Malaysia's 7th prime minister (updated)

[This was originally posted 12 November 2009. Much has changed since then and I have added fresh commentary in green. However, one thing hasn't changed: I remain convinced that Anwar Ibrahim deserves our wholehearted support and that he is still Malaysia's best hope at this point. I believe that Anwar is the only leader that can drive the final nail into the coffin of Mahathirism - the cynical, twisted, materialistic ideology that got the nation bogged down in the deep shit of devious divisiveness.]


Like millions of other Malaysians I was looking forward gleefully to witnessing a Pakatan Rakyat government installed in Putrajaya after 16 September 2008 - with Anwar Ibrahim as our sixth prime minister.

Sixth... or seventh... it doesn't matter. I remain convinced that Anwar has the necessary experience to steer the nation clear of some treacherous reefs looming ahead.

Some of my friends say they would rather see Zaid Ibrahim (right) as PM. I'm a great admirer of Zaid Ibrahim and have no problem seeing him become prime minister one of these days.

[Well, this no longer holds true. Zaid Ibrahim has, by his own actions, disqualified himself from consideration as a trustworthy leader. He has revealed himself as egotistical, petty-minded and vindictive. Worst of all, he now enjoys the tacit support of BN and many believe he was an Umno mole all along.]

For that matter, Nizar Jamaluddin has also been described as prime minister material - but before he stands a chance of being appointed to the nation's highest office, his political party will have to shed some of the theological deadwood it is currently burdened with.

[It was reported yesterday that Hadi Awang bumped into Najib on the Sarawak campaign trail and hugged him warmly. That not only gives me the creeps, but I worry about PAS leaders like Hadi Awang, Nashrudin Mat Isa and Hasan Ali who seem unable to resist Umno's horny pheromones.]

In any case, so long as Anwar Ibrahim is in good health and willing to take on the responsibility, I would still prefer that the PM's job go to him. Not only does he have 16 years' experience under his belt as part of the Umno/BN regime under Mahathir, but he has also been initiated into the shadow side of power. Anwar has an intimate understanding of how precarious and illusory worldly power and status can be, having been at the receiving end of Mahathir's gross abuse of power back in 1998.

I'm convinced that anyone who has survived such a nightmarish ordeal would have learned to cherish the true meaning of freedom and justice.

Nurul Izzah Anwar, a member of parliament at 28

Apart from Anwar's phenomenal charisma as an orator and political reformer, he is supported by the magnificent Wan Azizah whose compassion, dignity and strength stand her in excellent stead as a prime minister's wife the entire nation can wholeheartedly love and respect. Not only that, their beautiful daughter Nurul Izzah has proven her mettle as an articulate, intelligent and plucky leader and has all the qualities necessary to someday become Malaysia's first female PM. (Not that I'm in favor of political dynasties - but being born into a political family does provide a strong foundation for handling the stresses and strains of leadership.)

More than a year after Anwar's abortive 916 plan to take over the reins of government, the political situation is totally bogged down in sinister intrigue while outrageous shenanigans continue to be perpetrated with impunity by the Umno/BN regime under Mr Pink Lips (right) - the crime minister appointed by 190 Umno division chiefs - and endorsed by the Malay rulers and the Bumoid Kakistocracy aka the Corporate Umnoputra.

A few of my moneyed friends have expressed their reservations about having Anwar Ibrahim as PM. Some parrot Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin's heavy hints about Anwar's cozy ties with key agents of the New World Order cabal and their Zionist banker connections. They're wary of the fact that Anwar is respected by well-known Neocons like Paul Wolfovitz and has access to a global network of influential names in academia and the mass media. Unlike Najib, Anwar Ibrahim doesn't have to pay millions to some Jewish PR agency to have the international media paint a rosy image of him as a leader.

Umno apologists just don't get it. These so-called Zionist plutocrats - men like George Soros (left), the Rothschilds, and the Rockefellers - admire intelligence and statesmanship and, of course, they are constantly trying to recruit new blood into their ranks. If they have indeed been courting Anwar, it simply means they believe Anwar is well worth luring into their inner circles - just as they at one time invited the likes of Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad to participate in closed-doors Bilderberg conferences. In the geopolitical arena one has to acknowledge that power has been jealously guarded for countless centuries by a secretive elite via interlocking fraternities like the Freemasons, Knights of Malta, and the Rotarians. The heads of these fraternities are members of even more exclusive and secretive mystical orders with names like the Priory of Sion, Opus Dei, the Bavarian Illuminati, and Ordo Templi Orientis.

