PM announcement on Judicial Appointment

While chatting in the court canteen with Mr. Ng Kong Peng (Malacca Bar Chairman & Partner of KP Ng & Amardas), Mr. Kee Tong Kiak and Mr. Wong Fook Meng (Partners of Chee Siah Le Kee & Partners), Mr. Surendran (Partner in JS Gill & Surendran) and Mr. Tony Choo (Kesavan & Associates) we anticipate that the night dinner meeting organised by the Malaysian Bar and the government of Malaysia would be exciting.

Of course, since it is just a chat and a lot of wishful thinking on what is going to happen during the dinner, we even go as far as tembaking that the famous lawyer Mr. Karpal Singh be appointed as Attorney General, Tun Mahatir will face a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to the Tun Salleh's episode, the PM will apologised for the attack on the judiciary in 1988, a formation of Judicial Inquiry on Independence of Judiciary, the Commission for the appointment of Judiciary etc.

Haha that is what we want. And YES we enjoy these cakap-cakap angin. We love wind and tsunami such as the recent political tsunami.

So after all the talks, reality sets in as the Prime Minister has just announced that the government plans to set up a Judicial Appointments Commission that would make the process of nominating, appointing and promoting judges more transparent and representative. The Prime Minister after losing it's 2/3 in Parliament vowed that the government is committed to the rakyat that it will begin a process of judicial reform. He even went further to state that the government recognise that the process of appointment must be undertaken with the spirit and belief that no one, not even those entrusted to govern or to make laws, must assume to be above the law.

The VK Lingam videotape saga not only put our judiciary in a very bad light but worst still Malaysia as a whole. I am so embarrassed with what had happened. I still remember when my other professional friends from the accounting and engineering streams would even laugh at me and just say, SEE THIS IS MALAYSIAN LAWYERS AND JUDGES. With this announcement at least I feel a little vindicated. Not for myself but the legal profession and the judiciary as a whole.

Well though I am happy with such proclamation, I hope that the Prime Minister this round will WALK THE TALK instead of TALK THE TALK. Seriously we are already fed up with all the empty promises made by the government. 92% in Parliament since 2004 made the BN government truly arrogant. Now after the general election, and for the first time in the 50 years history of our country, BN was shaken and made powerless for the first time.

It is our hope that Malaysians will never again see the demise of the judiciary in the years to come. All of us MUST protect this very dignity the judiciary once had.

A Good March

I have just got back from Putrajaya to Melaka and I'm tired, wet and cold. I am drenched. BUT I'm proud for what I did with my fellow friends and comrades of the Bar. We stood for justice. I'm proud at the Malaysian Bar and the Bar Council for standing up for the people and at the same time managed to send a strong message to the government and to the world at large that the Malaysian Bar and the people will no longer tolerate any form of corruption and evil doing. We stand up for justice, integrity and righteousness for the administration of justice so that the future of all Malaysians will be preserved. I don't intend to leave this country. But I want to continue to fight until justice is prevailed and seen to be done. I want to be part of it. It is a duty call for me to see things work in the country I love.

The Star reported that there were 1000 lawyers/NGOs and members of the public. But in fact it is more than just a thousand. We had a count of at least 2000 people marching together to the Prime Minister's office and to give two memorandum. I must applaud our Chairperson, Miss Ambiga for her courage and leadership in having a march that is peaceful and professionally done. As she had stated in her message that we are here not to condemn the government but to instruct the government to do what is right. To right the wrong. We want a clean up of the judiciary as we cannot stand that corruption has been rooted deeply since the dismissal of Tun Salleh as Lord President in 1988.

Malacca Bar Idol Charity Nite

What do the Bee Gees, Willie Nelson, Everly Brothers and a Mandarin rendition of a Chinese nursery rhyme, “Father Is Not Home”, have in common? Why, nothing of course! Except that they were all sung by our very own Bar Idols and members of the Malacca Bar on the first ever Malacca Bar Idol competition in conjunction with the West Coast Charity Night jointly organized by 4 state Young Lawyers Committees.

The fund-raiser which was organized in Malacca together with the Liason, Charity and Welfare Sub- Committee of the Malacca Bar in aid of the Pusat Kanak-kanak Terencat Akal Bahagia witnessed a Malaccan version of the Popular TV Show American Idol, featuring our very own panel of the famous threesome, Simon Ng Kong Peng, Randy Desmond Ho and Paula Fiona Tan.

