Yesterday, there was a flurry of social media messages that the King had resigned. Can His Majesty do that? That is the question. What is the answer?
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Is the current method of selecting judges, transparent? Should it be? What can be done to improve it?
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Blog , English , Home Featured Articles
On the horns of a dilemma – will the Federal Court judges recuse themselves?
An unusual thing happened at the Federal Court on August 6, 2018. There is a history to this. You know it well. It concerns a company called 1MDB and the ex-PM Najib Razak. On March 23, 2016, Mahathir sued the then PM Najib Razak for ‘misfeasance in public office’. The High Court struck out the suit. The judge ruled that a prime minister was not a ‘public officer. The Court of ...
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[Edited by S. Kamatchy and Suria Juan Pillai] In an article dated 13.07.2018, the ex-Chief Justice, Tun Abdul Hamid says that from 9:30 p.m. on July 11 up to midnight July 31, 2018 there are now two Chief Justices. Is he right? The long and short of all of this is… When the King accepted the resignations of the outgoing CJ and the PCA on 8 June 2018, their offices ceased. The King did ...
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You have seen the articles emerging from this blog since 09 May 2018 — or ‘5-0-9’ as I called the GE14 (the date of May 09th, 2018). There is a story behind these articles. Their production and timing were wholly accidental. In the years to come the people may become quiescent. They may, once again, feel re-assured behind their closed doors. But these issues filled the night of 5-0-9, like night-tracer shells from artillery. ...
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The embattled Chief Justice of the Federal Court (‘CJ’), and the President of the Court of Appeal (‘PCA’) have handed in their resignations on 07 June 2018. The King accepted them the next day. They appear to have said something in their letters—rather uniformly. They had stipulated that they would ‘post-date’ their resignations to 31 July 2018. They said they had their reasons. If this is all true, it seems odd. Can ...
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In the last few weeks we have been hearing the phrase ‘the Rule of Law’. It is time to examine this and another related concept, the ‘Separation of Powers’. If we do, we will encourage our nation rulers to work better, work more effectively, and work to produce justice. Rule of Law The concept of Rule of Law is easy to understand. You needn't be a lawyer to know what it is: you can ...
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The nation is trundling towards a calamitous constitutional misunderstanding. Someone has to do something about it and set matters straight. Let us identify what is happening. A debate has begun to rage. It concerns the identity of the person who should be the next Attorney General. It is about constitutional provisions regarding what characteristics the Attorney General should have—and whether the current nominee, Mr. Tommy Thomas has them. Two conflicting ideas At the heart ...
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Blog , English
Reconsider status, role and appointment of Attorney General – Amend the Constitution!
The provisions of the Malaysian Federal Constitution - which regulate the powers of the AG are in a mess. Urgent reform is imperative. The starting point in understanding this mess is Article 145 of the Federal Constitution. Under Article 145(1) the King ‘shall on the advise of the PM' appoint a person who is qualified to be a judge of the Federal Court to be the AG. It is the AG’s duty to advise the ...
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