The Emergency Ordinance
So much fuss has been made of the deputy minister who released 3 detainees who were detained under the Emergency Ordinance. All sorts of hoo ha.
but no one has questioned why, in 2007 - in these days of alleged prosperity and well being and soaring stock markets - why we in Malaysia need the Emergency Ordinance.
Why has this Ordinance which was drafted to combat the communist problem in Malaya still being used by our police force?
It was reported in last week's papers that all the courts in KL will move to the largest Court Complex in the World (Malaysia BOleh!) - the Jalan Duta Court Complex by 1st May 2007. So as the possessors of the world's largest court complex, are we not interested in also possessing a fair and equitable system of justice? Or is the man on the street so happy to dispense with justice, so long he can brag to his overseas friends that he has the biggest court complex and they didn't, so Nyah Nyahnyah Nya Nyah...
Justice must be seen to be done.
Everyman is innocent in the eyes of the law, until proven otherwise...
Sometimes i wonder whether these are principles that i learned in law school or mere lines in television crime and courtroom dramas... perhaps naively, i've just watched too many episodes of the practise and ally mcbeal... and started believing in the script... i wonder...
if the 3 detainess - the so called criminal kingpins were so guilty - why not charge them in court like everybody else? like mr. razak baginda for instance? perhaps the police were worried that they would start writing letters and affirming affidavits too...
what with the emergency ordinance, the rising number of deaths in police custody and the prediliction of criminals to insist on dying in police shootouts, it is surprising that we still need the criminal procedure code and the penal code... why not shoot them all?
well if you didn't get it my friend, "they" could be you. your next door neighbour who hates your guts for parking in front of his house daily could call his policeman brother in law and they could engage you in a police shootout... No? too frivolous a reason you say? well we live in a world where parents kill their young children... so yes. Way.
Laws are there to protect you. and they are there to protect every "you" out there. which means everyone. not just that section of society who are well dressed and respectable but everyone. this means sex workers. this means the druggie hanging out under the stairs of that low cost flat... this means that lowlife who raped and strangled audrey melissa. everyone.
the law is for everyone, and if the police screw up and don't get sufficient evidence to charge a lowlife, and the lowlife doesnt get to go to jail, well so be it. it doesn't mean they get to rely on the Emergency Ordinance and detain him anyway. This is not monopoly.
there is a maxim - better 9 guilty men go free than an innocent one goes to jail. probably i heard this on some tv show as well... but just ponder on this. If the deputy prime minister of this country could be arrested and charged for numerous crimes... so could YOU!
Malaysia Boleh!
but no one has questioned why, in 2007 - in these days of alleged prosperity and well being and soaring stock markets - why we in Malaysia need the Emergency Ordinance.
Why has this Ordinance which was drafted to combat the communist problem in Malaya still being used by our police force?
It was reported in last week's papers that all the courts in KL will move to the largest Court Complex in the World (Malaysia BOleh!) - the Jalan Duta Court Complex by 1st May 2007. So as the possessors of the world's largest court complex, are we not interested in also possessing a fair and equitable system of justice? Or is the man on the street so happy to dispense with justice, so long he can brag to his overseas friends that he has the biggest court complex and they didn't, so Nyah Nyahnyah Nya Nyah...
Justice must be seen to be done.
Everyman is innocent in the eyes of the law, until proven otherwise...
Sometimes i wonder whether these are principles that i learned in law school or mere lines in television crime and courtroom dramas... perhaps naively, i've just watched too many episodes of the practise and ally mcbeal... and started believing in the script... i wonder...
if the 3 detainess - the so called criminal kingpins were so guilty - why not charge them in court like everybody else? like mr. razak baginda for instance? perhaps the police were worried that they would start writing letters and affirming affidavits too...
what with the emergency ordinance, the rising number of deaths in police custody and the prediliction of criminals to insist on dying in police shootouts, it is surprising that we still need the criminal procedure code and the penal code... why not shoot them all?
well if you didn't get it my friend, "they" could be you. your next door neighbour who hates your guts for parking in front of his house daily could call his policeman brother in law and they could engage you in a police shootout... No? too frivolous a reason you say? well we live in a world where parents kill their young children... so yes. Way.
Laws are there to protect you. and they are there to protect every "you" out there. which means everyone. not just that section of society who are well dressed and respectable but everyone. this means sex workers. this means the druggie hanging out under the stairs of that low cost flat... this means that lowlife who raped and strangled audrey melissa. everyone.
the law is for everyone, and if the police screw up and don't get sufficient evidence to charge a lowlife, and the lowlife doesnt get to go to jail, well so be it. it doesn't mean they get to rely on the Emergency Ordinance and detain him anyway. This is not monopoly.
there is a maxim - better 9 guilty men go free than an innocent one goes to jail. probably i heard this on some tv show as well... but just ponder on this. If the deputy prime minister of this country could be arrested and charged for numerous crimes... so could YOU!
Malaysia Boleh!
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