Aliran Media Statement

Today, 10 July 2002, will go down in Malaysian judicial history as another, the latest, of a long series of 'Days of Infamy', 'Black Days for Justice', 'Unjust Sentences', ad nauseam.

After considerable and unexplained delays, the Federal Court, comprising Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, Justice Steve Shim and Justice Haidar Mohd Noor, unanimously dismissed Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against his conviction on charges of corruption and six-year prison sentence decided by Justice Augustine Paul in April 1998.

Few Malaysians, and people around the world, will disagree with Anwar when he addressed the Federal Court, and in particular, the Chief Justice thus: 'You put up a charade of impartiality … those who hope to see the judiciary rise again see their hope shattered.'

We are reminded of a previous occasion when Lim Guan Eng's appeal was also dismissed by the Federal Court whose 25 August 1998 decision cruelly shattered Malaysian hopes for justice just one week before Anwar was sacked.

The Federal Court's unanimous dismissal of Anwar's appeal declared that the three judges were satisfied that there were 'no errors in law' and 'no travesty of justice' where Anwar's conviction and sentence were concerned.

However, today's Federal Court verdict, like the verdict of the Court of Appeal, and like the High Court verdict of Justice Augustine Paul, will never satisfy the Court of Public Opinion that has consistently held that the Anwar trials were the worst cases of travesty of justice in Malaysia.

Hence the swift condemnations and disgusted reactions from numerous bodies and organizations in Malaysia today, just as there were quick condemnations and reactions on those days when previous verdicts related to the Anwar trials were announced.

The reason is simple: today's verdict, even more so than the other verdicts, will have a devastating impact on public faith in the rule of law and justice.

Malaysians will be as appalled today, as they have been on previous occasions, that the brilliant case presented by a team of the country's best and most courageous lawyers was quashed.

The Anwar appeal was a brilliant and brave case that exposed all manner of intrique, the selective admission of evidence, and summary rejection of critical witnesses for the defence.

Despite the sordid manipulations and brutal repression by those in power who sought to keep Anwar out of the political scene, the Malaysian public will still maintain, as it has maintained all along, that the case against Anwar was politically motivated from first to last.

Few Malaysians and people around the world will ever believe that Anwar was NOT a victim of a plot hatched at the highest levels of power in this country.

That the Federal Court could find no evidence of such a plot or conspiracy will remain a big mystery for all students of Malaysian law in decades to come.

At this terrible moment, Malaysians will realize and will long remember that the judiciary has become a victim of Prime Minister Dato' Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad's assault on the judiciary in the 1980s.

Today's Federal Court dismissal of Anwar's appeal will not lay to rest the allegations and numerous accusations made against the judiciary, such as:

· Justice Muhammad Kamil Awang's revelation that he was instructed to strike off, without hearing, the Likas election petition

· the allegation that lawyer V.K. Lingam's office drafted a judgement made in a crucial High Court case

· the claim of improprieties and unethical conduct linking former Chief Justice Eusoffe Chin with lawyer V.K. Lingam, and

· the 33-page surat layang containing a former judge's allegations of corruption against 12 judges.

When we view all the Anwar trials against this background, the Federal Court verdict will confirm an already deep suspicion that Anwar has been an unfortunate victim of injustice, double standards and manipulations. Moreover, Malaysians will also see the verdict as sad confirmation that the judiciary, having neither prevented nor redressed that injustice, will not be able to recover its own loss of credibility and dignity.

It remains to be seen what price Malaysian society will continue to pay in order that those in power can get their way by obscenely trampling on the rule of law.

Aliran Executive Committee
10 July 2002

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Terbitan : 15 Julai 2002

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