Their deadly grip on power appears indomitable and absolute. But that's merely an illusion. Truth is, the cracks have become huge enough for new reality options to hatch from within these occult power centers.

David Mayer de Rothschild (born 25 August 1978), adventurer & environmentalist

As always their own descendants - the children and grandchildren of Evelyn Rothschild and David Rockefeller, for example, will break the family mold and mutate in ways unforeseen. Like a tower struck by lightning, the entire edifice of hereditary power and wealth will quickly crumble as the New World Order manifests as something its original planners would never in a million years have imagined possible.

[In any case, linking Anwar with the Zionist-Illuminati Cabal no longer makes sense in view of Najib and Rosmah's expensive affair with the Zionist-owned public relations firm, APCO Worldwide, which is being paid hundreds of millions to repair Najib Razak's severely tainted public image and puff up his international standing. APCO's specialty appears to be keeping tinpot despots in power.]

As a brilliant and charming deputy prime minister cum finance minister, Anwar had apparently attracted the attention of these global powerbrokers. Perhaps he had been emboldened by their tacit support to make his power play against the recalcitrant Mahathir in mid-1997 - which triggered a vindictive and violent reaction from both Daim Zainuddin (above, right) and Mahathir who represented the vested interests of the Umnoputra elite that had burgeoned during Mahathir's 22-year premiership.

Those who had grown fat in the mid-1980s and early 1990s from Mahathir's largesse were naturally incensed by what they perceived as Anwar Ibrahim's impatience and impertinence. He had to be forcefully put down as an example to other would-be upstarts within the ranks of Umno. This explains the ferocity and sheer viciousness of their attack against Anwar in 1998. [And why they decided to dust off the sodomy script and whack him again with it in June 2008... and when that plot laughably fizzled out, they fished out that dubious "Datuk T" sex video.]

Reformasi 1998, Indonesia, brought down Suharto

It was nothing less than a political crucifixion. Just as two thousand years ago the entrenched Jewish priesthood and the obese merchants in Palestine were terrified of the master Yeshua's populist message of reform and renewal - the feudal power establishment in Malaysia was severely rattled by the close proximity of the same groundswell of massive rebellion that swept Suharto and his dynasty from power right next door in Indonesia.

Reformasi 1998, Malaysia: Anwar calls for Mahathir's resignation

The Umno old guard isn't quite dead yet. Mahathir still growls as he paces and prowls in growing frustration, watching Umno warlords repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot and dig themselves deeper and deeper into their own graves. Quietly monitoring the political shifts since 8 March 2008 from his invisible vantage point, former finance minister Daim Zainuddin makes hardly a sound - but he has been busy behind the scenes, doing whatever he can and must to thwart Anwar's ambitions to become PM.

As for the Malay rulers, they have been compromised - particularly since the mid-1980s - by their immersion in entrepreneurial pursuits - an unhealthy trend that escalated following Mahathir's usurpation of their traditional authority. Few of them have any head for business, so they are largely dependent on a shadowy cadre of Umnoputra tycoons and the fly-by-night financial adventurers who serve as their advisors and proxies.

This is certainly an untenable and unwholesome situation. The royal houses must decide very soon whether to throw their lot in with the collapsing Umnoputra house of cards - or to discreetly extricate themselves from further involvement in the sordid world of business - a realm where their royal stature is susceptible to being irreversibly tarnished and brought into severe disrepute. They cannot carry on dabbling in business, getting entangled in constant conflicts of interest or risking legal action when their enterprises go bust - and yet expect the public to shut up and keep paying their royal allowances.

I was telling some friends recently that the political atmosphere during the Mahathir Era was horribly stifling, especially after 1986 when his power faced serious challenges. But, strangely, things feel even worse today - not necessarily because Najib is crueler and more ruthless than his cynical puppetmaster - but simply because the Internet can now reveal the full extent of Umno/BN's criminal mismanagement, complete with charts and tables and long lists of figures.


Thanks to the emergence in Cyberspace of loose cannon maverick royals like Raja Petra Kamarudin - whose access to "official secrets" and whose ability to expose and destroy the rogue regime we call Umno/BN (along with all who stubbornly cling to their ill-gotten gains and their obscene privileges) should never be underestimated - those of us who genuinely love this country still have many strategic options apart from migrating.


