The Malaysian Insight

AN affidavit by a sitting judge on judicial misconduct and fixing of cases by senior judges during the Najib administration only confirms what many Malaysians have long suspected.

That opposition politicians were stitched up by top judges working in tandem with Barisan Nasional “political masters”, and that the constitution and the rule of law were often trampled on by the so-called guardians of justice in search of promotion and self-preservation.

That court room arguments and legal precedents often were mere charades to hide backroom deals that had already been struck.

We knew or at least suspected that this was how matters were being conducted at the Palace of Justice long before Justice Hamid Sultan Abu Backer fired the first salvo. 

One question: has much changed since Najib Razak and BN were toppled by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pakatan Harapan?

The short answer appears to be No.

So said the Court of Appeal judge deep in his 65-page affidavit that lifted the veil on the shenanigans at the highest levels of the judiciary.

He filed the affidavit in support of lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo who has filed an application seeking a declaration that Chief Justice Richard Malanjum had failed in his duty to complete investigations into two cases of judicial interference.

He said he did so at the request of Sangeet, the daughter of the late Karpal Singh, who many believe was a victim of political interference when his appeal against a sedition charge was heard at the Court of Appeal. 

Sandwiched between examples of how the course of justice was allegedly perverted in the appeals of Anwar Ibrahim, Karpal Singh and Indira Ghandi, and how political nominees had defrauded the government with the help of judges was Hamid’s telling observation on the state of the judiciary today.

He noted that senior judges were trembling just before GE14 wondering if they would be removed or put before a tribunal to answer for their sins or for just staying silent. Their concern and fear of regime change was palpable, said Hamid.

But their fears were unfounded because after the resignation of Chief Justice Raus Sharif and court of Appeal president Zulkefli Makinuddin last year, it seemed that it was business as usual.

Hamid said that the appointment of the new CJ and the Court of Appeal president convinced many on the Bench that nothing had changed with regime change in Putrajaya.

He said: “They knew it was business as usual, and the fear of tribunalisation disappeared.”

In short, Hamid is saying that the judges who fixed cases, defrauded the government and made a mockery of the rule of the law are still presiding over cases.

Shocking. Troubling. Damn dangerous.

Look, Hamid may have his own motives for turning on his own. He could be upset at not being promoted to the Federal Court. He could be driven by ambition.

But what his affidavit reveals is too shocking to ignore.

He is saying that enough men and women who wear robes and pontificate about the law are crooks.

A government that wants to reform Malaysia’s institutions cannot ignore these allegations. 

A government that will be prosecuting a clutch of Barisan Nasional leaders for corruption and money-laundering offences cannot afford to do nothing. – February 15, 2019.