Can Senators be fired?

Can Senators be fired? The answer is Yes, and, No. The ‘No’ comes from those who say that the security of tenure of a Senator is unimpeachable. They point to Article 45 (3) of the Federal Constitution, which states that: - ‘… the term of office of a member of the Senate shall be three years and shall not be affected by a dissolution of Parliament.’ A Senator may be appointed twice, making ...

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Do lawyers obey the law?

Do lawyers obey the law? They must. You cannot argue in court about the rightness of a legal principle unless you are prepared to acknowledge its rightness. And obey it. But as there are bad doctors and bad engineers, some bad lawyers, and some bad judges (one hopes a small number) twist the law beyond recognition. That is ethically wrong. For it shows an intent to disobey the spirit of the law.  Such lawyers ...

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The call of the legal profession

I was once asked to answer three questions at once.  I think it was on Quora. Since then a lot of people have expressed interest in the questions and the answers I gave. I reproduce them here: Q-1:          How difficult is it for a lawyer to set up his own firm? Q-2:          How do lawyers advertise their services? Q-3:          How do they attract clients to their firms? These were all questions related to the life ...

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Karpal and Kit Siang – two colossi

Someone asked me last week, ‘What did Karpal do for us? What did Lim Kit Siang?’ I blinked. I thought I didn’t hear it right. What did they do? The guy who asked was young. Too young. I attempted an answer and unaccountably slipped into melancholy. I began by saying... These men fought a long-drawn out battle against an implacable enemy—entrenched racism. They fought for the rule of law. They argued that the ...

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Gerrymandering: Destruction Of A Democracy-101

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CX4NkBsvlk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0aJu63DIik Is every vote of equal strength? Does every vote, cast at any part of the nation, possess the same effect? Let’s use the 2018 General Elections (GE-14) as an example. The Kapar parliamentary constituency [P109] represents one seat in parliament. The Putrajaya constituency [P125] also represents one seat. What is the difference? Kapar had, in GE-14, 124,983 voters. Putrajaya had 27,314 voters. So, comparing apple-to-apple, for a single parliamentary seat, Kapar had 4.6 times ...

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Is Any Former Prime Minister Immune From Criminal Prosecution?

A recent spate of social media messages argue that the former prime minister Najib enjoys absolute immunity from criminal sanction. The messages refer to an article by Mr Charles Hector, entitled: ‘Najib – Cannot be charged for crimes as a public servant until law is changed?’ Now, did Charles say the former PM was immune from any criminal prosecution? In 2016, Tun Mahathir sued Najib.  Mahathir alleged that there had been ...

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Does The AG Need To Be A Malay Or A Muslim? Does He Have To Advise On Syariah Law?

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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