As RPK has so admirably shown by positioning himself out of harm's way and continuing to fire salvo after salvo at the fortress of the Wicked Queen, it's futile trying to scare bloggers into silence. You can haul up and question a few - but at what cost to your expensively tailored international image? And for every Malaysian-based blogger who gets intimidated into silence, a hundred outspoken bloggers based abroad will emerge to carry on the information war.

[RPK launched the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement as a "Third Force" when he realized that Anwar Ibrahim had his own way of doing things that didn't always coincide with RPK's strong opinions. These two men are extremely charismatic but very different in temperament. Anwar is a natural-born fiery orator, diplomat and political strategist; while RPK enjoys the role of flamboyant revolutionary and gunslinging political Paladin, six-shooters blazing from both holsters. RPK has never run for political office and remains fiercely independent in his championing of justice. However, what troubles me is that RPK maintains an affable, hand-kissing relationship with Dr Mahathir and recently met with Sanusi Junid, who was sent to the UK as Dr M's emissary to persuade RPK to disassociate himself from Anwar Ibrahim. RM10 million was dangled as a carrot. RPK says he turned it down, even though he was momentarily tempted.]

One of the perks of amassing a vast fortune is to be admired and applauded wherever you go. However, if your reputation sinks to the level of infamous rogues like Robert Mugabe, Augusto Pinochet, Ferdinand Marcos, Slobodan Milošević, General Than Shwe, Kim Jong-Il, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney... you'd probably be wishing you could have been half as talented as Michael Jackson instead... or twice as dead.

Martin Jalleh on the judiciary's failure...

Justice is done in by the Federal Court!

L-R: Alauddin Mohd Sheriff (President, Court of Appeal); Arifin Zakaria (Chief Judge of Malaya); Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin; Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff; Abdull Hamid Embong (pic courtesy of Malaysiakini)

By Martin Jalleh

Once again justice is shamelessly sacrificed on the altar of political expediency by judicial shenanigans of the highest court in Bolehland. It is a sad day indeed to see how five “blind” men of supposed legal stature strove so hard not to see and sense what was staring at them in the Federal and Perak constitutions.

The judiciary – the very portal of justice continues to be reduced to a convenient playground for the ruling elite to legitimize their power grab, persecute their opponents and promote their political agenda, through the perversion of the rule of law by certain court jesters.

The Federal and Perak Constitutions are dead, done in by those who decided to disregard, desecrate and discard constitutional provisions to treat the doctrine of separation of powers with deference. They are rigorously and rightly interpreted only when it best suits Umno.

In stark comparison to the courageous, cogent and convincing judgment of High Court judge Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim, the cowed five-member bench caved in and conveniently decided to take the cue from the powers that be.

It comes as no surprise that their “collective written judgement is apparently riddled with contradictions.” The five judges surely qualify for retired Justice N.H. Chan’s classic category of “recalcitrant” and “Humpty Dumpty” judges in the Perak conundrum.

Today the reputation of the judiciary or whatever was left of it, has been sullied irreparably. In the eyes of the public the judiciary has sunk so low as to allow itself to be intimidated, its independence and impartiality interfered with, and its integrity reduced to ignominy.

The judiciary has made a decision ignoring the overwhelming implications. As toppled Perak MB Nizar Jamaluddin said: “If this decision goes on and becomes the law of the day, it will lead to an absolute monarchy (which) means the ruler can now dismiss the prime minister or the mentri besar at any time.”

Chair of the Rulers Council, Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak (far right); together with the Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Al-Haj (Selangor); and Tengku Mahkota Pahang Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah at the Council's 220th meeting on 10 Feb 2010 (Bernama pic).

The winds of change promised by the PM have turned into a stench of contemptuous compromise emanating from the corridors of the Palace of Justice. The rhetoric of the Chief Justice on a judicial renaissance and the Attorney-General on a “war against injustice” stink to high heaven.

In the halls of the Palace of Justice hangs a heavy suffocating air of hypocrisy whilst supposed men of honour with hollow character hang on to their high and lofty positions and holler, hype and harp on upholding and interpreting the constitution to the hilt as they hand out whimsical and warped judgments!

The Federal Court decision was merely the next logical step after the historic haste with which the judiciary helped Zambry back to the helm. Less than a day after the KL High Court had ruled in Nizar’s favour, and three hours after Zambry had filed for a stay of execution, a one-man Court of Appeal readily heard the latter and granted him a stay two hours later! Zambry won his appeal 11 days later!

