Malaysian Kangaroo Court is going to be dangerous for the nation

The whole episode displayed by our executive and the judiciary is sickening to the core. It does not seem possible that the judiciary would blatantly disregard the constitution.

This despite the fact that article 72 of the federal constitution disallows legislature proceedings from being subjected to any judicial review.

If the apex court can make a judicial review on the proceedings of a legislature, then what does the doctrine of the separation mean in the context of our parliamentary democracy?

If this is how it works then we might as well appoint federal court judges to sit in the legislature and review all proceedings.

It appears quite evident now why an Umno stalwart who was also a legal advisor to the party was parachuted to be the head of the apex court.

It seems quite convenient that the two branches of government, the executive and the judiciary have worked hand-in-hand to ensure that the illegitimate government of Zambry has a clear path

This before the May 13 deadline when it is mandatory to hold the next assembly sitting or face a dissolution of the assembly.

With unseen hands interfering in the apex court, the whole sordid episode has brought our judiciary into public ridicule. It lends further credence to the suspicion that the judiciary is a BN judiciary

No, this doesn't come as a surprise at all. The ruling only confirms public suspicion about the credibility and integrity of Malaysia's judiciary.

Why in the first place was the case pushed to the federal court? The federal court judges, of all people, should know when to withdraw when they know they are in danger of violating the constitution.

It is not for them to come up with a grey interpretation and in the process usurp the powers of the legislature.

Now that the judiciary has made it their business to poke in their unwanted nose, Chief Justice Zaki Azmi might as well assign a judge to all legislative assemblies and Parliament to ensure they 'toe the line'.

The federal government, the judiciary, Zaki and those so-called judges have only themselves to blame if public confidence in them continue to erode.

Let the lawmakers settle matters in their own house as enshrined in the constitution. If they turn the legislative assembly or Parliament into monkey houses, that is their business.

The rakyat knows when to punish them come election time. It is not for the judiciary to walk into another house and turn it into a kangaroo house.

Neither would the judiciary want their courts turn into monkey houses.

Aliran is terribly disappointed with the federal court's ruling that the speaker of the Perak state assembly does not have the authority to suspend Zambry and his fellow exco members.

This ruling has far-reaching consequences for the democratic principle which respects the separation of powers of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

The ruling has destroyed the notion that the separation of powers will be protected and preserved according to the rule of law by the judiciary.

The judiciary has once again failed the nation in upholding the rule of law in the interest of justice (the writer is president, Aliran).
17/04/09

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