Wasted Effort

• 16 February 2018
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The Bar Council, trying as they should to proceed in conformity with the law, are seeking judicial intervention to determine the legality, or otherwise, of the extension of appointments of Chief Justice Raus and the President of the Court of Appeal.

Good. But a waste of time. The facts of the matter are beyond dispute. These two judges were extended in their offices on the advice of mega criminal PM Najib in defiance of the Constitution.

The constitutional position is clear. It would be so even to a student sitting the Bar Council examination. The appointments contravene the Constitution and so are illegal and without validity.

The problem lies firstly with Najib for having breached the Constitution, then with the Agong for having acted against the provisions of the Constitution and, no less excusably, the two Judges concerned who, above all others, should be able to read the law and to avoid breaching it.

One aspect of the matter remains unexamined. Namely motive. Why did Najib, the originator of this blatant breach of the Constitution choose to do so. What reasons impelled him to act illegally to ensure these two-time expired judges remained on the bench. It is not as though no qualified judges were available to take up the two posts. The only possible conclusion is that, in this instance as many others, Najib was ready to break the law to get what he wanted. Which can only be assumed to be two compliant top judges.

The only excuse for the Agong having consented to all this is that he was not correctly advised. But it is the Agong who appoints, and sacks, Attorneys General. Did he seek the latter’s advice? Or knowing that Apandi is Najib’s creature he did not bother? Nor use his power to remove Apandi and appoint a proper AG?

Then there are the two judges involved. Both are experienced lawyers and judges and cannot possibly be in any doubt about the meaning and effect of the constitutional clauses governing this matter. So their actions in accepting these prolongations cannot be described as otherwise than deliberate acceptance of breaches of the nation’s fundamental law. What does that say about them? The PH government will know what to do and deliberate misprision of the Constitution should merit extreme penalties. They will be applied.