A New Dawn for the Judiciary and The Country.

A new chapter for the Judiciary in the country has been created. There has been a lot of flak on the independence of the judiciary and the public has high suspicions of its ability to be fair in judgments. Even the international community has passed adverse remarks on the independence and transparency of the judiciary. So, when the current Prime Minister, who has been receiving similar flak on the way he has managed the country on his first term as Prime Minister, spoke at length as guest of honor at the Bar Council Dinner a couple of nights ago, on the move to redeem the independence of the judiciary and make the appointment of judges transparent through an independent judiciary commission, the crowd he spoke to, comprising members of the judicial community i.e, the judges, the lawyers and all ‘who’s who’ in the legal fraternity gave him a loud, thunderous standing ovation that lasted for quite a long while.

Amongst the crowd that attended the dinner were former judges who, perceived by many, were wrongly reprimanded, suspended and dismissed for purported misbehavior as judges and other charges. All these charges culminated from the issue of the ruling party, at one time 20 years ago, were declared an illegal organization and were deregistered through the courts. Subsequent events related to this deregistration had led to the judges, five of them, being summarily discharged of their duties initially and sometime later two were reinstated. Since then, independence of the judiciary has been under question. Perceptions were that the judiciary had become subservient to the Administration. The Administrative Head was seen to have an invincible hand in the decision making process and thus affects judgments meted. One thing led to another and the situation almost got out of hand when there were demonstrations and shows of dissent amongst the legal fraternity, resulting in the public and the masses opening up their eyes and began to be more critical of the way the then government ran the country. At the last general elections, the Federal government lost its previously comfortable two thirds majorities, and lost five states to the alternative or opposing parties. Several heavyweights of the ruling party or coalition of parties lost their seats to the opposition. The public and the masses indicated to the ruling government that they were not happy and something must be done to put things back on tract.

To make matters worse there was a video circulating in the internet prior to the elections showing a telephone conversation between a prominent lawyer and the chief justice (not seen in the video) with the main topic of discussion being the appointment of judges and there were a lot of name dropping in the conversation indicating that there was clear manipulation by the then current Administration. This invited greater ire of the public and was perhaps another contributing factor to the losses in the general elections.

With all the uncertainties and the talk of reinvention to redeem public confidence, the speech by the Prime Minister as above was timely. He not only assured of a judicial reform but also, in no uncertain terms, indicated the wrongs being done to the five judges. He also indicated how the present government intends to remedy this wrong. It is my fervent wish that this will only be the beginning of the many reforms that the Prime Minister will embark on. He has said many times previously that he will fight corruption but we have not seen any credible proof of it so far. Let’s hope that this becomes his next reform.

With the judicial reform and its independence ensured, with corruptions in check, with improved and transparent administration, the country should be well in its way to political recovery. These promises have been made before. The issues were mentioned many times and assurances were given that they will be positively addressed. However not much were seen to be done, no attention for the benefit of the masses were made and the masses saw attentions given to just the selected few, the so-called 'cronies' of those in power. That was one of the reasons the ruling coalition lost a lot of mileage in the last election. I hope it is truly the awakening that these new promises and new initiatives are taken. I hope it is not hope in vain and not spoken way too soon and that the future of my children and grandchildren are now assured. That is my wish…….

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya