The new A.-G: The Param And Anwar Dominoes Fall
There is more to Datin Ainum
Mohd Saaid, the attorney-general-to-be, than we are told. Though once parliamentary
draftsman, the third highest rank in the judicial and legal service, she is no more in
service. When with the Securities Commission as legal officer, she resigned at
24-hours notice when her integrity was questioned over a report she had prepared, was
unemployed for a while before she worked for a listed company before she was
re-engaged as the deputy chief executive of the Securities Commission. She was
parliamentary draftsman before she moved to the Securities Commission. She is, according
to a senior officer in the Securities Commission, "tough and straight", a
good administrator, and would stand her ground but would give way to more persuasive
arguments.
She is uninvolved in the controversies which damages the judiciary and
legal services' integrity.
The solicitor-general, Datin
Helilah Mohd Yusof, the second-highest ranking legal officer, should have been, in normal
circumstances, chosen. But she blotted her copybook when the Malaysian courts, on
a frolick of its own, ignored her binding promise to the International Court of Justice
at the Hague that Malaysia would honour its advisory opinion of whether Dato' Param
Cumaraswami had immunity as the UN Rapporteur for the Judiciary and the Lawyers.
He had, but the courts here would not accept that. If she had been attorney-general,
it would complicated any attempt to ameliorate it. She is also tainted by her
role in the Anwar Ibrahim affair.
The new
attorney-general had to be some one uninvolved in the impasse over the sacked and
jailed former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and Malaysia's legal
kerfuffle with the UN and the International Court of Justice. The government is
forced to right the wrongs in the judiciary and the legal services. It took on
more than it could chew, and had substandard officers to do its
bidding, whether it
be the former chief justice, Tun Eusoff Chin, who retires today (20 Dec 00 -- the Prime
Minister's birthday) and the retiring attorney-general, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah.
The de facto law minister, Dato' Rais Yatim, accepts this. Both the new chief
justice, Tan Sri Dzaiddin Abdullah, and Datin Ainum are "rule of law" people,
implying that their predecssors were not. They are experiences and have
integrity, he said, adding: "If their integrity is in question than the
whole framework of the justice will look unclear." Yet another kick in the
pants at the two retiring men.
What he nor any one else
would not say is they hope she could dampen the political fires the A.-G.'s Chambers
fanned with its inept, legal crusade against the former deputy prime minister.
If any one event destroyed the integrity of the A.-G.'s Chambers and the judiciary, it
is how was charged and convicted under conditions he could not be acquitted.
And she has to inform the international legal
world that what happened about Dato'
Param's immunity was an inexcusable aberration. It would not happen again, of course.
And to plead mea culpa, she can point to what happened to those involved in that
episode.
As it is, the Param and Anwar dominoes fall one
by one. Tun Eusoff retires today under a cloud. Mr Justice Augustine Paul has
disappeared into the legal woodwork with no future but one of ignomy. Mr Justice
Ariffin Jaka cannot write the judgement in the second Anwar trial without incriminating
himself. Mr Justice R.K. Nathan who thought he would be a federal court judge now
considers retirement now that he is, if rumours are true, sent to East Malaysia, Miri
or Tawau, depending on which rumour you choose to believe. Tan Sri Vincent Tan
has important business in Ougadougou whenever his bankers want a word with him, and is further
embroiled in a messy defamation case in
Australia. He is one of the litigants who
sued a little known magazine published in England for hundreds of millions of
ringgit and forced insurance companies to settle for about RM20 million.
That eminent holiday companion of the outgoing chief
justice and attorney-general,
Dato' V.K. Lingam, would have been judicial commissioner if the new chief justice, Tan
Sri Dzaiddin had not revoked Tun Eusoff's final judicial appointments which did not
need the approval of the conference of rulers; he is now in Puttupuruty, in South India,
to seek solace from his religious guru, Sri Sai Baba.
Datin Helilah could not be
attorney-general. Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah cannot be chief justice and is out
without his leave. The list goes on.
The
political list is even more interesting. The five conspirators Anwar insists
brought his downfall have all suffered the vicissitudes of political fortunes.
The Prime Minister was forced to resign as home minister; the inspector-general
of police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor, is jailed for two months for beating up Anwar. The
Anwar affair makes UMNO impotent. It not looks for issues to champion to wean the
deserting Malay cultural ground. That would continue until the Anwar issue is
settled. Meanwhile, informals talks go on between representatives of the Prime
Minister and Dato' Seri Anwar but that is tough going. He Who Must Be
Destroyed At All Cost is not about to concede anything
that would maintain the Prime
Minister in office.
The government finally accepts,
however, grudgingly that without legal and judicial safeguards, it must fall into
disrepute. Malaysia became a country no one wanted to invest in, partly for fear
of an unreliable judiciary when business man can get the judgements he wants, whatever
the law says. No serious investment has come into the country during the Tun
Eusoff era, indeed after Tun Saleh Abas was drummed out as Lord President 12 years ago.
What did come was for expansion of existing industries or for small new industries
under terms no foreign investor would refuse. We are not out of the woods yet.
But a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. The first step
is
taken.
M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my
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