RCI on boot camp for delinquent judges – critical test of Abdullah’s political will for judicial reforms


The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the de facto Law Minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim have both poured cold waters on calls for an inquiry into the latest allegation levelled by High Court judge, Justice Datuk Ian Chin against former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

“No need…there will be no end to this. Instead, we will carry out reforms to restore confidence in the judiciary” said Abdullah.

“Another inquiry will not reveal anything more than what we already know. It will be a waste of time and money. Instead, we need to look at ensuring such incidents do not happen again…” said Zaid.

Both cannot be more wrong.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry into the two decades of judicial darkness, including the boot camp for delinquent judges, is vital and imperative as critical test of the political will of the Abdullah administration to fully restore public confidence in the system of justice in Malaysia.

Although there have been promises of judicial reform after the March 8 political tsunami, it is still an open question whether the Prime Minister has the political will to carry out root-and-branch reforms to fully restore the Malaysian judiciary to its heyday before the past two decades of judicial darkness, when it enjoyed international recognition as a world-class judiciary.

Whether Abdullah has the political will to fully see through judicial reforms will be judged by two factors.

Firstly, whether the Abdullah premiership has the political will to end its denial syndrome about the rot and decay of the judicial system in the past two decades.

Datuk Ian Chin has made very serious allegations of Mahathir’s interference with judicial independence when he was Prime Minister , viz:

• Mahathir had gone to a judges conference “to issue a thinly veiled threat to remove judges by referring to the tribunal that was set up before”.

• Mahathir expressed unhappiness over Chin’s decision on a libel suit and an election petition, and expressed the view that people should pay heavily for libel.

• Mahathir had promoted a judge to the Federal Court because he approved of his suggestion of RM1 million as damages for libel.

• Chin also said he was sent to a “boot camp” with selected judges and judicial officers in “an attempt to indoctrinate those attending to hold the view that the government’s interest” was “more important than all else when we are considering our judgments”. He accused the then president of the Court of Appeal as the one who made the “devilish notion”.

Zaid had admitted that he was hearing about the “boot camp” for delinquent judges for the first time, adding that it was something that should not have happened.

But why is he hanging back from supporting a full inquiry into the “boot camp” allegation, which until it is fully cleared up, will be an eternal blot and ignominy on both the judiciary and the executive in the annals of Malaysian nation-buiding?

The Prime Minister and de facto Law Minister should realize that the best way to ensure that there is no recurrence of judicial outrages and scandals like those exposed by Chin is to unearth all the skeletons hidden in the cupboards, nay silos, during the two decades of judicial darkness and subject them to the glare of public scrutiny and opprobrium.

Abdullah said he has finally heard the voice of the people after the March 8 “political tsunami”, and if so, he should set up a full Royal Commission of Inquiry into the two decades of judicial darkness because this is what the overwhelming majority of Malaysians want.

I have no doubt that this will be the finding if there is a national opinion poll as to whether there should be a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the two decades of judicial darkness – not so much to demand any pound of flesh from anyone, but to allow the nation to undergo a national catharsis which will be the best insurance against any recurrence of such prolonged judicial aberrations.

The second test as to whether Abdullah has the political will to be fully committed to judicial reforms is whether the appointment of the new Chief Justice in a matter of months will be under a regime of full accountability, transparency and integrity regardless of whether any proposed judicial reforms are put in place or not.

  1. #1 by Godfather on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 1:13 pm

    No need for RCI lah. We thieves can police ourselves. Trust us. Trust our reforms.

    CEMERLANG, GEMILANG, TEMBERANG !

  2. #2 by ktteokt on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 1:18 pm

    Forget about judicial reforms! AAB does not even know what separation of powers mean, just like his predecessor, TDM. It is a waste of time having a mufti head the nation. All he cares for is to grab all the money while he still can, by hook or by crook!!!!!

  3. #3 by Bigjoe on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 1:36 pm

    Let say a man cheats on his wife and his wife caught him once. The man ends the affair and apologise but they never talk about it and the wife never knows the whole truth. Can the marriage survive? Sure but is it a good marriage? No and never.

    This is what Badawi and Zaid is asking Malaysian to have a bad society that can move on but its never going to be a good one. What right then do they have of asking people to understand anything about the difficulties and challenges of governance including issues of subsidies, competition and globalization?

    Its just plain poor leadership, plain and simple…

  4. #4 by pulau_sibu on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 1:42 pm

    After the counter-threat by Mahathir, Abdullah and his cronies are now scared. If this is taken to court, Mahathir may have more to reveal. To reform our judiciary system probably will end up with firing most of the judges. Now who will trust the judges after this series of sagas? Our judges are now viewed as our ordinary policemen – corrupted.

