Media Statement
Name Justice Muhammad's Caller
Justice Muhammad has been admirably honest and courageous in refusing to
submit to a directive from someone supposedly his superior in the judicial
hierarchy to strike off, without hearing, the Likas election petitions.
Equally Justice Muhammad has demonstrated a high sense of public duty in
refusing to cover up that attempt to subvert the course of justice in one
of the High Courts of the country.
However, the time for guessing games is past.
While it was entirely proper for Justice Muhammad to inform Chief Justice
Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah about the 'mysterious caller' first, the caller's
identity cannot be allowed to remain a mystery or a matter of speculation.
The fact is, too many unsavoury episodes that have struck at the reputation
of our judiciary have been allowed to remain unsolved mysteries.
To take some notable examples:
Consequently, the Malaysian public is by now sick and tired of hearing
allegations of tampering with the judicial system that lead nowhere - no
cases, no culprits and no penalties.
It would therefore make a complete mockery of Justice Muhammad's honesty,
courage and sense of public duty if this latest episode of alleged judicial
misconduct is allowed to die a quiet death.
That kind of quiet death is the NATO - 'no action, talk only' - kind that
the public associates with the Barisan Nasional government's reluctance or
inability to deal with the perceived rot within our system of
administration of justice.
In the past few weeks, however, several judges have shown that it is
possible for politically weak and commercially powerless citizens to obtain
redress in our Courts.
For the record, there have been:
The reputation of the Malaysian judicial system has suffered serious
setbacks in recent years. Yet in recent weeks, honest, courageous and
impartial judgments have been delivered.
Whichever way the judicial system moves in the near future - towards
decline or resurgence - will depend on how much the problems of the
judicial system can be resolved, so that the rule of law can operate freely
and judges can conduct their cases without fear or favour or directives.
In the light of these developments, Aliran calls for the establishment of a
Royal Commission of Inquiry which will comprehensively and without
compromise investigate many of the outstanding allegations of impropriety,
misconduct and interference in our judicial system.
Only when the results of an independent investigation are made known to the
public can we ever hope to lay to rest the suspicion that 'something is
rotten in the House of Denmark', to use one High Court judge's warning
about the state of our judicial system.
Aliran Executive Committee
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Aliran wholeheartedly applauds Justice Muhammad Kamil Awang for his
honesty, courage and sense of public duty.