The Federal Court ruling is the climax of the shocking and scandalous manner the judiciary has handled the Perak crisis. It has left behind a dead constitution, “bad” and “perverse” decisions, dubious declaratory orders, judgments devoid of reasoned grounds, and disgraceful double standards.

The judiciary was bursting with bias which even the blind could see!

The added fact that the “Perak cases” were made the exclusive domain of a few judges in the High Courts and especially the Appellate Courts strongly suggests a hidden hand of one who obediently followed the instructions of the same Umno elite who hijacked the Perak state government by high-handed, hideous and heinous means.

What is next fellow Perakians? Yes it was a very unfair judgment but then again life is unfair! Shall we move on and win the war in spite of having lost the battle today? Let us leave the judiciary and the those who make a mockery of our justice system to swim and drown in their own judicial vomit.

Surely the past one year has drawn the rakyat of Perak closer together and made us more daring and determined to dream and drive ourselves towards a government we really want in Perak. Personally, I have never been to so many PAS ceremahs before in my whole life!

Indeed the Perak Constitutional crisis has forged and fostered formidable comradeship amongst the leaders and members of the parties of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in Perak. Who can forget the kind of support the PR Aduns gave to one another as they tried to enter the State Assembly or the historic raintree State Assembly? The crisis also revealed the real friends and foes of PR.

The struggle made us Perakians realize that there were heroes amongst us – an MB with an indomitable spirit, a Speaker whose courage became an inspiration to many, a retired judge intensely committed to the law, intrepid principled politicians in the coalition and unknown individuals willing to risk involvement – surely in continued synergy we will be able to serve up a surging and unstoppable wave of change… in the next General Elections!

Martin Jalleh
9 February 2010

"1MALAYSIA... 2PERAK... 3KATAK!"

From Malaysiakini: 10.55am - Police have chased off about 80 supporters outside the building, back behind the security tape. The supporters obliged, but are taunting the cops, with some shouting: "1 Malaysia, 2 Perak, 3 Katak!"

RESPECT must be earned. It cannot be bought or demanded at gunpoint. Surely, the former Lord President and present Sultan of Perak knows this simple truth. If so, why does he not enlighten his friend, the Umno crime minister, Dato Seri Najib Razak (aka Pink Lips) about the responsibilities of true leadership?

Is the Sultan of Perak the victim of BN blackmail, as this controversial report in Malaysia Today suggests? Allow me to quote a couple of paragraphs:

Nazrin’s succession to the Perak throne depends on the goodwill of the federal government. But only if the state government is a Barisan Nasional government will there be this goodwill. If Pakatan Rakyat remains the state government, then expect Nazrin to pay the price when his time comes to succeed his father.

Furthermore, the Sultan and his family has asked for a lot of things from the Pakatan Rakyat state government, all of which they rejected. Umno will ensure that the Sultan and his family get whatever they want if Barisan Nasional takes over as the Perak state government.

If there is any truth to what Raja Petra Kamarudin has written, this nation is indeed in dire straits. It would mean that the symbols of highest authority in the land - the Sultans who serve as defenders and upholders of Islam - are as corruptibly human as you and I; and some may actually be no better than the third-rate hoodlums who have infiltrated Umno over the decades and taken complete control of the country's once abundant resources.

My personal take on the contentious issue of royalty is very straightforward. Since a very tender age I have been aware that some people I meet are naturally endowed with a certain quality I choose to call "noble" (as opposed to "base"). They make a point of upholding essential values such as honesty, compassion, generosity and wisdom; and they constantly endeavor to attain an inclusive and comprehensive perspective on the world around them.

These naturally noble souls have long outgrown narrow definitions of ethnicity and their allegiance is always to truth - not rigid religious dogma. They would never go along with a political ideology as patently false, petty-minded and self-serving as "Ketuanan Melayu." Indeed, they would be fully conscious that the word "Tuan" is a contraction of "Tuhan" (or "Lord" in English); and if anyone addressed them as such, they would instinctively flinch. Pretending to be superior to others is a silly child's game, unbefitting of any mature and intelligent soul.

Of course, the world is full of examples of idiots, pretenders and usurpers who have fallen into the trap of believing themselves superior. To reinforce their grand delusion, they invariably acquire the trappings of obscene wealth and become overly fond of pomp and circumstance. These souls are at best immature; at worst a parasitic infection of the human psyche.

By playing along with their foolish game, we are equally responsible for all the injustices and imbalances we constantly complain about. Only by consciously reclaiming our dignity, sovereignty and power as divinely inspired individuals can we free ourselves of this deleterious scam that has been inflicted on the inhabitants of this edenic planet since the advent of the "creator gods" who colonized the Earth many eons ago and whose "blueblooded" descendants persist in perpetuating this great hoax.

