Interest in the Judiciary seems to be at an all time high recently.
The reason that the interest is so high, likely has to do with the fact that Former Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat was not given a contract extension after her tenure ended.
Tengku Maimun was seen as a chief justice that had “restored public confidence in the judiciary” and “uplifted the standards of judicial independence and integrity”.
That she has not been given a 6 months contract extension, as it is customary for a retiring Chief Justice, despite the fact that there was a strong lobby for her to be given a contract extension, is causing the percept that the legacy of Tengku Maimun might see a rollback in the days to come.
Now why is everybody so concerned about the matter of “judicial independence and integrity,” and why is there a belief that the public has lost confidence in the judiciary previously?
Now to understand that, we must perhaps first understand what does the term “institution” means.
The judiciary is an institution, and an institution is something that follows a particular code, ethics, principles, ideals and values, in order to serve a purpose.
Because every institution – be it a school, or the police force or the military or religious order – has a particular code, ethics, principles, ideals and values, those who join it, have to be trained, indoctrinated and conditioned to adopt and internalise the code, ethics, principles, ideals and values of the institution.
To indoctrinate, train and condition its members according to the ethos of the institution, it is crucial that the responsibility train, indoctrinate and condition the members who join it is left to the institution itself.
If you join the police or the military, for example, your experience of being in the military or the police force itself, will over the years, condition and indoctrinate you to internalise the ethos of the institution.
Before you enter these institutions, you might have your own beliefs about the purpose of these institutions , but after you have been indoctrinated in these institutions, you will have a new belief system which will persuade you to conduct yourself along this new belief system, which is aligned to the principles, values, code, ethics and ideas of the institution.
Now because it is upto the institution itself to indoctrinate, train and condition its member to carry the values, principles, ideals and code of the institution, the institution needs to be “independent”, or be able to conduct its internal affairs without the interference of external parties.
In other words, an institution is only able to indoctrinate, train and condition its member to carry the ethos of the institution, if it is the institution itself that is involved in punishing, rewarding, promoting and terminating the services of its members, in accordance to how they have lived up to the the ethos of the institution.
If external parties, who do not carry the ethos of the institution, are allowed to indoctrinate, train and condition the members of the institution, or punish, reward, promote and terminate the services of its members, it will raise issues about the integrity of the institution.
The integrity of the institution requires the members of the institution to be aligned with the ethos of the institution. If external parties are allowed to interfere in the affairs of the institutions, many members of the institution will have a set of values, principles, ideals and code that is different from that of the institution, which will in turn raise question about the integrity of the institution .
One of the signs that the integrity of the institution has been compromised, is that the members of the institution, even high-ranking members, will show a divergence of view even on ordinary matters.
Take the case of Syed Saddiq’s recent acquittal by the court of appeal as an example.
A high court judge had found Syed Saddiq guilty on 4 counts of graft and money laundering. In his written judgment, which the high court judge delivered a year after he had sentenced Syed Saddiq, the high court judge would further ouble down on his verdict, and declare that he sees no fault in the manner that he had sentenced Syed Saddiq.
That 3 court of appeal judges unanimously overturned the conviction of Syed Saddiq by the High Court judge, on all four counts, by citing that the high court judge is seriously lapse in his judgement, is not a confidence inspiring event by the judiciary.
That high-ranking members of the judiciary, seems to have such divergent views on such an ordinary case like graft and money laundering, will naturally raise the question as to whether the members of the judiciary are aligned to the same values, principles and code.
That the integrity of the judiciary has been compromised is a view that goes back to the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas, the lord president of the Supreme court of Malaysia in 1988 by the then Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad.
That the title lord president and Supreme court was downgraded to Chief Justice and Federal court respectively, after the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas, itself called to question as to whether the judiciary independence had the ability to decide upon its own affairs.
Since then, multiple cases, including the imprisonment of PMX Anwar Ibrahim in the late 90s, in what was widely considered politically motivated charges, has further eroded the perception that the judiciary is free from external interference.
It is even arguable that it is the perception that the civil courts integrity has been compromised, that has caused the Syariah courts to be seen to be increasingly challenging the authority of the civil courts.
In her 6 year tenure, Tengku Maimun was seen as a Chief Justice who had reasserted the authority of the civil court, as seen by such decisions as the federal courts overthrowing the fatwa by the Selangor religious council against Sisters-in-Islam a couple of weeks ago.
While under Tengku Maimun’s leadership, the civil courts had made headways in reasserting its authority, reclaim its independence, re-establish its integrity and restore public confidence, more likely has to be done, before the public will once again have faith that the judiciary is fully committed to serve its purpose, by upholding its founding values, principles, ideals and code.
It is for this reason that the nation waits in great anticipation as to who will replace Tengku Maimun, and what her successor will do in the days to come.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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