Who guards the Guardians? What happens when the PM has the power to pick judges, but is in conflict?

The PM, the CJ, and other constitutional appointees are all guardians of the Constitution. If one falters, what happens? When a Prime Minister faces a suit in court, yet it is he who must pick the senior judges who will head the judiciary— he is immediately placed in an irreconcilable position of conflict. Three constitutional paths emerge from Malaysia’s deepest democratic paradox. What are they? There is no point in ...

Read More

Nine judges, two years, one crisis: Malaysia’s path between Judicial collapse and Constitutional Renewal

Malaysia's judiciary teeters on the brink. An institutional crisis looms—potentially as devastating as 1988's judicial catastrophe—threatening constitutional governance and the rule of law itself. Nine Federal Court judges departing within two years represents far more than administrative upheaval: it's a catastrophic haemorrhaging of judicial wisdom, precisely when institutional memory matters most. We should never have come to this pass. Left unchecked, this depletion spells disaster for the nation. Which path will Malaysia ...

Read More

Could Malaysia’s Judiciary Rise Again?

Within marble chambers where the scales of justice have trembled through tempest and calm, where in silent corridors, darkness once consumed light, where the sacred spirit of law endured its darkest winter— here lives a story of its struggle and its resurrection. The robe, once rent by a political blade, was rewoven with threads of courage; how the flame, once dimmed to dying ember, burns bright once more: luminous, defiant, and eternal.

Read More

What Happened During the Malaysian Judicial Crisis in 1988?

In 1988, a tremor rent Malaysia’s halls of justice: an institutional earthquake that cleaved its very bedrock. Constitutional pillars crumbled; and the Beacon that once burned bright for Justice flickered, and then, died. Sacred robes, woven with centuries of honour, lay torn in the rubble. The Unthinkable carved its wound into the very beating heart of the Constitution. Here sleep the lasting memories of those who fell, shields raised against the ...

Read More

How to succeed at the Court of Appeal

Are there sure-fire techniques that make it easier to succeed in appeals?  Yes, there are. If appellate counsel don't practise the Rules of Minimalism, Detachment, or do not ask the right Questions of Law, they'd fail. If they argue at the Court of Appeal burdened with a blunderbuss, they'd fail - because they are kiasu: they shoot at any target, with everything they've got. Here are some techniques that ...

Read More