Are we still trapped in the limited worldview of a bunch of cannibals cowering before the arrival of White Gods in flying machines who sometimes bear gifts of colorful trinkets and firewater - and at other times rape our women and massacre us with their death-dealing weaponry?


Those are events that occurred many millennia ago, although the inertia of the ancient past continues to hold sway over our traditional hierarchies. We need not be ashamed that our ancestors were awed and shocked by the so-called gods' display of military might (thunderbolt-hurling deities can be very scary). In this day and age, despite the apparent might of the plutocrats and their puerile secret societies, we have the option of uninstalling dysfunctional software and upgrading our operating systems, so that we can step boldly towards the fulfilment of our glorious destiny as free and fearless kings and queens (and princes and princesses) of our own personal domains.

[Images courtesy of The Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini, The New Straits Times and Google]

RPK ON THE ARCHAIC SEDITION ACT AS A WEAPON OF CRASS DESTRUCTION

Published on Malaysia Today 28 October 2009

ONE PERAK! ~ by Martin Jalleh

One man’s catchphrase of reform – “the culture of change” is in reality one potent chicanery and concoction of 4Cs – Corruption, Coercion, Crossovers and Coups. The self-proclaimed “people’s Prime Minister” with his recycled One Malaysia slogan, robs in broad daylight the people of Perak of their right to determine their State Government.

One haughty political party humiliated in the last general election and by a series of by-election losses, hangs on to power desperately. It hijacks a state government by high-handed, hideous and heinous means such as money politics, mysterious disappearances, mobs and manipulative manoeuvrings of the nation’s democratic institutions.

One fraudulent State Government is formed by the crossovers of two assemblymen charged with corruption, one assembly woman who compromised and reduced the price of democracy to cash and Camry – a threesome who made themselves “independent” of the will of the people – and the double-crossing over of one Umno assemblyman.

One – hand-in-glove with its political (pay)master, the one-sided Election Commission (the supposed paragon of democracy) – panders and plays to the tune of and remains pliant to Umno and its power grabbing to prevent the people of Perak from being the one paramount arbitrator to overcome the State’s political deadlock.

One farcical State Government – made up of an overwhelming 27 Umno assembly members, one MCA assembly member and three 'independent' hoppers – is portrayed as a strong representation of multiracial unity and governance! The people are expected to believe that the most divisive force, led by the most devious of characters, will make Perak one!

One interfering and intimidating show of force by the police force, assisted by Umno’s thugs and a spineless State Secretary is brazenly displayed to prevent the Menteri Besar (MB) and the Pakatan Rakyat Assembly members from entering the State Assembly. The partisan police who pathetically fail to arrest the rising crime rate in the country rise to every occasion to protect Umno’s “internal security.”

One “small boy” in the Prime Minister's Department calls the Speaker a “boy speaker.” The latter has in fact been amongst the very few who are man enough to stand up to the taunts, threats, tricks of Umno and refuse the tempting offers to commit treachery – in sharp contrast to the Minister who is well-known for his childish temper tantrums and theatrics in Parliament.

The one and only judiciary!

One open-court-shy probationary judge is chosen to decide on a constitutional matter of such monumental significance. He rules that the genuine MB must be represented by the State Legal Advisor – which means that the two political adversaries fighting for the MB’s seat have the same lawyer in the same court case! It was one historic judicial farce!

One further bizarre leap of logic, the “arrogant novice” takes. He extends his judicial purview to the proceedings of a state assembly – which the Federal Constitution clearly forbids. He issues a court order restraining the Speaker from holding any assembly meetings. The trainee judge had his contract extended for another two years! Alas, it pays to be arrogant and asinine in the judiciary!

One jaundiced judgment leads to another. Constitutionally, a Speaker or his acts in a Legislative Assembly cannot be questioned in court. Yet, one High Court judge in Ipoh dismisses the Speaker’s application to strike out the summons of the three turncoat assembly members who sought a declaration that the Speaker’s order to declare their assembly seats vacant was illegal.

One Federal Court of five unanimously myopic judges declares that the three turncoat assembly members are still members of the Perak State Legislature and that the Election Commission is the rightful entity to establish if there was a casual vacancy in the Perak State Legislature and the authority to declare a seat vacant, and not the Speaker.

