your say'The courts are supposed to stand without fear or favour to deliver justice to those who have been oppressed.'

S'wak natives lose landmark NCR land case

Faz: Justice must not only be fair but must be seen to be fair. Even if the compensations had been paid, how about their livelihood and having to pick up the pieces in unfamiliar surroundings?

Do the affected people need the Bakun dam to improve their well-being? If the dam was not built, will there be no progress for them?

The answer is a big NO as the dam is only required by the big tycoons running the state to make more money for themselves. Pity those natives!

Lexicon: The Bakun dam and the other 12 mega dams are a curse on Sarawak and the future generations.

Only if we vote for a new government and establish a two-party system, can we redeem public service and the independence of the judiciary, and dignity for the poorest and most marginalised Malaysians in Bakun and other rural communities whose land has been stolen by the rich.

Chief Justice Zaki Azmi, people will always remember you as Umno's loyal servant. Money can't buy dignity.

Docs: It looks like the native Sarawakians may have been better off if they have not joined Malaysia. Today, the judiciary has just robbed them of their lands.

For decades, Umno-BN has been robbing them of their way of life and identity. They have been robbing them of the wealth of Sarawak for many years. What next?

Lynn: It is so ironic that when it comes to land belonging to the true bumiputeras, the courts are so dismissive.

But Malay reserve land belonging to ‘Indonesian' bumiputeras (Malay bumiputeras whose grandfather or father came from Indonesia, and hence not even original inhabitants of the land) nobody dares to challenge, even the courts.

Disgusted: This is what Sarawakians get for selling their votes cheaply for a few ringgit. They better wake up and make sure they kick out BN in 13th GE or else they are doomed to be colonised by Umno-BN and its stooges aka the white-haired rajah.

Kgen: Yes, sell your vote to the devil for RM200. Next the devil takes over your NCR land for RM200. When will the Sarawak natives learn?

Good Men: You curse these poor Sarawak natives for voting BN due to their ignorance and their predicament, and therefore you are no better than BN because you look down on them.

Many in west Malaysia also vote BN, why you don't curse them? Instead why not ask yourself how much you are doing to help these people? If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.

Dr Jacob George: Natives cry: My God, My God. Why hast thou forsaken us? Answer: No, I have not forsaken neither have I failed you. Just wait patiently and see my wrath against them.

Then I woke up from my sleep and realised it has begun...


Judges refuse to rule on consitutionality of land grab

Louis: Zaki said it was his most difficult judgment in his three-year tenure. A joke it must be. If the judgment is made in accordance with the laws, I do not see any difficulties. It is only when one tries to please the powers-that-be that difficulties arise.

The laws are stated in plain simple language. The difficult part is to try to cook up some excuses to award the favoured ones.

Wira: The judgment for Zaki was simple and easy. Just follow the other guy. However, I believe it is turning out to be the most difficult judgment for the retiring chief justice because that decision will weigh on his conscience until the day he meets his maker.

Lexicon: So if Bato Bagi had accepted compensation from the owners of the Bakun dam, as Zaki argued, that means he had lost his right to challenge the loss of his land and livelihood in court?

The BN government promised further compensation, but never paid up. The BN government promised healthcare and housing and education in the resettlement area, but left them to rot in a ghetto and forced them to pay for housing and electricity. The BN government lied to the Bakun people about compensation.

The villagers were forced to move, and were given a pittance as compensation on a 'take it or leave it' basis. Isn't claiming your constitutional right part of due process and natural justice?

The learned judges ought to have ruled on the issue of constitutional rights, instead of ducking the issue. This will not be the last challenge to the BN and its dam moneymaking machine.

Tailek: The Federal Court, in not wanting to rule on the constitutionality of the land grab, makes no sense. It was a golden opportunity to bring certainty to this issue and resolve all similar pending cases in one fell swoop.

It just goes to show the court is beholden to the government. A very sad state of affairs indeed when the original inhabitants of the land, who also happen to be one of the lowest strata of our society, cannot even depend on the highest court of the land to defend their native rights.

Windingup: Shame on you, Zaki, for pretending to be anything other than an Umno stooge. The courts are supposed to stand without fear or favour to deliver justice to those who have been oppressed.

But you have made it very clear that you see the role of the judiciary as simply an arm of the executive.


Najib-judges meet 'dangerous and improper'

P Dev Anand Pillai: Well said, PKR vice-president N Surendran. If they openly show that they accept being an inferior as opposed to being an equal member of the principles of a democratic system of governance where the executive, legislature and the judiciary are equal and independent of one another - which will then assure and guarantee a system of check and balance in governance - not like what we have today due to the meddling of the executive to undermine the judges in 1988 to which the judiciary is still recovering to this date.

Onyourtoes: Now only we are saying all these things. What about the legislatures throughout the country and what about the various commissions - the Election Commission, the Judiciary Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Police Commission, the Education Service Commission, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Human Rights Commission?

Do you think we set up these commissions for fun? If so, why not just reduce them to miserable departments within a ministry.

It's too late, my friend, to talk about all these. While Dr Mahathir Mohamad was digging into all these commissions big time, we were happily dreaming what a wonderful job he has done to bring Malaysia to the world stage.

Lim Chong Leong: Independence of the judiciary is a thing of the past, like the ‘1988' past. The incoming chief justice was already showing his subservience by opening door for the PM.

Lim Chee Wee of Bar Council, how? Shall we march? This is highly improper. If judges wait for the PM, will lawyers too have to wait for judges, not that some of us already don't.

Chai Kian Hee: The head of judiciary waited outside to greet the head of executive? The judiciary can wipe whatever is left of its apparent dignity off the floor...

 

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