Toll cheats: Why make Plus judge, jury, executioner?
Keenan OngPublished: Mar 29, 2005 6:12 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
The cabinet's recent decision to allow Plus to impose fines on toll cheats is a very bad one for the following reasons.
1) Plus is a private company whose purpose is to make profits from its operations. Implementing and administering the law is not its purpose. It is a totally misconceived move to confer on a profit-making body the functions of implementing the law.
2) It was reported that Plus will be acting on behalf of the government in imposing fines and there would be no need to charge the accused in court. This means that Plus will be given the power to penalise with no avenue of recourse for the accused person.
That person cannot go to court to challenge the fine and challenge Plus to prove its case. Such a power is oppressive, unconstitutional and subject to the worst kind of abuse. Plus is prosecutor, judge and executioner. No other single body in Malaysia is given all three functions.
3) The above demonstrates the perversity of the system we have in Malaysia today. Plus, a private company, has such a hold and influence over the government to the extent that the cabinet can jettison the basic right of due process in favour of Plus.
The right of due process is a right for the protection of every citizen of Malaysia it means you are innocent until you are proven guilty in a court of law. But Plus does not have to go to court to prove you are guilty.
Why has the government abandoned a basic rights for all citizens in favour of the profit margin of one company?
4) The right of due process is not merely theoretical, but a very practical and real thing. There are many, many examples where the police and the public prosecutor charged the wrong man for a crime and this mistake only exposed in court.
Bearing in mind that Plus has no qualification or experience at all in implementing and enforcing the law, you can imagine the risk of blunders occurring and innocent parties being targeted.
1) Plus is a private company whose purpose is to make profits from its operations. Implementing and administering the law is not its purpose. It is a totally misconceived move to confer on a profit-making body the functions of implementing the law.
2) It was reported that Plus will be acting on behalf of the government in imposing fines and there would be no need to charge the accused in court. This means that Plus will be given the power to penalise with no avenue of recourse for the accused person.
That person cannot go to court to challenge the fine and challenge Plus to prove its case. Such a power is oppressive, unconstitutional and subject to the worst kind of abuse. Plus is prosecutor, judge and executioner. No other single body in Malaysia is given all three functions.
3) The above demonstrates the perversity of the system we have in Malaysia today. Plus, a private company, has such a hold and influence over the government to the extent that the cabinet can jettison the basic right of due process in favour of Plus.
The right of due process is a right for the protection of every citizen of Malaysia it means you are innocent until you are proven guilty in a court of law. But Plus does not have to go to court to prove you are guilty.
Why has the government abandoned a basic rights for all citizens in favour of the profit margin of one company?
4) The right of due process is not merely theoretical, but a very practical and real thing. There are many, many examples where the police and the public prosecutor charged the wrong man for a crime and this mistake only exposed in court.
Bearing in mind that Plus has no qualification or experience at all in implementing and enforcing the law, you can imagine the risk of blunders occurring and innocent parties being targeted.
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