    Zaid simply said it is a waste of money to have another royal commission. Is there a measurable value about the ‘truth’? What is lost in our system can never be regained by paying.

  5. #5 by k1980 on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 1:45 pm

    According to Justice Chin, Mahathir had:

    > gone to a judges conference “to issue a thinly veiled threat to remove judges by referring to the tribunal that was set up before”.

    > expressed unhappiness over Chin’s decision on a libel suit and an election petition, and expressed the view that people should pay heavily for libel.

    > had promoted a judge to the Federal Court because he approved of his suggestion of RM1 million as damages for libel.

    >sent dissenting judges to boot camps in “an attempt to indoctrinate those attending to hold the view that the government’s interest” was “more important than all else when we are considering our judgments”.

    So all the above are small matter to AAB and his lackeys?

  6. #6 by Godfather on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 1:51 pm

    Badawi promoted an UMNO lawyer to the highest post in the Court of Appeals. You think he is going to reverse this decision now ? Wake up, guys, the only chance of reform is to kick these thieves out of power and then the true process of reform can take place.

    Zaid is nothing more than an UMNO lackey who will do the bidding of his boss, or he will get fired.

  7. #7 by izrafeil on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 1:51 pm

    An overspending by a member of parliament in UK is enough to get them sacked !!! Tetapi Melayu Boleh…. takda apa apa nama boleh one….

  8. #8 by a-malaysian on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:00 pm

    One thing Justice Datuk Ian Chin did not assured us is whether this kind of problem still exist with the present administration.

    “No need…there will be no end to this. Instead, we will carry out reforms to restore confidence in the judiciary” said Abdullah.

    Can it be that if a RCI is called, the present administration will be drag into the mud as well?

    Blood Suckers

    GE 13 – No matter what, we must ensure that racist umno bn do not regain the power like they had for the past fifty years.

  9. #9 by sheriff singh on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:01 pm

    Perhaps he’s afraid to turn on the light? He’s scared of what he might find standing next to him? So he continue to live in darkness. Better be ignorant than sorry. Despite Hadhari. Just give ex-gratias and all is OK.

    Zaid is now a mere parrot and has been indoctrinated and subdued to toe the line. He is now just another yes-man, can’t do much, can’t say much. Maybe he’s been to the boot camp. What a let-down. A new hope is now a no-hope.

  10. #10 by drmaharajahrk on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:08 pm

    Uncle Kit,

    You want reforms get a new government, no use begging these fools for refoms. It will NEVER come as they are all implicated !!

    Whats taking Pakatan so long…….. you guys dont do something fast enough, you guys are equally responsible, remember that !

  11. #11 by limkamput on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:13 pm

    “A Royal Commission of Inquiry into the two decades of judicial darkness…” Kit

    Why only RCI on judicial darkness. It should be RCI on Mahathir’s misrule – investigate on everything from judicial abuse, “piratisaion”, mismanagement, cronyism and rent seeking complexes, wastage, indulging in excessive speculation on tin and forex, and undermining human right.

    “…is vital and imperative as critical test of the political will of the Abdullah administration to fully restore public confidence in the system of justice in Malaysia…” Kit

    I think AAB now got no time even to go jamban and you are asking him to show political will. He got one and only will now – to remain as PM. Didn’t we see him flying to Sabah and Sarawak as more important than giving due considerations for any other damn thing.

    “…to unearth all the skeletons hidden in the cupboards, nay silos, during the two decades of judicial darkness and subject them to the glare of public scrutiny and opprobrium…” Kit

    Haiya, unearth skeletons, including those who are in Cabinet now? If you are just talking politics, we can all understand. But right in your heart, I think you know this government is beyond redemption. It has passed the point of no return. Get ready to govern now and be prepared to do a good job before this great nation of ours becomes a failed state!!!!

  12. #12 by lakilompat on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:16 pm

    That’s a good call to avoid trouble & hassle for a lazy leader “no need, there’ll be no end”

  13. #13 by sotong on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:28 pm

    How could anyone be awarded titles for actions/non actions and behaviours destroying the country’s great and fundamental institution????

