Malaysian Bar says Speaker should not have written to Najib’s 1MDB trial judge, asks if lawyer-MPs can also get same aid from Speaker
KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun should not have written a letter to the trial judge hearing Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case to ask for the trial to end earlier last Thursday to let the Pekan MP attend Parliament to debate the royal address, the Malaysian Bar president said today.
Salim Bashir, who heads the professional body representing over 19,800 lawyers in Peninsula Malaysia and the Federal Territories, noted that the Malaysian Bar is concerned about Azhar’s act of writing the letter to High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
“Although the Speaker has defended the move by saying that he merely made a request and never instructed the trial Judge, his action may give rise to unnecessary perception towards certain members of the House, particularly in light of the controversy surrounding his appointment,” Salim said in a statement today.
Referring to the separation of powers doctrine relating to the three different arms of government which Azhar had himself cited, Salim said the Dewan Rakyat Speaker should have let those involved in the 1MDB trial to directly ask the court for the trial proceedings to end earlier last Thursday (July 16).
“As the Speaker rightfully pointed out, the powers of the Judiciary, Executive and Legislative are equal. The Speaker should have left it to the parties’ hands to seek the Court’s indulgence to adjourn the matter instead of writing to the trial Judge directly,” Salim said.
Salim went on to question if Azhar’s actions in Najib’s case would mean that lawyers who are also MPs would be able to also ask the Dewan Rakyat speaker to ask for the court cases that they are handling to be deferred, to enable such MPs to be present in Parliament if the court dates overlap with dates when the Dewan Rakyat is sitting.
“Does the Speaker’s written request in this instance mean that practising Members of the Bar who are members of Parliament, can now request the assistance of the Speaker to seek adjournment of their court matters in order to attend Parliamentary debates?” Salim asked.
On July 20, Azhar denied that he had instructed the High Court to adjourn Najib’s 1MDB trial on July 16 to enable the Pekan MP to deliver his speech in Parliament at a 3.40pm slot.
Azhar argued that he had merely made a “request” to the judge following Najib’s earlier failure to get the trial to end earlier on July 16 to avoid a clash with the parliamentary speech, asserting that the judge had then given his consent for the Pekan MP to attend Parliament.
Azhar was responding to Pakatan Harapan’s Tanjong Malim MP Chang Lih Kang, with the latter arguing that Najib’s slot for the debate speech could have been postponed to a later date that does not clash with Najib’s 1MDB trial.
Chang had also questioned if Azhar was setting a new precedent where anyone on trial will be able to obtain leave and attend Parliament sittings in the future.
Najib’s lawyers had failed when applying on July 15 for the High Court to end the next day’s proceedings in the 1MDB trial earlier at before 2pm by skipping the lunch break. At that time, Najib’s lawyers said he would be asking the Dewan Rakyat for a slot after 2pm on July 16.
On July 16, the High Court initially refused an application by Najib’s lawyers to reconsider ending the 1MDB trial earlier on that day, but subsequently decided to skip the usual lunch break to hear the case and end it earlier exactly at 3.15pm after receiving the Dewan Rakyat speaker’s letter.
The High Court judge had said that he had decided to allow the trial to end earlier after reading a letter from the Dewan Rakyat speaker, which he said had touched on the Parliament “takwim” or calendar that Najib’s lawyers had failed to inform previously. But the judge also warned that he would not be entertaining similar requests for adjournments in the future if no advance notice is given.
On July 16, Najib managed to make it in time for his debate speech slot at the Dewan Rakyat, which is near the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
House speaker Azhar Azizan ‘Art’ Harun said: "In the UK, Parliament is supreme, but in Malaysia the powers (judiciary, legislature and executive) are equal.”
Exactly, Azhar. When you are "equal", why would you write to Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah trying to "request" or impress on him the "importance" of Parliament and interfere in the court process involving a critical case that has great public and global interest?
In future, can the court also rightfully write to the speaker of Parliament to "request" to postpone or end Parliament sitting earlier so that it would not interfere in the court process or clash with the dates of a critical criminal trial that has been unnecessarily delayed and disrupted many times by the defendant?
Where is your priority, Azhar - pandering to the whims and fancies of the defendant or to ensure justice is served at all costs and uphold the independence and dignity of the courts?
Even if some recent occupants had sullied the office, Parliament’s speaker is meant to be a holy responsibility in a sacred environment.
A few have achieved it, others have failed miserably. Whichever category you believe you fall into, Azhar, you have succeeded in lightning speed.
Until almost yesterday, you were the fervent defender of the public’s honour while also one of the nation’s greatest critics of the rancid politicians who would grievously stray from the high road.
And today, you actually come out with a puerile “I was not ordering, I was simply requesting”. Is the relationship among the courts, Parliament and the executive, to be given form in cosy little love letters exchanging “requests”?
Your writing to the courts, a fellow equal as you claim, was a shameful act made only worse by your pathetic attempts at justifying it. Let others mind their cattle, Azhar, you tend to your own flock.
Your immature bravado has set the judiciary against the legislature, and in case you have not realised it, the more entrenched public perception would now be that “it runs in the family”.