It was an evening to remember as our Bar Idol hopefuls belted out tune after tune of tone-challenged popular hits much to the delight of the diners. And that’s not all folks. We had a “slave auction” in which a rather sporting member of the Malacca Bar volunteered his “Man-Friday” services for the night to the highest bidder, all in the name of good fun and charity. Our Man-Friday did not only raise funds from the auction but when his Master for the night instructed him to sing, he was paid to stop singing candidly by another Bar member.

Not only did we indulge in the trade of ‘human trafficking’ albeit a legal one, we also auctioned off lots of stuff to raise money for the children. The items that went under the hammer included paintings, much sought after cross stitched pieces by a fellow Bar member, books, a computer game, branded cosmetics bags, a baba nyonya dress in almost mint condition, ladies’ handbag, romantic novels, law books, a radio, and much more. “Auctioneer” Wong Fook Meng saw to it that the stuff sold got top dollar for what they were worth and his banter with the crowd raised a bidding war for some items.

When it came to the turn of the Malacca Bar Idol aspirants to once again test the cerebral fitness of the diners, there was much applause and laughs followed by boxes labeled with the names of Idol hopefuls making the rounds for donations. After one contestant sang Willie Nelson’s “You are always on my mind”, Simon Ng Kong Peng remarked “After that performance, you are always on my mind” bringing about much light hearted laughter. The boxes receiving the most donations won the Bar Idol contest and prize eyed was a trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand for 3 days and 2 nights for two persons. After a spirited rendition of ‘Sejati’ his schoolboy days anthem backed by the band PG165, and ‘Draw Me Close’, Damian Yeo was crowned Malacca Bar’s first Idol. Shukor clinched the second spot and Yoong How Vei came in third.

Damian, Shukor, How Vei

The Special Children’s Home is a private charity home which is not aided by the Government. It provides shelter for abandoned and retarded children, many of whom are mentally/physically handicapped from birth. From the Charity Night, a total of about RM4,500 was collected in aid of the Special Children’s Home and the organizing committee shall utilize the monies received to purchase necessities for the inmates of the Home.

Tangaraj, Damian, Desmond, Valerie, Charlotte, Celine and Zairin (The Committee)

A Visit To The Home

The State Young Lawyers Committee Members comprises of Mr. Desmond Ho, Cik Zairin, Mr. Tangaraj and I, together with the Chair for the Charity Committee of the Malacca Bar, Encik Nizam Bashir were at the Pusat Kanak-kanak Terencat Akal Bahagia on Friday after work. We were there to meet Roy and Nancy, the caregivers as the Committee has nominated this Home to be adopted for our Charity Nite on 29th June 2007. Desmond Ho, our Chairman took the photos so as to later show in our Nite the Home that we will be adopting.

We reached the Home at about 6.15pm and was greeted by a young boy aged 11 who has down syndrome with a hole in his heart. We were told by the care giver, Miss Nancy that the doctor has given him ultimatum at that time that he has about three years to live, but thanks to the Home he now prove the doctor wrong as that ultimatum came almost 7 years ago.

The Home was founded by husband and wife, Roy and Nancy Collar with the help of 10 other care givers. Started in July 2000 in a small single storey bungalow, the Home now housed 35 inmates ranges from the age of 4 to 32. A great number of the inmates are blind and had epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Some are bed ridden and mentally retarded. There are two who would have to be tubed fed. Only four were down syndrome and only Nor Laili, 17 years old understood us even though she has low IQ and is physically deformed.

The Home accepts all children without setting any conditions nor receiving any monthly income at all. The children are brought to the Home with no obligation to pay for their up keep.

We were also told that most of the children was abandoned by their family members as some were single mothers either raped or had incestuous relationship. Sad, but it's real and is happening. We were moved in our emotions seeing the children in their physical condition. The children are seen well taken care regardless of their race and religion. There were no unwanted smells and that all the children are in diaper and are well taken care of 24 hours a day and requires special nursing care and attention.

The monthly expenses of the Home comes to about RM21,753.00 on the average. The monthly budget increased over the years as essentials such as food and household items gone up over the years and fortunately help comes not from the government sector BUT from the private individuals and temples around Malacca, Seremban and Muar. It is disheartening to know that there are no special grants from the State and Federal Government especially through the ministry of Woman and Family Affairs. I call upon the government to do more for such Homes. As they require more help.

We have seen how the government spend money unnecessary, why not monies channel in such Homes and to the under privilege? I believe they need all the money for the fresh food, clothing, diaper, physiotherapist, medical treatment, first aids and a host of other necessaries. The government must come to it's senses to not spend in unnecessary mega projects.

