Innocent Until Proven Guilty... yeah right

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As I was browsing Malaysian news, my heart dropped deeply into the South China Sea.

31 Indians, who allegedly took part in the Hindraf rally on 25 Nov, were charged in Shah Alam Sessions Court for attempted murder. From the report, it appeared that they threw stones at the police officers, which resulted in the injury of a policeman. Of course, what the report did not say was that the police fired tear gas and water cannons into Batu Cave, a sacred place for Hindus.

On the date the 31 were charged, our honorable Attorney General, who is the Public Prosecutor, was in the court to handle the charge himself. I have no idea why the AG had to handle this case himself; I have seen other more serious cases being handled by his DPPs, e.g., the bombing of one Mongolian case. Why he has to come all the way to Shah Alam Sessions Court to handle the charge? From the available reports, I could not see any explanation.

My immediate thought was: will not the Session Court Judge be intimidated by the presence of the AG? If AG is the one on the prosecution side, can the Judge handle the case fairly? That was my fear.

In case you still don’t know, as far as the lower courts in Malaysia are concerned, there is no real separation of power. A DPP may be transferred to be a judge, a magistrate may be transferred to be a DPP, and a deputy registrar of the High Court may be transferred to be a federal counsel. They are all basically in one same basket: one day they may be a prosecutor, the next day they may be a judge. In other words, the AG, being the number 1 legal officer of Malaysia, is directly or indirectly the boss of the Session Court Judge. If your boss applies for or object to something, do you have the gall to tell him no?

My fear tuned out to be reality. The 31 were all denied bail: they will have to be locked in the jail until their case finds its day in the court, i.e., may be 2 to 3 years later. Being part of the system before, I can tell you the speed of our court system. Even tortoise runs like Carl Lewis in our court system. Can you see the sadness in our legal system? The 31 are being punished even before they are convicted. Liberty is sacred, which could not, shall not, and should not, be taken away without solid reason. Liberty is not something “main-main”. A lot of people, since the time immemorial, had sacrificed their lives for liberty.

When I was studying criminal law, my lecturer told me that the most terrible, unacceptable, despicable thing under the criminal law system is to put an innocent man behind bars. Therefore, the law always presumes innocence, and the burden of proof is always on the prosecution, for anyone must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, which means no one should suffer any form of punishment until being convicted.

The 31, although being charged for attempted murder (the merits of this charge is another big controversial issue, which I decide not to discuss here), are still just “accused”, they are not convicted murderer! Why put them behind bars for several years even before their trial begins?

To my readers who still can’t see my concerns and worries, please imagine this: if you were charged for something which you did not do, e.g., you may just be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and you were denied bail. After several years staying in jail, finally your case finds its way to the courtroom. After a lengthy trial (trust me, a postponement can range from 3 months to 1 year), you were found not guilty and acquitted. All you get after years in jail is: "Oops, we got the wrong guy, sorry". How would you feel? It really doesn’t matter how you feel, for your family, future, dreams have completely been ruined and torn into pieces. If it can happen to the 31 Indians, I see no reason why it can’t happen to ordinary citizens like you and me.

Please, free the 31.

Turning to another piece of news, I learned that a human right lawyer, a bar councilor, was arrested for stopping DBKL from removing bar council’s banners. The banners were on private property, so why there is a need to apply for permit?

I am really worried. Tomorrow the world will celebrate human rights day. Yet, in Malaysia, we see inhumane things happen every now and then. “Disappointment” cannot aptly describe my feelings towards Malaysia now. I initially was hopeful that with the exposure of the Lingam Tape and the setting up of the royal commission, our judiciary will be completely revamped and will one day become independent like it once was. I was too ambitious and childish, it seems. Zaki, the former UMNO Legal Advisor, who was appointed straight to the Federal Court 3 months ago, had been made the President of the Court of Appeal, bypassing everyone. Rumor has it that in 10 months time, Zaki, the most junior superior court judge, will be made a Chief Justice. An UMNO man has been planted into our judiciary, and I was hopeful that the judiciary would one day be independent again: how naïve.

As you can note from the tone of this writing, I am not in a mood to make jokes. I don’t find Malaysia’s current state of affairs funny at all.

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