Memorandum to the King
Sep 29th, 2007 by Tian
We finally got consent from the Palace that the King is willing to receive a memorandum from Parti Keadilan Rakyat on the issue of the judiciary.
28 Sept morning, President Dr Wan Azizah led a delegation which included Tan Sri Khalid, Shamsul Iskandar and myself to Istana Negara. As usual the police were nervous and heavily guarding the front gate. At 09:30hr, we were at the gate. We were told that we had to wait there and an official would come to receive the document.
In our 9 years of Reformasi struggle, I had came to the Palace three times. The first time, I led a large crowd that marched from Dataran Merdeka. We attempted to hand over a petition to seek the release of Anwar Ibrahim. We were dispersed by heavily armed police and water canons.
The second time, we came to petition the King on the arsenic poisoning of Anwar. The crowd gathered at Masjid Negara and marched to the Istana. The petition was safely submitted to the palace officials but the masses were attacked by the FRU with water and tear gas.
The last time was after the 2004 General Election. I joined the delegation led by President Dr Wan Azizah to submit a memorandum calling for the cleaning up of our election system. We were invited into the Palace compound and our memo was duly received.
This time, we were allowed only outside the gate. Apparently the police had advised the Palace not to let us go any further due to security reasons. A petty official came out to take our memorandum. It was really an uneventful event.
As democrats, we are not seeking the intervention of the monarchy in civil politics. However in this situation, where the judiciary as one of the three pillars of democracy has been rotten and corrupted, the King as the guardian of national sovereignty, is requested to act.
We reject the so-called Independent Panel which was tasked with only one job, i.e. to study the authenticity of the video. One really doesn’t need Lee Lam Thye and two ex-judges to do a forensic analysis to verify digital records.
The video is not an isolated incident, but part of the continuous trend of the erosion of public confidence in our judiciary system. The government cannot pretend to be a trivial problem.
A royal commission will not solve all problems. However it would be a good start to have a thorough review of our judicial system. Today, Malaysia needs more than a royal commission, as the integrity of all our public institutions is fast disintegrating. If the rot continues, the people might have to resort to a revolution to save the nation!
Tian Chua,
I agree with your last para that we need more than just a Royal Commission. We need a radical reconstruction of the justice system in order to restore its integrity and independence.
The nation would suffer without a Fair, Just and Equitable judicial system to adjudicate disputes and crimes. The judicial system is not just the judges but include the Attorney-general and Public Prosecutors who we can observed lacks competency and integrity.
I support the petition. After 50 years of Merdeka, we are grateful we have an institution called the Conference of Rulers to act, by convention, as the bulwalk and the protector of the rakyat’s fundermental liberties.We thank the British ,the Sultans of the Day and Tengku Abdul Rahman.They were indeed very far sighted and knew the vagaries of political adventurism.They denied the political elite absolute power. They knew absolute power corrupts absolutely.We have what, I reckon to be the most priceless and unique institution in the World. It is very appropriately called The Conference of Rulers.In the United States Constitution this role is vested in the Supreme Court of the United States.By the Constitution of Malaysia, it was also vested with our Judiciary but unfortunately, under the tutelage of the Chief Justices Tun Abdul Hamid and Tun Yusof Chin,and the reign of Emperor Mahathir, it became a commodity and was freely traded in for promotion, perks and privileges, in collusion with the political elite and the well connected businessmen.The rakyat suffered in silence until the Conference of Rulers majestically rose, to defend the sanctitiy of the Constitution and the protection of the rights of the citizens to have a decent Judiciary. Now we can see a Change in the peoples’ thinking. They look upon the Rulers with admiration and are inspired by the concern demonstrated by the Rulers. If the Mahathir Vs Rulers Saga of the 80’s were to be reenacted today, the results will be different. The politicians will have to eat their humble pie. Today is the Renaissance of the Divine Right of Their Majesties. Long live the Rulers. May God Bless your Majesties with longevity so that you can continue to protect, nurture and defend the rights of the man in the streets. Ampun Tuanku. Beribu ribu Ampun