It is natural justice for Anwar Ibrahim to have access to all evidence in Sodomy 2 trial.
Denial of clinical evidence from Anwar Ibrahim to defend himself to face a charge of sodomy is a denial of natural justice for Anwar. Before this, he was also denied of evidence several times on previous occasions in the course of the trial.
In any trial, any one charged with a crime, surely has a right to ask his accuser (the prosecution) to produce the evidence. To deny the accused of the so called charge is surely a denial of natural justice for the accused.
This is substantiated by a clause in the INTERNATIONAL COVENANT IN CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS passed by the United Nations, ‘which guarantees the accused the right to have adequate time and facilities to the preparation of defence. Article 14 (3) (6) of the Covenant guarantees that legal representation of the defendant should have access to all relevant material and evidence.’
A check on the covenant revealed that Malaysia has not ratified the covenant, nor is she a signatory. We have Suhakam which is supposed to uphold human rights in the country. Can Suhakam act on this?
Malaysia must observed human rights if there is sincerity to respect human rights. Suhakam should come up openly to support Anwar’s peitition in court to have access to all evidence which is currently withheld by the Prosecution.
The world is watching the trial of Anwar
Al Gore and Paul Wolfowitz on August 4th told the Asian Wall Street Journal that although Anwar is tried in Malaysia, the trial is watched by interested leaders all over the world. Anwar’s trial is actually a trial before the people of the World. Al Gore said that it was a trial for democracy and justice. He is quite convinced that the charge of sodomy as trumped up, was purely to get rid of Anwar, as he was posing a threat to the Prime Minister Najib Razak.
DPM Muhyddin dismised Al Gore’e remarks claiming that he has no right to interfere in the affairs of the country. It is relevant to remind Muhiyddin, the persecution of Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar was an internal matter, but the whole world is clamouring for release of ASSK. So also in Anwar’s case the whole world is clamouring for a just and fair trial for Anwar.
Muhyiddin should not dismiss Al Gore’s comments carelessly, Al Gore was a vice president of America, he is a champion of a carbon free environment and a Nobel Laureate. He is a fighter for justice and during the early days of Reformasi, Al Gore defended Anwar at an Apec dinner meeting in Kuala Lumpur during Sodomy 1 days.
A timely warning
A corrupt judiciary or unfair trials are one of the reasons why foreign investors fight shy of Malaysia, causing it to have a lower ranking in FDIs in Asean, below Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. A foreign investor would not put his money here, if he does not a get a fair trial, should his company be involved in a legal tussle.
Therefore, it would be prudent for PM Najib to ensure that Anwar get a fair trial, and to see that all evidence relevant to the Sodomy 2 trial be handed over to Anwar’s defence counsel. Not only are Malaysians watching, in fact, the WORLD IS WATCHING. WE WOULD ADVISE HIM TO DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST ANWAR.
by Din Merican
heading to Jalan Duta Court yesterday, Aug 05, 2010
Thursday August 5, 2010 was the fourth and last day of Dato’ Ramli’s Trial in the Summons case. One would have thought that by now the charge made out by the MACC would be clear. One would have thought that the cardinal rule for prosecuting someone is that the charge must be so precise and as clear as daylight, so that the accused is left in no doubt as to what wrong he had committed in order to prepare his defence. However, as events have shown, nothing is clear when it involves the MACC.
Teoh Beng Hock Not Forgotten
One year ago Teoh Beng Hock was found dead. There was confusion why he died. There was confusion why he was brought in and detained by the MACC. Was he under arrest? Was he a suspect? If he was a suspect under custody, the law provided for protection of suspects while under custody. Nobody seems to know. What everybody knew was that his dead body was found outside the Selangor MACC Office. To avoid answering all that complicated questions, the MACC denied he was in their custody. The MACC insisted that Teoh did not die in their office, but that his dead body was found 12 floors down from their office. Yes, 12 floors down, thrown from out of the window of the MACC’s office!
