Election Courts UNJUST – Aliran Monthly 33: 5 editor’s note

In our cover story, P Ramakrishnan says that Election Courts are worse than the Election Commission – they are not serving the cause of justice when petitions are dismissed on technical grounds.

Charles Hector finds these case dismissals shocking – if cases are struck out on technicalities, then it just creates disaffection amongst those seeking justice, he says.

Victims of domestic violence are also crying out for justice and protection from further violence. Must they wait for someone to be beaten to death or set on fire before action is taken, asks Prema Devaraj. They are not the only ones. Migrant workers too are often denied justice when they complain about their working conditions. Rani Rasiah looks at how one employer presented evidence with ‘blanko’ at a Labour Department hearing!

The issue of trade justice looms large as negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement draw to a close. Ordinary Malaysians should take the TPPA seriously as it appears to be heavily weighted in favour of multinational corporations. Jeyakumar Devaraj analyses what’s at stake. At the international level, the coups and junta rule in Egypt must be condemned, says Tommy Thomas. Bonojit Hussain looks at another nation under military rule – Burma – and says it is time for the country’s pro-democracy movement to speak out against targeted attacks on Muslims there.

Finally, Francis Loh notes that Mahathir’s advice that laws should not be easily amended sounds a bit rich coming from someone with his undemocratic track record.