One bad judgment it surely was when seen against a clause in the Perak Constitution which states: “It is only upon receiving the decision of the Legislative Assembly will the Election Commission be able to establish that there is a vacancy.” As respected and retired Court of Appeal judge N.H. Chan commented: “The Federal Court has put the cart before the horse – in this case, just the cart without the horse.”

One unanimously errant Federal Court five-judge panel declares that the Speaker's decision to suspend the illegitimate MB and six others was null and void. As was pointed out by the abovementioned “inconvenient” former judge, it was a “perverse ruling”, an “ineffectual thunderbolt”. Or in the infamous words of Justice Augustine Paul – “irrelevant”!

One dead constitution the Federal Court leaves behind. It disgracefully disregards and discards constitutional provisions to treat the doctrine of separation of powers with deference. This dastardly desecration of the Constitution is in stark contrast to the five occasions wherein the Courts had ruled that the judiciary has no jurisdiction over decisions made in legislative assemblies.

Umno & the Police are One

One black day Bolehland will never forget. A fracas takes place in the Perak State Assembly. A fraudulent State Government grabs power. One fake Speaker is installed. Police trespass into the State Assembly, forcibly drag out the Speaker and detain him for about 90 minutes against his will. Public disgust was best captured by one Umno leader, Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, who called it – “high-handedness at its foulest.”

One silly excuse after another the Home Minister dishes out in parliament for the police’s unlawful and disgraceful action. He says: “The police were merely following the instructions of the ‘new Speaker’ ” – one who was illegitimately installed! In short, the long arm of the law aided and abetted with an illegal Speaker whom Umno smuggled into the State Assembly – a perfect start to a Police State!

One more spin by the humbug Home Minister – “what the police did was in accordance to the law.” As reputed lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar would highlight, the Perak imbroglio has made manifest the fact that the BN “took the law into its own hands”; the BN “appears to see no limits to what it is permitted to do to achieve its objectives” and the BN “considers itself a law unto itself.” The BN, Umno and the police are of course ONE – especially in Perak!

One sad, scandalous and shocking day it was indeed, when the Executive literally laid siege on the Legislature resulting in the death of the Perak and Federal Constitutions and the democratic rights of the rakyat of Perak. But one Hishammuddin Hussein was “thankful” that no “serious incidents” took place in Perak that day! One more Minister suffering from a very serious deficiency in intelligence!

One big constitutional mess

One new judge (only one month old) in the Court of Appeal continues the judicial circus. He is a one-man panel and grants the usurper MB a permanent stay of the Kuala Lumpur (KL) High Court’s ruling that Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin (Nizar) is the lawful MB. Why choose a new man and a one-man panel when the Court of Appeal has 22 judges? Why stay a declaratory order which is not normally done?

One question crops up after another. Why the “indecent haste” to grant the illegitimate MB a stay? Why was the application of the lawful MB not treated with equal urgency? The court gave a verdict as fast as about only two-and-a-half hours after the usurper made his application. Nizar had to wait eight days before his application was heard! Why?

One further major judicial misstep the Court of Appeal takes by allowing an appeal by the illegitimate MB. In a five-minute oral judgment, the appellate court reversed the brave decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court that declared Nizar the rightful MB. For many “(t)here was no reasoned grounds of judgment but mere findings of the Court of Appeal” (Lim Kit Siang).

One big constitutional mess the learned judges leave the country in. One grave implication of the judgment is that a Sultan can sack his MB without a no-confidence vote in the State Assembly. The Agong can now sack the PM at his pleasure (and surely much to the pleasure of Bolehland) without a motion of no-confidence in Parliament!

One initial shocking piece of news was that there would be no written judgments by the “extraordinary judges in Malaysia with extraordinary abilities” in the cases related to the Perak constitutional crisis. Disturbed perhaps by their pangs of conscience, two federal Court panels explained in writing how each of their solemn mockery was arrived at.

One written judgment by Augustine Paul that the Speaker does not have the power to suspend the usurper MB and his band of six from attending the assembly, is reduced by N.H. Chan to pages of “gobbledegook.” Another by Nik Hashim bin Nik Abd Rahman that it is the EC and not the Speaker which determines a vacancy, Chan rubbishes as the “regurgitation of not administering justice according to law.”

DANGER! EXPLODING WHALES!

One clear evidence from both the written judgments says N.H. Chan, is that the Federal Court judges have brought the Judiciary into disrepute or brought discredit to it, by not administering justice according to law (a “besetting sin”). They should be removed from office under the Judges’ Code of Ethics 1994. Alas, they have reduced the judiciary to one big joke!

