H-Net* Fwd:Federal Court to find Anwar guilty - FAC News Jul 3

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  Raja Petra Kamarudin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

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Federal Court to find Anwar guilty – FAC News Jul 3

 

Yesterday, FAC News received no less than a dozen phone calls and SMS messages asking whether it is true that Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim was going to be released today. Somehow, the word around town is, now that Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr Mahathir has tendered his resignation, Anwar no longer needs to be kept behind bars.

 

And the irony of it all, most of those calls were from UMNO people!

 

This proves one thing. Most people, UMNO people included, believe that Anwar is in jail not because he is guilty of corruption or sodomy, but because he opposed Dr Mahathir. That is why they believe that Anwar would be freed, if not today, then very soon.

 

Anwar’s appeal hearing against his corruption conviction ended on 2 April 2002. Three months on and there is still no indication when the judgment would be delivered though the Chief Justice of Malaysia, the Right Honourable Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin bin Haji Abdullah, had himself said that the judgment on all cases must be delivered within eight weeks.

 

FAC News has been told that the Federal Court should be delivering its judgment within the week of 8^th to 15^th July 2002. When exactly it will be is not confirmed yet but these dates have been “booked”.

 

According to what FAC News has been told, the three Federal Court judges, Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin, Justice Tan Sri Datuk Steve Shim Lip Kiong and Justice Dato' Haidar bin Mohd Noor, who sat to hear Anwar’s appeal will be upholding the guilty verdict.

 

FAC News has also been told that Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin is writing the conviction while Justice Dato’ Haidar is writing the sentence. Anwar is currently serving a six-year jail sentence and whether this guilty verdict comes with a reduced or enhanced sentence is not yet known.

 

If this is true, then it will come as a shock, not only to Malaysians, but to the International community as well, because most people had expected the Federal Court to right the wrong done to Anwar Ibrahim. Even the foreign diplomatic community has publicly stated that they expect the Federal Court to right this wrong.

 

FAC News hopes what it has been told is wrong. FAC News hopes this information is nothing more than mere malicious rumours.

 

There were great expectations when Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin took over as the new Chief Justice of Malaysia two years ago. His statement asking for the judiciary’s dignity to be restored gave an impression that we can expect better days ahead of us. But, if this is what the Federal Court is going to rule in a week’s time, then it’s going to be a long time before this is going to be realised.

 

Tun Salleh Abas, one-time Lord President of Malaysia (what it used to be called before it was changed to “Chief Justice”), has already said in his many interviews that the judiciary has always been under political pressure. He was one of those who resisted this “pressure from the top” and he paid for this “defiance” with a career cut short.

 

Other High Court Judges have also complained about the same thing. They related how, before the conclusion of certain cases, they were told what verdict to deliver by “someone from the top”. It is left entirely to our own imagination to figure out who this “person from the top” is.

 

Some judges who did not have the courage to be good judges quietly complied and ruled as they had been directed. Other bolder ones who resisted were transferred and, at times, demoted for their “indiscretion”.

 

Is the Chief Justice, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin, under similar “political pressure from the top”? One cannot believe he would find Anwar guilty because he really believes Anwar is guilty. Nothing that transpired during Anwar’s appeal hearing gave any indication that Anwar was guilty. In fact, the impression created was that Anwar was indeed framed as he had alleged.

 

This is the last chance for the Malaysian judiciary to redeem itself and restore its dignity. If it succumbs to political pressure and upholds Anwar’s guilty verdict, then there is no more hope for the judiciary to break away from political domination. And, if it cannot happen now, then it will never happen.

 

The judiciary has to be above politics. It has to be the institution that keeps politicians in line. The court is the last recourse for justice. It cannot, at any cost, become a political tool.

 

The Chief Justice, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin, does not have long to go. He will be retiring soon and, even if he gets an extension of service, it would only be for a couple of months more. Are these few months worth the compromise he would be making in upholding Anwar’s guilty verdict?

 

The Chief Justice, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin, will always be remembered. The question is, how would he like to be remembered? Would he like to be remembered the way Tun Salleh and those before him such as Tun Suffian, Raja Azlan, and so on are remembered? Or, would he like to be remembered the way those who came after Tun Salleh are?

 

In the Federal Court these is a gallery of hand-painted portraits of previous Chief Justices and Lord Presidents. This could either be regarded as the Hall of Fame or the Rogue’s Gallery. What it’s going to be would all depend on Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin.

 

The ball is now at his feet. He can either kick the ball into the opponent’s goal or into his own goal. Both ways he will certainly score. But, only one way will he come out a hero. How he would go down in history is entirely in his own hands. And whether he will be remembered as a judge or as a political tool would all depend on what verdict he delivers within a week or so from now.

Thank you.

 

Raja Petra Kamarudin
Director, FAC
http://www.freeanwar.com/index.html

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