We no longer have judges, just order takers
YoursayPublished: Mar 13, 2014 11:33 PM | Updated: Mar 14, 2014 3:26 AM
YOURSAY 'CJ Arifin’s shameless denial has only brought disrepute to his high office...'
CJ: Courts not biased in Anwar, Karpal rulings
Kim Quek: Chief Justice (CJ) Arifin Zakaria’s blanket denial of any wrongdoing by the judiciary, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, has only tarnished its already tattered image further and doomed any hope of recovery under the BN government.
The heinous injustice meted out to PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim over Sodomy II and the blanket rejection of numerous election petitions on ridiculous technical grounds recently are a monumental travesty of justice that has stuck out like a sore thumb for all to see.
Arifin’s shameless denial has only brought disrepute to his high office and confirmed the utter lack of integrity of the entire institution.
James TCLow: Arifin, don't insult the rakyat's intelligence. It is clear as daylight that the judiciary is under the thumb of the executive. Why the rushed guilty verdict on Anwar? And finding senior lawyer Karpal Singh guilty of sedition for voicing his professional opinion is nothing but humbug. Even a first year law student understands this.
Legit: This CJ must have been sleeping all this while. Any common man in the street knows the judgments in the two cases are highly political and have nothing to do with justice. Mr CJ, you should just go back to sleep and stop insulting everybody's intelligence.
Chapati: Even a layperson knows that you cannot convict a person with criminal charges when there is reasonable doubt (for example on the possibility of tainted evidence in Anwar's case). This is basic law. Is this not called compromised independence of the judiciary?
Anonymous #02382443: It does not take legally trained person to see that in Sodomy II, there is a flaw in the way the exhibits (the semen) had been handled and stored. The prosecution submitted that a decision can be made on 'the balance of probability'.
Most people would have thought, based on the flaw and the need to 'prove beyond reasonable doubt', the appeal should have been thrown out of the window. Worst still, why the need to rush through the trial and judgment?
Justice must not only be done but seen to be done.
Mohican: Judge Ariffin, Section 377 is a trite law, that all the defence needs to do is to punch a hole in the prosecution's case to have their case thrown out, which the defence credibly did.
Further, the law also states that even if there is just a mere element of doubt the court should rule in favour of the accused. Was the law followed in this case? I leave it to the conscience of the Malaysians to decide.
Most importantly, why did the court proceedd until 7pm to decide on the case, especially when the decision knowingly jeopardises the accused's by-eleciton nomination a few days later. Why the hurry when it could have been held over to the following week for mitigation and sentencing?
These questions play again and again in the minds of Malaysians, causing unrest in their hearts.
Onyourtoes: I am not a lawyer. But if Karpal is guilty of sedition, then we have essentially declared to the world that our parliamentary and constitutional monarchy system is no longer in existence, no matter how the learned judge used his most classy and sophisticated arguments to come to that decision.
It is a decision that is a travesty of the ethos of this nation and a perversion of the very nature of our system of government.
The trouble is it is never easy to pinpoint bias, compromise, or a violation of independence or integrity. But if you ask the people in general their overall perception, I think you cannot go very wrong.
The judiciary is the fountain of justice and one of the three pillars of separation of powers. People look to the judiciary to correct rampant selective investigation and selective prosecution. In a way, the judiciary represents the last bastion of the people’s hope for fairness and justice.
Today, the judiciary is not just an ivory tower, I think it has almost completely abdicated its constitutional role to preserve and protect the democratic life of this nation.
Kawak: The rakyat is not stupid, CJ! Compare the two cases of the murdered Mongolian national Atlantunya Shaariibuu and Anwar's Sodomy II. Compare how the prosecutors and the judiciary conducted the two cases. Who is responsible and why Immigration records of Atlantunya were erased from the system remains a mystery. And how the C4 explosives came to the hands of the killers is also unknown.
Bnscum: If the judiciary is independent, then why is it that the Altantuya, Port Klang Free Zone and Cowgate scandals, all considered as top priority cases related to the 'other side', end up with zero result?
P. Dev Anand Pillai: Dear CJ, we all know that you are under immense pressure to take orders and toe the line that the executive has set for the judiciary, so please spare us the crap. If it were a independent judiciary, it would not even have allowed Sodomy I to waste its time!
The judiciary that you lead is a mere executioner of the orders taken from the executive. The judiciary long lost its independence 26 years ago. The judiciary today is another department where everyone jostles for their Jusa (civil service top rankings) promotions.
Gone are the days when we had judges, today we only have order takers.
Geronimo: Defend your judgments? What judgment, when a judge has to rely on Google to make a decision instead of the law itself. The judiciary has been compromised a long time ago, so what you have said is totally indefensible.
Hplooi: And can all those judgments withstand peer review, and I mean real peer-review not sham review? If the lay public starts to pick all these judgments apart, then, Yang Ariff, you have lost the plot.
Godfearing: I heard someone say once that Malaysia has some of the best judges in the world that money can buy. The CJ's denial is unsurprising, as this person presides over an institution corrupted by some rotten people who would more than willingly sell their souls and engineer a miscarriage of justice for a fistful of dollars.
True_Malaysian: There are many black spots on the judiciary. The judges are just ordinary people, like the politicians and other civil servants. They do the same things. Arifin can say anything he wants to defend their position, but their actions do not support it.
People Power: Your stupid courts let go Atlantunya's murderers go, and you can still say the judiciary is independent. Justice, my foot!
Isana: We are already at rock bottom, how to go any lower? Our judiciary is manned by half-baked Umno Pak Turut.
Justice Pao: I have only one word to say: bullshit.
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.
CJ: Courts not biased in Anwar, Karpal rulings
Kim Quek: Chief Justice (CJ) Arifin Zakaria’s blanket denial of any wrongdoing by the judiciary, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, has only tarnished its already tattered image further and doomed any hope of recovery under the BN government.The heinous injustice meted out to PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim over Sodomy II and the blanket rejection of numerous election petitions on ridiculous technical grounds recently are a monumental travesty of justice that has stuck out like a sore thumb for all to see.
Arifin’s shameless denial has only brought disrepute to his high office and confirmed the utter lack of integrity of the entire institution.
James TCLow: Arifin, don't insult the rakyat's intelligence. It is clear as daylight that the judiciary is under the thumb of the executive. Why the rushed guilty verdict on Anwar? And finding senior lawyer Karpal Singh guilty of sedition for voicing his professional opinion is nothing but humbug. Even a first year law student understands this.
Legit: This CJ must have been sleeping all this while. Any common man in the street knows the judgments in the two cases are highly political and have nothing to do with justice. Mr CJ, you should just go back to sleep and stop insulting everybody's intelligence.
Chapati: Even a layperson knows that you cannot convict a person with criminal charges when there is reasonable doubt (for example on the possibility of tainted evidence in Anwar's case). This is basic law. Is this not called compromised independence of the judiciary?
Anonymous #02382443: It does not take legally trained person to see that in Sodomy II, there is a flaw in the way the exhibits (the semen) had been handled and stored. The prosecution submitted that a decision can be made on 'the balance of probability'.
Most people would have thought, based on the flaw and the need to 'prove beyond reasonable doubt', the appeal should have been thrown out of the window. Worst still, why the need to rush through the trial and judgment?
Justice must not only be done but seen to be done.
Mohican: Judge Ariffin, Section 377 is a trite law, that all the defence needs to do is to punch a hole in the prosecution's case to have their case thrown out, which the defence credibly did.
Further, the law also states that even if there is just a mere element of doubt the court should rule in favour of the accused. Was the law followed in this case? I leave it to the conscience of the Malaysians to decide.
Most importantly, why did the court proceedd until 7pm to decide on the case, especially when the decision knowingly jeopardises the accused's by-eleciton nomination a few days later. Why the hurry when it could have been held over to the following week for mitigation and sentencing?
These questions play again and again in the minds of Malaysians, causing unrest in their hearts.
Onyourtoes: I am not a lawyer. But if Karpal is guilty of sedition, then we have essentially declared to the world that our parliamentary and constitutional monarchy system is no longer in existence, no matter how the learned judge used his most classy and sophisticated arguments to come to that decision.
It is a decision that is a travesty of the ethos of this nation and a perversion of the very nature of our system of government.
The trouble is it is never easy to pinpoint bias, compromise, or a violation of independence or integrity. But if you ask the people in general their overall perception, I think you cannot go very wrong.
The judiciary is the fountain of justice and one of the three pillars of separation of powers. People look to the judiciary to correct rampant selective investigation and selective prosecution. In a way, the judiciary represents the last bastion of the people’s hope for fairness and justice.
Today, the judiciary is not just an ivory tower, I think it has almost completely abdicated its constitutional role to preserve and protect the democratic life of this nation.
Kawak: The rakyat is not stupid, CJ! Compare the two cases of the murdered Mongolian national Atlantunya Shaariibuu and Anwar's Sodomy II. Compare how the prosecutors and the judiciary conducted the two cases. Who is responsible and why Immigration records of Atlantunya were erased from the system remains a mystery. And how the C4 explosives came to the hands of the killers is also unknown.
Bnscum: If the judiciary is independent, then why is it that the Altantuya, Port Klang Free Zone and Cowgate scandals, all considered as top priority cases related to the 'other side', end up with zero result?
P. Dev Anand Pillai: Dear CJ, we all know that you are under immense pressure to take orders and toe the line that the executive has set for the judiciary, so please spare us the crap. If it were a independent judiciary, it would not even have allowed Sodomy I to waste its time!
The judiciary that you lead is a mere executioner of the orders taken from the executive. The judiciary long lost its independence 26 years ago. The judiciary today is another department where everyone jostles for their Jusa (civil service top rankings) promotions.
Gone are the days when we had judges, today we only have order takers.
Geronimo: Defend your judgments? What judgment, when a judge has to rely on Google to make a decision instead of the law itself. The judiciary has been compromised a long time ago, so what you have said is totally indefensible.
Hplooi: And can all those judgments withstand peer review, and I mean real peer-review not sham review? If the lay public starts to pick all these judgments apart, then, Yang Ariff, you have lost the plot.
Godfearing: I heard someone say once that Malaysia has some of the best judges in the world that money can buy. The CJ's denial is unsurprising, as this person presides over an institution corrupted by some rotten people who would more than willingly sell their souls and engineer a miscarriage of justice for a fistful of dollars.
True_Malaysian: There are many black spots on the judiciary. The judges are just ordinary people, like the politicians and other civil servants. They do the same things. Arifin can say anything he wants to defend their position, but their actions do not support it.
People Power: Your stupid courts let go Atlantunya's murderers go, and you can still say the judiciary is independent. Justice, my foot!
Isana: We are already at rock bottom, how to go any lower? Our judiciary is manned by half-baked Umno Pak Turut.
Justice Pao: I have only one word to say: bullshit.
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.
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