tun hamid

Justice In Jeopardy: Light Escapes Through The Judicial Tunnel

LIGHT SEEPS at last through the darkest recesses of the judicial tunnel,
one which should clear with each passing day. The chief justice, Tun
Eusoff Chin, must retire before that becomes permanent. With his
six-month extension postponing changes until 20 December 00 the
inevitable is postponed. But signs does show in dramatic ways. The
chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak, Tan Sri Chong Siew Feh, in one of his last judicial acts, cut to size the chief justice's favourite holiday
companion and eminent counsel, Dato' V.K. Lingam, a new role he must now accustom himself to. The courts, in the heyday of the Eusoff
incumbency, allowed him to claim RM650,000 from the Bar Council when the federal court dismissed the Bar's appeal against the court of appeal's dismissal of its appeal. The court of appeal costs have yet to be ascertained. That cannot now be, as once feared, RM1,000,000. Tan Sri Chong's order cutting down his fees to RM60,000, less than ten per cent
demanded, sets the limit of fees he can claim from the courts below over this. There is also another RM50,000 in court fees for sealing the
order. This is the first time any judge had dared cut him to size.
Another equally eminent lawyer who threatens to claim RM900,000 for his successful injunction to stop the Bar's extraordinary general meeting should now take whistling lessons.

Tun Eusoff's departure, and the changing of the guard in the
judiciary, must cause anxious moments in the legal firm of V.K. Lingam & Co. and his principal client, that internationally known business men of unquestioned repute, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, whose renowned business successes include being a former sewage contractor, former newspaper owner, a failed operator of Kuala Lumpur's monorail project, and the
still-to-take-off Linear City over the Sungei Klang in Kuala Lumpur and
sundry business ventures in Ougadougou like carwashers. He could not then write judgements for judges in cases where his client has a vested
interest. Nor could he freeze judges into submission when he has a case before them. The Bar Council should look into the Bowman Report closely on his role in handing over handphones from Tan Sri Vincent Tan to judges and senior government officials. And over the Asian Wall Street Journal's Raphael Pura's assertion that he wrote the judgement for the then high court judge Mokhtar Sidin (now of the court of appeal) in a high profile defamation case involing Tan Sri Vincent Tan. His could, as he did, get the chief justice to lie about a holiday they took to New Zealand, and destroy his reputation by refusing to deliver a federal
court judgement 30 months after having heard it.

The chief justice now insists judges should not be criticised, on
pain of contempt, but he welcomes suggestions on how to improve the
judiciary. I could make one immediately which would improve the stature of the judiciary: that he resign immediately. His insists he is more important than the institution of justice. His mickey-mouse approach to judicial administration adds to its woes. That began with the drumming out of its then Lord President, Tun Salleh Abas, 12 years ago, one in which his predecessor, the court of appeal president and he paid stellar roles. Tun Eusoff must be blamed for his pettiness, sidelining judges unhappy at the judiciary's politicisation and its deliberate subservience to the executive. The judiciary is done to have it return to its past glory because he goes. It would take years, if not decades, for turning it around. Once an institution is devalued, it would take decades before people would be comfortable with it. The chief justice's weak judicial and administrative mind adds to its woes. The Conference of Rulers' steadfast refusal to allow the judiciary to be even more pliable saves it from a worse fate. The six-month extension Tun Eusoff got turns out to be a double-edged sword: as his predecessor, Tun Hamid Omar, would tell him, it is not long enough to right the wrongs, but too long for him to stumble and fall.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my