One month has passed since the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal by the usurper MB to reverse the KL High Court decision that declared Nizar the rightful MB of Perak. The presiding judge has failed to keep his promise made after his five-minute oral judgment that the written judgment would be given in “one week.”


One working day before the 30-day appeal deadline expires, Nizar files his application for leave to appeal – without the two written grounds of judgment of the Court of Appeal that removed him as MB. He poses one pressing question: “If High Court judge Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim managed to write his 78-page judgment within four days, how come these judges cannot provide the written grounds of their judgments (after one month)?"

One colossal failure

One Perak – a State with two MBs, two Speakers, two State Governments and a police force and judiciary without the two essentials of manhood that would make them bold enough to stand up to Umno’s shameless display of belligerence, brazen high-handedness and unbridled arrogance of power.

One colossal failure it is by the PM and the illegitimate and delusional MB who compares his political struggle to that of Mandela and Gandhi. Tengku Razaleigh hit the nail on the head (of the government) when he declared: “The Perak power grab had reduced Perak into a failed state…(it) is a tragicomedy of errors and bad political judgment that reflects a failure of political leadership.”

One and only way for Perak to move forward is to go back to the people! It of course depends very much on the failed PM and also on His Royal Highness (HRH) Sultan Azlan Shah who has made it very clear that “rulers are above all politics,” and yet, prior to that HRH had very ironically made a decision above all human understanding and logic.

One MB with an indomitable spirit, one Speaker who has become an inspiration to many, one retired judge intensely committed to the law, one intrepid High Court judge who administered justice according to the law – each one of them together with every significant individual and unsung hero – represents a tiny ripple of hope when in continued synergy will surely serve as a surging and unstoppable wave of change... one day!

Martin Jalleh
25 June 2009

[The above is an improved and expanded version of an article which first appeared in the latest issue of Aliran Monthly]

Court of Appeal: Contemptible Misjudgment

This is a superb commentary by a clear-sighted and level-headed political analyst on the abysmal verdict of the Appelate Court on 22 May 2009...


COURT OF APPEAL JUDGMENT IS A FLOP
Malaysia Today | Sunday, 24 May 2009 14:09
By Kim Quek

The pain was acute and deep when the verdict came, despite it being widely anticipated. The complete silence that greeted the Court of Appeal decision in favour of Zambry Kadir – in contrast to the uncontrollable jubilation that hailed the high court declaration of Nizar Jamaluddin as the lawful Menteri Besar only 10 days ago - spoke for itself. I believe the disappointment and suppressed fury prevailing in the court room this time was reflective of the feelings invoked across the nation when Justice Raus Shariff delivered the 5-minute oral judgment that marked a new low in our judiciary on May 22.

How can the nation not be disappointed when Raus’ judgment is nothing but a regurgitation of a list of the Appellant’s (Zambry) arguments, void of any reasoned input by the panel which also included Justices Zainun Ali and Ahmad Maarop? How can we call this a judgment when the comprehensive and meticulous grounds of judgment of High Court Judge Aziz Rahim and the compelling presentations by the Respondent’s (Nizar) lawyers are completely ignored and side-stepped?

Topmost of the Respondent’s argument is that the Sultan has no power to sack a menteri besar. The panel kept mum on this issue, and since the Appellant didn’t dispute this contention either, it must follow that the issue is settled – the Sultan has no such power. And since Nizar had not resigned when the Sultan appointed Zambry, then how could the court conclude that the Sultan was right in appointing Zambry? Unless, of course, the court is saying that the Sultan is entitled to appoint a second menteri besar when the first one is still serving? But would anyone in his right mind suggest that?

Following the footsteps of the Appellant, the court seems to be equally obsessed with the notion that Nizar had lost the majority, and corollary to that, anything done to get rid of Nizar is okay, as it complies with the democratic principle that the majority must rule.

This line of thinking is defective legally and constitutionally, as the transition of government must follow the rules laid down in the law and the constitution, failing which it is deemed illegal.

SULTAN CANNOT SACK MENTERI BESAR

In this country, even when the Monarch is satisfied that the head of government has lost majority support, the former has no power to dismiss the latter. This is made abundantly clear in our constitution (whether Federal or State) which expressly states that only the ministers – not the prime minister or chief minister (menteri besar) - serve at the pleasure of the Monarch.

