
rule,' said Prof Shamsul Amri Baharudin, a professor of social anthropology at
Malaysia's National University. 'The message is clear: Abdullah needs to clean
things up.'
Close associates of Datuk Seri Abdullah insisted that reforms were already under
way.
They noted the recent anti-corruption crackdown on civil servants for alleged
abuses in government procurement contracts and failure to disclose their assets,
as in the case with Datuk Ramli.
'Allegations of victimisation by the ACA are signs that the virus is trying to
fight back, and this shows that the clean-up is working,' said a senior
government official.
But lawyers and opposition leaders say that Datuk Seri Abdullah's clean-up push
is cursory at best and the political will to institute reforms is lacking.
This could be because of the workings of Malaysian politics.
Datuk Seri Abdullah's ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno) draws
most of its political support from the rural Malay heartland.
In this constituency, concerns over the judiciary and the country's security
agencies do not resonate as strongly as they do among the country's urban
population.
'There is no push factor for Umno to reform the judiciary or the police,' said a
retired judge who asked not to be named.
But the reluctance to deal with growing unease with the judiciary and the
enforcement agencies could have serious economic repercussions.
In his speech on Monday, Sultan Azlan Shah cited results of a recent World Bank
survey on the resolution of commercial disputes, which gave Malaysia a poor
ranking of 63 among 178 countries.
'A similar report by the US State Department warns American businessmen to be
wary of the slow process of adjudication of cases before the Malaysian courts,'
he said.
'This is indeed a poor reflection on our courts.'
REFORM IS OVERDUE
'The perception remains, and all of these are the remnants of Dr Mahathir's
rule. The message is clear: Abdullah needs to clean things up.'
PROFESSOR SHAMSUL AMRI BAHARUDIN, on the perception that enforcement agencies
and the judiciary are open to dictates by the ruling elite and politically
powerful business groups
REFORM IS ONGOING
'Allegations of victimisation by the ACA are signs that the virus is trying to
fight back, and this shows that the clean-up is working.'
A SENIOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL, who notes that there have been crackdowns on
civil servants for alleged corruption