Will a High Court judge’s recent damning “verdict” on some local law enforcers spark demands for urgent reforms on institutional accountability and personal liability – so that civil servants implicated in wrongdoings do not get away scot free?
Recently, in a shocking revelation, High Court judge Su Tiang Joo had ruled that premised on earlier reports by Suhakam and a special task force there seemed to be police involvement in the “enforced disappearances” of activist Amri Che Mat and Pastor Raymond Koh.
Interestingly, the learned judge had also raised a pertinent point: maybe it's now time for the federal government to seek partial or full recovery from the parties at fault in civil suits filed against the State.
After all, isn't it unfair if public funds from taxpayers are spent to compensate for the misconduct of government servants?
Judge Su had reportedly made the call after the High Court had ordered the government to pay nearly RM37 million to the family of Pastor Raymond Koh for enforced disappearance, and over RM3 million to Norhayati Mohd Ariffin, the wife of activist Amri Che Mat in general and aggravated damages; this was after he had accepted the latter's testimony that she had suffered significant mental anguish and torment over the fate of her husband.
According to him, it was ironic that in the two tragic cases, the parties implicated were actually entrusted with maintaining the country's peace and security – including the prevention of crime and the apprehension and prosecution of offenders!
The honorable judge had further castigated the defendants - including police officers and the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) - saying their disregard for Norhayati’s suffering and denial of her experiences was nothing short of callous.
Obstruction of justice…?
Not mincing words, judge Su had also pointed out that by (falsely) classifying the case as a “missing person” instead of “kidnapping”, they had effectively stalled the investigations without any closure; this was in addition to all the prolonged hostile cross-examinations during the trial, for which he had awarded RM2 million in general and aggravated damages to Amri's wife.
But isn't suppression of evidence by “law enforcement officers” a grave misconduct for which guilty individuals must face the full force of the law?
As for exemplary damages, it was found that the defendants had denied the findings of Suhakam and the special task force and refused to act on them, while also suppressing the findings of the latter – which was commissioned by the Cabinet at the expense of public funds!
Did the police also breach their “statutory duties” by failing to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation?
He added that given such a serious dereliction of duty and the manner in which the defence was conducted, a further sum of RM1 million was awarded in exemplary damages.
Additionally, Che Amri's wife was also granted RM14,254 in special damages to cover school fees for her three daughters for the eight years and eight months from Amri’s disappearance until the conclusion of the trial.
For the record, Amri was abducted around midnight on November 24, 2016, and his wife had then filed a lawsuit in 2019 seeking information on his fate and compensation by relying on findings from the special task force report.
Meanwhile, in April 2019, Suhakam had concluded that Amri’s disappearance was an enforced one, carried out by government agents from the police’s Special Branch!
Undoubtedly, the judge’s call for government servants to be made to pay for their own wrongdoings in civil cases, if found guilty, would have been welcomed by the public as it would be unjust to continue “pinching” from taxpayers.
However, while such a move may be seen by some as a significant positive step towards upholding justice, it would have also raised some burning questions:
For all the hype over PM Anwar’s Madani governance concept, will the home minister conduct a transparent probe to identify all those, from the very top down to low ranking officers, who have been implicated in what will now be perceived by the public as a massive “cover-up?”
More importantly, will all those involved in both the “kidnap” cases ever face criminal prosecution?
In conclusion, what many concerned citizens may question now is: given the judge’s “ruling” on the involvement of civil servants in the two cases, will PMX and his Madani administration commit to undertake the necessary institutional reforms? Or will this too, like many others, join the long list of unfulfilled promises?
Main information source: The Malay Mail
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