Time For Another March For Justice

---

“Lawyers don't walk every day. When lawyers walk, something is wrong.”
- Former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan.
The Malaysian Bar’s press statement which makes a stand against judicial interference and in support of judges is to be welcomed but it may be time to show its resolve over the issue by organising another march for justice.
On Sept 26, 2007, the Malaysian Bar organised a march for justice in relation to the issue of a prominent lawyer, VK Lingam, attempting to fix the appointment of senior judges.
This involved, amongst others, the then Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim, then deputy minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Vincent Tan and then former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The royal commission investigations made some damning conclusions in 2008.
Some 1,000 lawyers joined the march. The demonstrators marched from the court complex in Putrajaya to the Prime Minister's Office to demand that the government investigate accusations that the prominent lawyer had attempted to influence the appointment of a judge to a top post.
The Bar Council chairperson then, Ambiga Sreenevasan said: “We are walking for justice, we want judicial reform. Lawyers don't walk every day. When lawyers walk, something is wrong.”
Ambiga Sreenevasan (centre)She had added then that the confidence in the judiciary had suffered since 1988, when constitutional changes reduced its powers and gave the government the upper hand in making decisions.
According to her, Malaysian lawyers had marched twice in the past, once in the 1970s and again in the late 1990s, she said.
In a short phone interview with this columnist on the current situation, she said: “This is about intimidation of the judiciary. The public needs to stand up to it; an honourable man is having to put up with this. It is not acceptable.
“It is important we don’t allow these people to undermine the judiciary and attack a judge. He is very respected. Let the case be decided by the Federal Court.”
Since the walk for justice, the Bar has organised at least two other walks. The first, on Nov 29, 2011, was the appropriately named “Walking for the Freedom to Walk”, which was to protest the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 and to deliver the draft Peaceful Assembly Bill prepared by the Bar Council to Liew Vui Keong, then deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
Lim Chee Wee was president of the Malaysian Bar at that time and more than 1,000 participants, comprising members of the Bar, representatives of civil society and members of the public joined in.
On Oct 16, 2014, under its president then Christopher Leong, the Bar Council organised another walk for peace and freedom to repeal the Sedition Act, attended by some 1,000 lawyers.
Just as serious, if not more
This time the issues are just as serious, if not more. Not since Mahathir’s unprecedented, unfair and premeditated assault on the judiciary in 1987/88 to get in judges compliant with him have such serious aspersions been cast on the judiciary.
The situation is so serious that the judiciary, through the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court, themselves have lodged a police report against the accusations that they have been influenced.
The report said the articles were “Group calling for Najib’s pardon now wants judge Nazlan arrested’’ published by MalaysiaNow and “Shocking revelation: Najib’s trial judge Nazlan’s conflict-of-interest exposed” by Malaysia Today, both dated March 14.
“The articles contain a number of matters that are believed would interfere with the administration of criminal justice and the country's judiciary,” the statement read.
The chief registrar asked the public to be more cautious and not to issue any statements that could disrupt the progress of cases under trial.
Instead, based on reports lodged, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating the judge named, putting needless pressure on a person who by all impartial accounts is an honourable man, one with great integrity and ability, and one who now sits on the Court of Appeal.
If the MACC really needs to make such an investigation, be quick. After all, it would just take a few hours to ascertain if money did indeed come illegally into the judge’s accounts. This issue must not be allowed to percolate and influence public opinion anymore, especially ahead of the elections which are expected to be called early.
Bar Council’s walk for justice in 2007, PutrajayaMeantime, the police should hasten their investigations into the judiciary’s reports and if false allegations have been made, they should take action and get to the bottom of these attempts to tarnish the judiciary which has come a long way since the dark days of 1987/88 when attempts were made to crush its independence.
The resurgence of such efforts must be quashed as quickly as possible. In this respect, it would greatly help if the Bar Council took the lead to express their solidarity and support for their colleagues on the bench and get a march going to beat all previous marches.
It would also help to focus and galvanise members of the public into action too, many of whom are sickened and aghast by the antics to unfairly smear the judiciary to give the impression that somehow former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has been given a rotten deal by the judiciary.
Nothing could be further from the truth and if anything one could argue that the judicial process has been ultra lenient to him, bending over backwards to give him pretty much all the time he needed and keeping him out of jail even though there is an overwhelming weight of evidence against him, based on which he was convicted and the conviction upheld by the Court of Appeal. The Federal Court is Najib’s last legal recourse and should give its decision soon.
Let justice take its course and let the judiciary act bravely, impartially and without any pressure and let’s not again sully the reputations of honest men and women in favour of the corrupt and the evil.
If the Bar Council organises its march - and it really should - let us show our support as Malaysians and walk the talk for a fair and independent judiciary. - Mkini
P GUNASEGARAM, a former editor at online and print news publications, and head of equity research, is an independent writer and analyst.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

---