In the case of Perak, even when Nizar has truly lost the majority (which is not at all the case), the Sultan has no choice but to wait for Nizar to resign before he can appoint another menteri besar, if the Sultan withdraws his consent to a dissolution of the state assembly.

Could we then consider this as a major defect in our constitution – a major oversight by the crafters of our constitution? Not at all the case, as our forefathers did not consider it likely that such an eventuality could occur – a head of government so shameless that he refuses to step down when he has truly lost the majority support. And they were proven right, as it has not happened in the past, neither is it happening now.

The crisis in Perak did not spring from Nizar’s refusal to resign for having lost the majority, but was caused by his disagreement that that he had lost the majority. That was made abundantly clear to the Sultan during the audience on Feb 4 when Nizar stressed that there was a stalemate at the assembly following the resignations of three Pakatan assemblymen from the assembly and proposed that the assembly be dissolved. And when the Sultan’s secretary released a press statement the next day, stating that His Royal Highness did not consent to the dissolution of assembly but instead asked Nizar to resign due to HRH being convinced that Nizar “had ceased to command the confidence of the majority of the State Assembly members,” Nizar quickly delivered a written appeal to HRH the same evening, refuting Barisan Nasional’s claim of majority, and reiterating that the assembly was tied at 28, as the Speaker had already accepted the resignation of three Pakatan assemblymen. Nizar further informed HRH that the Speaker and the Perak government had applied to the High Court to declare that these three persons were no longer assemblymen.

This application is still pending in the high court.

Until this court case is finally settled, no one can claim majority in the assembly without a vote of confidence in the assembly that is legally and properly convened. But that wouldn’t be anytime soon as the myriad of interconnected suits and counter suits pending in the high courts would impede the holding of such a seating.

ASSEMBLY THE FINAL ARBITER

Significantly, as submitted by the Respondent, the Speaker also made an urgent appeal in writing to HRH on Feb 6 to convene a special seating of the assembly, but unfortunately this was not acceded to. So, instead of allowing the assembly to determine the vital question of confidence, the Sultan had relied on his personal interview with individual assemblymen in the Palace to form his judgment that Nizar had lost his majority, thus sparking off a chain of events that have badly shaken public confidence in the integrity and political neutrality of almost all the institutions of state under the Barisan Nasional leadership.

Can the Sultan supplant the assembly as the legal authority to ascertain the level of confidence the Menteri Besar enjoys in the assembly? High Court Judge Aziz has ably answered the question in his judgment on Feb 11. He said that reading Clauses 2, 5 & 6 of Article 16 of the Perak constitution together will lead one to logically conclude that it is the assembly that determines whether it has confidence in the Menteri Besar as head of the the Executive Council, as “the Executive Council shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly” (Clause 5). Since the Menteri Besar and his Exco are answerable only to the assembly and to no one else, why should the Sultan or for that matter, any third party be allowed to be the final arbiter as to whether the Menteri Besar has lost the confidence of the assembly and therefore must quit? In other words, while it is the Sultan who appoints a menteri besar, it is only the assembly which can decide his fate.

Regretably, the panel led by Justice Raus had no answer for this remarkable ground of Aziz’s judgment. And without giving a single instance of how Aziz has floundered, how could the panel conclude that “the learned high court judge erred in law when interpreting the Perak Constitution” and overturned his judgment?


JUDGMENT COLLAPSES

It is clear that the panel’s judgment has already collapsed on these two scores alone – that the Sultan has no power to sack the Menteri Besar, and that the Sultan cannot supplant the assembly to ascertain the confidence enjoyed by the Menteri Besar.

The saddest part is that this judgment is but one of a series of judgments handed down over the Perak crisis from the nation’s highest courts – federal court and court of appeal – which have been widely criticized as politically partisan resulting in various dubiosities – blatant disregard of constitutional provisions, judgment without proper or written grounds or judgment in indecent haste. This only serves to confirm a widely held opinion that in the rarefied stratosphere of these courts, honesty and integrity are rare commodities, which must be the inevitable phenomenon of a system that rewards the compliant but dishonest and punishes the non-compliant but honest.


One can foresee that as the Barisan Nasional continues to maintain its questionable hold of power in Perak, more and more of these abominable transgressions of justice will flood our radar screens as the host of legal cases unwind themselves through the higher courts. While these will inflict grievous damage to our national image, they will ironically hasten the day of real reforms as more and more people will become convinced that the only way to restore the rule of law is to have a regime change.

[Kim Quek aka Yong Thye Chong is a well-respected political commentator and author]