In the realm of the all-embracing institution of parliamentary democracy, one mere man’s presence or absence is a triviality you should not have indulged in; in doing so, you have reduced Parliament to crude politics even if you are indifferent to how society and history will henceforth regard you.
However, Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah will emerge from this sorry episode with honour intact, flag flying high.
His displeasure at your interference is readily evident from the fact that he granted the very minimum latitude you prayed for - he allowed the accused, Najib Abdul Razak, to fly the roost with only 15 minutes to spare.
Until recently, Pandikar Amin Mulia was the towering monument to his own brand of administering Parliament. The only surprise, Azhar, is the speed with which you have outdone him.
Wow, Art. That's strike two in your first week. Why have you felt the urgent need to make that request to the courts for one of the MPs? Was his contribution to the debate so crucial that the criminal case involving him have to give way to his attendance in Parliament?
You've previously been vociferous in electoral and political reform, throwing daily sarcasm on the cartoonish antics of the political players of the day, but you've become the star of your own cartoon show.
Some were quick to defend you, asking critics not to judge you too quickly or too severely, but you choose the part and the script.
‘Supreme’ and ‘equal’ are informative and pertinent words in describing the stature and status of the three institutions in question. And perhaps ‘independence’ is exclusively sacrosanct to the judiciary.
Obviously, the speaker is knowledgeable on these matters and that his letter was purely an appeal for consideration in the interests of a parliamentary debate and the participation of a distinguished MP. Surely, there is no interference intended for any misperception about contempt towards court proceedings.
Was Najib's participation necessary? Najib is not a cabinet member, just an MP who is facing criminal charges and whose trial had taken many months. Justice should not be delayed just to have an MP in Parliament.
If an MP keeps using his attendance in Parliament and asking to be excused from attending court or attending for only half-day, imagine how long the trial would take?
Obviously, the speaker had not considered this factor properly and it was no excuse for him to state that he merely asked the court. What is happening to our country?
Where is the discretion in this particular case? Where is it contained? Care to tell us? Already it looks so bad that a former leader charged with multiple offences against the very country that he led could be facing a jail term.
In countries that cherish democratic principles such as accountability and good governance, the person would have resigned or vacated his/her seat, not giving speeches in Parliament.
To add insult to the injury, you make it look like it is paramount that such a character be present in Parliament. Please do not even mention the UK; you did them a great disservice.
There exists a clear distinction between the legislative and judiciary arms in governance. No matter how the speaker tries to justify, he interfered in due process by writing to the judge.
What was of national importance in Parliament that the trial of an alleged thief and fraudster be cut short?
Mr Speaker, you have shown that alleged criminality takes importance. Welcome to the "new" Malaysia. The country's reverse gear is in effect and gathering pace.
The saying goes" people get promoted to their level of incompetence ". In this instance a man is promoted to his level of incompetence as well as moral compass.
Lesson of the day. No one who accepts the nomination of a government that came in by thwarting public will can rise above the values of the government that nominated him, regardless of his past stance. We have quite a few examples of this already.
Speaker's immune system not strong enough despite earlier sign of immunity. Maybe because of stress, poor diet or lack of exercise, or contact with infected persons in PN/BN. So in the end he caught the same virus. He needs to self quarantine to rid himself of the PPN/BN bug, if he is interested to cure himself.
MCMC clarifies compound action against Measat Broadcast
KUALA LUMPUR: Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd was issued fines over the airing of the Al-Jazeera documentary on the controversial murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2015.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), in a statement today, said satellite television provider Astro was fined instead of being prosecuted in court.
"We wish to clarify that a complaint of the airing of 'Murder in Malaysia' on Channel 513 was investigated for violating the conditions under Section 206(3) of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998.
"The investigation paper was submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) on Dec 31, 2015.
"Subsequently, MCMC was instructed to prosecute Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd under Section 211 of the Act for providing offensive content with intent to harass any person."
The MCMC said on Jan 8, 2016, the commission had proposed to the AGC to reconsider the decision to prosecute.
"Instead, the broadcaster was to be compounded, which MCMC had agreed to and ordered to prepare consent to compound, along with further investigation for the completion of investigation papers."
The commission said the case was de-briefed to the deputy public prosecutor on Apr 30 last year and June 4 this year.
"The instruction to compound was issued by the AGC on June 23."
On July 1, the MCMC issued an offer to compound Measat Broadcast for breaching Section 211 of the Act.
"Measat Broadcast has the choice to either accept the offer of compound, file an appeal or reject," the statement read.
News portal Malaysiakini yesterday reported that the satellite television provider was fined for airing the documentary on Sept 11, 2015.
About time to bring back the killers who murdered the girl completely without motive. Time to set up a Royal commission to expose the submarine deal and Razak Najib and Najib Razak also probe why RPK issued a SD pointing to the killers. Murder in Malaysia only touches the surface. Look at the US, anything Netflix investigates is reopened for investigation, why not Al Jezzera?
In 2016, who was the AG? It’s the crook Apandi and who worked in cahoot with Najib, the alleged mastermind in the murder of Altantunya. So is this justice or abuse of law? I have no doubt it’s the latter.
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
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