  14. #14 by Jeffrey on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:33 pm

    “No need…there will be no end to this. Instead, we will carry out reforms to restore confidence in the judiciary” – Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Abdullah.
    “Another inquiry will not reveal anything more than what we already know. Instead, we need to look at ensuring such incidents do not happen again….” – Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

    What they are saying is basically this :

    · that the government admits and does not, in principle, deny the rot and decay of the judicial system in the past two decades’ – and the part the former PM played in it (never mind TDM is not given an opportunity to be heard and explain or say his side of the story) or the need to restore public confidence in the judicial system;

    · that its in-principle acknowledgment that rot and decay exist and require reform does not however imply investigation of depth, breath and extent of rot and decay (otherwise, “there will be no end to this”) and opening it up for public knowledge or to pursue accountability from those implicated, as only the RCI could blaze the path;

    · that, in name of saving tax payers moneys, it suffices if the government moves forward, carries out reform eg institution of the Judicial Appointment Commission etc without looking backwards of wherefores and whys and whos and which personality should be investigated and punished for offences if any committed;

    · that, in short, let bygones be bygones, and rakyat should look forward the new day, not bray for blood or dig out dirt and vermin under the carpet or go for witch hunt or display dirty linen!

  15. #15 by yhsiew on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:35 pm

    Pak Lah refused an inquiry into judicial darkness of the past because UMNO leaders were rampantly involved in interference with judicial independence in the past. The deeper the inquiry digs into the past, the more will be the scandals and the rakyat will start to question UMNO leaders’ integrity, honesty and morality.

    The present government does not seem to be accountable to what it has done wrong in the past and present!

  16. #16 by Boneka on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 2:50 pm

    YB LKS,
    Why are you banging your chest again and again- calling for this and that. Please do the needful to take over the government. PKR has given so much hope to the people-especially those who voted for PKR . As drmaharajahrk says, “What is taking you guys so long”? Get cracking!
    Law Minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has joined the ‘sandiwara’ after a encouraging start. He is a wash-out- he has become a “yes Sir” man to keep his job. After all, his redemtion into UMNO’s good books was by AAB, how can he bite the hand that feeds?

  17. #17 by max2811 on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 3:14 pm

    Your Honour Mr Ian,

    Better take a holiday overseas. Maybe N Zealand or Europe. My worry is that some TDM patroit will C4 you.

    TDM thinks he is mightier than GOD.

  18. #18 by citizenwatch on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 3:23 pm

    Now we start to wonder about previous court cases including the recent one the decision favouring the Rembau MP.

  19. #19 by stcin on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 4:09 pm

    NO JUSTICE !? my headmaster is correct,correct,correct,correct !!!!

    One afternoon during school hours, I was summoned to HM’s airconed room . Sitting high on his swing chair & pointing his ‘long , slender and sharp-nailed’ finger ( luckily not middle one ) at me : ” you BETER drop your legal suit against my good friend ! 90% you are SURE to lose your case because there is NO JUSTICE in this world & malaysia is the SAME lah !! ……I am NOW speaking to you as your headmaster & SUPERIOR, you BETTER think carefully about it !!”

    I reported to the POLICE but the result of the investigation officer : ” intimidiation melalui TELEFON, …NFA !!”

    ” NO justice in malaysia one !” CONFIRMED by my headmaster & he is CORRECT, CORRECT, CORRECT, CORRECT !!!!

  20. #20 by i_love_malaysia on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 4:12 pm

    Since AAB & Zaid said dont need to call for RCI etc. , it is better for all the judges that had gone for the boot camp to speak out aloud during any court case, something similar to justice Ian Chin – there wont be any repercussion as AAB likes to see this and not TDM and AAB is in power!!! May be they will be promoted instead!!!

  21. #21 by justiciary on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 5:16 pm

    We really need to breathe in new fresh air in a new government as opposed to the corrupted and mismanaged 50 year old regime.Wake up and act fast,PR to dump the colossal human garbage made up of all the dirtiest,self serving and hypocritical political scumbugs including those out of power into the deep blue seas around the country.

  22. #22 by Jeffrey on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 5:51 pm

    ///….”Mahathir had promoted a judge to the Federal Court because he approved of his suggestion of RM1 million as damages for libel….”/// per Judge Datuk Ian Chin.

    So talking about what’s to be done, and for starters, should the govt. [in light of Judge Datuk Ian Chin’s allegations, which instead of having RCI investigate further Zaid said “another inquiry will not reveal anything more than what we already know”] review the appointment of that judge promoted to the Federal Court because he approved of TDM’s suggestion of RM1 million as damages for libel???? Here we assume that agreeing as ‘yes man’ with TDM under such circumstances should not constitute a basis of promotion to Federal Court.

  23. #23 by wag-the-dog on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 6:24 pm

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    — Sadad I. Al Husseini, former VP of Aramco, October 2007.

    Visit http://www.wagthedog-malaysia.blogspot.com for details.

  24. #24 by isahbiazhar on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 8:16 pm

    Calling all lawyers,judges and other kakitangans.Have you been threatened by Mahathir and his cronies? Please report for the sake of statistics.No action will be tgaken,only for record purposes.