These children are dear to God and are close to the heart of God. As such we should be eternally grateful for the things that we experienced and have. It is good that the many of us will come together and make their life a more better and comfortable place to live in.

Towards a Better Local Government - Organised by the Malacca Bar Committee

Friday, 11th May 2007 at Legacy Hotel Malacca, the Human Rights Committee of the Malacca Bar organised a forum titled "Towards a Better Local Government" with such a title, the Committee invited four distinguished penal of speakers representing a wide spectrum of society with Datuk Shahrir Samad (MP for JB and PAC Chairman, representing the government), R. Nadeswaran aka Citizen Nades (editor of the Sun Newspaper), Lim Guan Eng (secretary General of DAP, representing the opposition) and Dr Lim Teck Ghee (academician & former Research fellow of Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI)). The talk was moderated by none other than Mr. R. R. Chelvarajah, former Bar Council Chairman of the Malaysian Bar and the current state Bar representative to the Bar Council. Emceed by Nizam Bashir and cameraman + projectionist MYSELF. We had two reporters / rapporteur namely Miss Ting and Pierre, a chambie.

Attendance was close to 400 people with a quick start from Datuk Shahrir who touches on local government as to what the government thinks and how should the people respond to calls for an elected local government. He also felt that the problem is within the system itself and that he has the role to play in the system so as to demand a more transparent, integrity of the civil services

Next come Citizen Nades started of by explaining the dangers of certain section in the Local Government Act and also who gave examples of corrupted local government through his handling and exposing of the many cases in Klang Valley such as Datuk Z's Istana and the Sport Club's approval which unncessary saw the abuse of power by those in authority and the bias conduct of such local councillors. He even gave prove through letters of such transaction being done in the open through his presentation.

Lim Guan Eng, with his witty political moves exposes further the local council's corruption and using unnecessary spending of local councillors tours which spend hundreds of thousand ringgit using tax payer's money. He also felt that the only way is to restore the Third Vote and to give this authority back to the people instead by the street gangs of the current Local Councillors.

He felt that local authorities have been called "secret societies" because of:-
• Lack of transparency and accountability,
• double-standards in enforcement of laws where poor hawkers have their stalls torn down for not having building approvals whilst BN leader have full exemption;
•wastage of public funds on overseas junkets under the pretext of study tours,
•Poor service in basic amenities
•approvals for deforestation of land causing untold damage to the environment,
•bribery and corruption in local townships.
•Abuse of power
•Issuing parking summons, hawkers’ summons, health summons or even banning or shooting dogs indiscriminately. And yet no summons are issued for illegal telecommunications towers.

He also cited examples of democratic countries allow local elections of councilors and Mayors, including regional neighbours Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia. Even in so-called dictatorial systems like China, village elections were first introduced in China as early as 1978 and subsequently conducted on a trial basis from 1988 onwards. China’s 1998 Organic Law on Villager Committees institutionalizes local democracy in China by allowing competitive elections of directly elected villager committees by secret ballot, including the Village Head. So if country like China is practising elections of local authorities, what about country like Malaysia. Are worst of compare to a communist state?

Isn’t it ridiculous that Malaysians can select and decide on our Prime Minister at the Federal level and Chief Minister at the State level but have no right to elect our municipal councilors?

Last come Dr Lim, who gave a chronology as to the demise of local government election in Malaysia. He recalled that Local Government elections was suspended on March 2, 1965 due to the Indonesian Confrontation but that the Alliance Party had promised its restoration at the very moment peace is declared and the emergency regulation are withdrawn. This promised was not honoured. He also noted that the Royal Commission Report (Nahappan Report) had also recommended the principle of elected representation to be extended to all local authorities. Unfortunately this recommendation was hijacked by a minority report which decided otherwise.

He felt that the Government needs to reopen this important but little known chapter of Malaysian history and to correct the injustices and distortions that have been perpetrated.

Local Government forms the underpinning of democratic values and public accountability at the grassroot. It s a factor in determining the quality of urban life for the two thirds of the country's population. As such there must be accountability, transparency and integrity of each level of civil services in the Local Government or else there will be abuse of powers, corruption in every level, inefficient, wasteful and poorly managed urban authorities and its services to the people. Badly run local authorities adversely affect everybody's consumption of environment, health, social, cultural and other goods. They also hit our wallets and act as a key constraint to a better future.

In conclusion, there is a need to revamp the current system and as suggested by Dr. Lim to have a second Royal Commission on it or as what Lim Guan Eng says that there should be an interim tribunal for local government before the actual setting up of the third vote i.e. Local Government elections.