YOURSAY 'Yes, this Umno gov't need crutches to stay in power: it depends on the judiciary...'

Law expert: Courts have caused civil war before

Paul Warren: Abdul Aziz Bari queried the haste of the Court of Appeal in handling Anwar's case, especially if compared with the cautious handling of the Allah case. I thought the way the judges handled themselves was cavalier, to say the least.

They were not even bothered about decorum or some semblance of form. I guess this is what you can expect when you push kampung folk beyond their own boundaries.

Appum : Yes, Aziz. All of us are wondering about this unholy haste...

Onyourtoes: The consolidation of power in the hands of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the executive branch has been going for decades. The erosion of the roles of institutions of government and the principle of separation of power did not happen overnight.

The sacking of Lord President Salleh Abas of the then Supreme Court and other judges was met only with a gentle moan.

The appointment and extension of the tenure of judges, the inspector-general of police, the auditor-general, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief, the attorney-general, chief secretary to the government and secretaries-general of ministries were done routinely, without confirmation hearing or check-and-balance.

The PM doubling up as the nation’s finance minister, and as chairperson of Khazanah Nasional Bhd and 1Malaysia Development Bhd, is now a norm. The PM also gets to appoint the chief ministers and menteri besar of states under his party’s rule, which again is unnecessary consolidation of power in the hands of the PM.

With all these, how can there be any surprise why every institution of government is automatically falling in line, without any coercion.

Fair Play: Abdul Aziz Bari, you are a very brave man to say what you have said. Be careful, the powers that be might find a reason to go after you, too. But you are quite right. The anger of the right thinking rakyat knows no bound.

Mushiro: Aziz Bari said it well, that we have "a government that has lost its legitimacy to rule; a government that seems unable to play on a level playing field."

Yes, this Umno government needs crutches to stay in power: it depends on the judiciary, AG, MACC, PDRM, ROS, mainstream media and they depend on the commissions and corruption money.

Malaysian 1st: Justice rushed is justice crushed. Justice hurried is justice buried. The court sat through Thusrday and Friday. Looks like it was willing to work till midnight, if required. Did they also pray five times every day?

Sargunamklang: Yes it is incumbent upon the chief justice (CJ) to immediately explain why the court was asked to stay till very late in the evening to rush through the pre-prepared verdict, despite the request for further time to prepare mitigation, medical reports and so on.

The CJ must resign if he does not explain. I am not going to bow down before those who do not have integrity and maruah (dignity).

Anonymous_4031: "Justice delayed is justice denied," one man was reported to have said. Could it be seen in our Malaysian context? Another had this to say: "Justice hurried is justice buried." Could this be seen in our Malaysian drama? Yet another might have said: "Justice cockeyed is justice biased."

Could this be seen in the many court cases in the past? Let us pray to God as many times as possible that justice will prevail in the end; and the innocent will be vindicated in the end; and the guilty be punished, either in this world or in the next. God is great; and God can see things, for no man can hide from him.

He is omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient: total power, total presence and total knowledge. Man can fool men; but man cannot fool God. Lust for power or greed for lucre will ruin Man. For what does it benefit a man if he gains all the wealth in the world while he loses his soul?"

Anonymous_40f4: The rakyat depend on the judiciary for justice. The judges get fat salaries plus perks. When the rakyat are denied justice, the country is headed for anarchy. This messing around with the judiciary by Umno has gone on for the past 25 years.

APA INI?: Malaysian justice? Malaysian justice is not blind!

Well Thats Fantastic: Behind every war was an overly ambitious politician.

Unmasked: Why does the Election Commission need almost 60 days to prepare for the Kajang by election? And, why did the courts bring forward the Sodomy II appeal hearing from April to early March after Anwar Ibrahim announced his intention to stand for the Kajang by-election? The rest is history.

Vijay47: I can understand the likes of ministers Ahmad Zahid Hamid, Nazri Abdul Aziz and Hishammuddin Hussein. Political trash, all of them, throwing all considerations of decency and fairness into the garbage bin they come from without the least guilt and regret.

What boggles the mind is that the entire bench, in unison, acted in such a shameful way as to dispense with all that they must have been trained in and grown accustomed to in their journey to the trust and honour that comes with being Court of Appeal judges.

If only for the sake of letting justice be seen to be done, why could not the judges, all three of them, even one of them, allow the defence a reasonable time to prepare an effective mitigation plea?

To the public, it appears that whatever the defence pleaded, whatever grounds it presented, Anwar was destined to end up in jail.

Perhaps the only thing worse than their execution of their sacred task was lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's viciousness. We can only hope that his day will come some day, soon.

BTN: The current Umno government makes lots of mistakes and this is one of the biggest mistake it ever made. Reformasi has suddenly been given a new breath of life.

Not Confused: Once again the government has made a massive blunder here. But this time, in the haste to save their own miserable necks, they have gone one step too far. I can foresee the ramifications of this ridiculous farce of an appeal echoing around Malaysia for many years to come.

The response to its carnage will be dire for the entire population. BN/Umno do not seem to realise it, but this time, they will not get away lightly.

The moderate Malaysians will have their pound of flesh and BN will whither away into oblivion and not a moment too soon. Unfortunately, there will be a dire cost to be paid, but the country needs to pay the price or suffer even further under the yoke of a bunch of tyrants. Just wait and see.

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