  25. #25 by bernadette on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 9:56 pm

    “Let say a man cheats on his wife and his wife caught him once. The man ends the affair and apologise but they never talk about it and the wife never knows the whole truth. Can the marriage survive? Sure but is it a good marriage? No and never.” Bigjoe

    depends on what you mean by “good” marriage.

  26. #26 by Samuel Goh Kim Eng on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 10:05 pm

    Either you attend the ‘corrective’ boot camp
    Or you may get the wrong end of the sharp boot
    Where on earth is there still light in the lamp
    When the pursuit of justice ends with ‘my foot’!

    (C)Samuel Goh Kim Eng – 120608
    http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
    Thur. 12th June 2008.

  27. #27 by yellowkingdom on Thursday, 12 June 2008 - 10:59 pm

    Zaid had admitted that he was hearing about the “boot camp” for delinquent judges for the first time, adding that it was something that should not have happened.

    “This is the first time I have heard about boot camps for judges. I have no reason to doubt that the allegations are not true, unless there are people who say otherwise.”

    I never trust lawyers , who speak in double negatives, and yet ascribe the the responsibility to others. No offence to lawyers, but this one speaks with a forked-tongue.

    Remember, “sounds like me, looks like me, but unless my experts say so. I’ll be the first to admit it.”

  28. #28 by limkamput on Friday, 13 June 2008 - 1:49 am

    bernadette Says:
    depends on what you mean by “good” marriage.

    what depend, depend on what? since you asked, don’t you tell us?

  29. #29 by PHUAKL on Friday, 13 June 2008 - 8:17 am

    Keep in mind the Chinese saying:

    “Borrowing a knife to kill someone”

  30. #30 by taiking on Friday, 13 June 2008 - 8:48 am

    A criminal is often charged for and convicted of a multitude of offences. He could have committed say theft several times. Each occassion would stand as a separate offence and he must be punished for each and every one of them.

    There is another thing.

    Punishment in crime serves a few purposes. First and obviously, it is to punish the wrongdoer. Secondly, it is to deter like-thinking people from committing crime. Finally, it is to keep the society free (as far as it may be practicable) of crime.

    At the same time the punishment must commensurate with the occassion.

    It does not make sense to sentence a thief to death in the like manner as a murderer; or to incarcerate him for a duration which does not reflect the severity of the wrong he had done. For then simple logic and economics would no doubt prompt him to engage only in greater crime.

    Speaking of severity, the number of offences committed would weigh heavily down upon the sholders of a criminal. And likewise, those with past records must be treated more severely than first-time offender.

    Therefore, the decision not to call an investigation into Justice Chin’s disclosure is bad and does not make sense.

    We must know the full extent Mahathir’s wrong-doings, if any. If he has committed more than one wrong, then he must be punished for each and everyone of them.

    And, again if there are multiple wrong-doings, the punishment to be metted out must be enhanced accordingly.

    The judiciary reform is another thing altogether. It can go on. It must go on. It has nothing to do with punishing the wrong-doer. The on-going reform (if this is true) cannot be a reason for not pursuing the wrong-doer.

    A repeat criminal could then argue that the police should investigate him for one incident only.

    How wonderful. How disastrous.

  31. #31 by Godfather on Friday, 13 June 2008 - 10:22 am

    What Zaid and Badawi are saying is “yes, we don’t need you to tell us that the judiciary needs reforms. We are already reforming it.” Then they go about the business as though nothing has happened – the Court of Appeals President is still sitting pretty, judges that were compliant with Mahathir and UMNO are still there…..

    What a bunch of losers….

  32. #32 by dennyboy on Friday, 13 June 2008 - 6:27 pm

    “Another inquiry will not reveal anything more than what we already know.”

    Well, in that case, would you care to make public what you “already know”, since it’s such a matter of such grave consequences???????

  33. #33 by Oneworld on Saturday, 14 June 2008 - 6:03 pm

    The root cause is TDM. The country will not be allowed to heal and be united as one until his time is finally over!

    This man alone could have done so much for all Malaysia Malaysian. He could have made Malaysia into a strong, cohesive, multi-racial nation that is respected for tolerance, progress and unity. Instead, in his twilight years, it is sad and ironic that all the affection and respect that many Malaysians have for this once esteemed national leader will be washed away by revelations after revelations of corruption, nepotism and pure greed. This will be the tragic legacy of TDM.

    AAB is just a simpleton seduced and overwhelmed by power and is now completely lost and out of touch with the common man. He is merely the clueless pilot of a kamikaze mission.

    The Malaysian folklore that PMs follow the chronological alphabets of R-A-H-M-A-N looks almost certain to happen now. N-ajib will be the LAST UMNO PM of Malaysia before a new era begins.

    Shameful! Simply pathetic! Kick these idiots OUT!

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