We have NOT FORGOTTEN Teoh Beng Hock
The MACC said Teoh was already released at 6 am but that he chose to hang around and slept on the sofa in the MACC office. Then the MACC said Teoh was just a witness. If Teoh was a witness why did he have to die? What the MACC failed to show was that bit of decency of being honest. Until today Teoh’s family is till mourning his death. Until today Teoh’ s spirit wants to know why his physical body had to die. Until today Teoh’s spirit is restless and refuse to stop roaming the MACC’s office. Until today, Teoh’s spirit haunts the MACC. It will not go away until there is an answer for his death. What offends Teoh’s spirit, Teoh’s family and all Malaysians is the attempt at cover up.
MACC Antics : Amending Charges, Twisting Evidence and Changing Judges
The antics of the MACC never cease to amaze me as I observe the Trial of Dato’ Ramli 
Yusuff. It has become a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the MACC to amend the charge when the evidence from the witnesses do not favour them. So it was in Sabah when they amended the charge twice. They even amended it at the close of the case as a last grasp at the straws when the facts and evidence do not support the charge that they had to prove. And Judge Supang Lian wasn’t amused and dismissed the case without even calling for the defence of Dato’ Ramli. The MACC also amended the charges in KL before Judge M Gunalen. And that again resulted in the good Judge to hold there was a failure by MACC to prove a prima facie case. In other words, these two Judges would not be party to the MACC’s and AG Gani Patail’s attempt to fix up a case against Dato’ Ramli.
Now they have done it again for Dato’ Ramli’s trial on the Summons charge which started on Monday, August 2, 2010 .They are changing the date of the offence for the charge they have made out against Dato’ Rami. They are doing what they did against Anwar Ibrahim in Sodomy I when it was found out that Tivoli Villas and the wing annexe of PJ Hilton were not constructed at the time of the alleged offence. Fate has a strange way of bringing the lives of these two men to a parallel.
When Anwar Ibrahim was arrested and assaulted by then IGP Rahim Noor, Dato’ Ramli was the Deputy Director CID. He was at that time Musa Hassan’s boss. Dato’ Ramli was the one who prevented Rahim Noor from bludgeoning Anwar further and saving him. Dato’ Ramli was the one who gave medical attention to Anwar. After that incident, charges were fabricated against Anwar and he was convicted. Dato’ Ramli was sent into exile to be Commissioner Sabah and was cold storaged.
Musa Hassan: From Subordinate to Boss
Musa Hassan rose to become IGP overtaking Dato’ Ramli, the man who was once his boss. Despite Dato’ Ramli having given Musa Hassan two promotions, Musa Hassan knew Dato’ Ramli will always remain as a threat and worked tirelessly to bring Dato Ramli down. That is where the scene is today – Musa Hassan is IGP and Ramli sits in the dock as an accused person. But even as they fixed Anwar and botched up, the same is happening in Dato’ Ramli’s case. They just can’t put their act together even when they try to fix people up.
The Case before Justice SM Komathy Suppiah
Nothing could be more comical than to see the confusion in the court as Judge SM Komathy Suppiah heard the evidence of the MACC’s witnesses after the charge was amended to change the time of the offence. Déjà vu of Anwar’s Sodomy I Trial. Then the MACC brought in company secretary, Misss Mahinder Kaur a/p Teja Singh MAICSA No. 7007064 of MK Secretarial Services to show that Dato’ Ramli was a director of Kinsajaya Sdn Bhd at a particular point of time. Unfortunately for MACC, Mahinder said that as at the date of the Charge, Dato’ Ramli was not yet a director as the Form 49 was only lodged with the Company’s Commission of Malaysia (CCM) much later. Mahinder also startled Judge Komathy when she said that MACC officers asked her to cancel several documents : “ The MACC Officers asked me to do so”.
Earlier on in Dato’ Ramli’s Sabah’s trial, MACC Superintendant Sok One a/l Essen already admitted that he destroyed the piece of paper that he wrote on to record a phone call from a Sabah village headman. In other words, he destroyed evidence. Now in this trial, Mahinder says that MACC asked her to cancel various documents in order that they can use a particular document to support the charge against Dato’ Ramli. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mahinder then said that the accounts of Kinsajaya showed that it was a company that was bought off the shelf and that it was a dormant company and there was no business activity until today!
That jolted the erudite Judge Komathy to ask “What is the Charge?” What is it that Dato’ Ramli has done wrong? That was the beginning when things started to crumble for the MACC.Indeed, what exactly did Dato’ Ramli violated?
According to the charge, Ramli had breached Reg. 5(1)(a) Peraturan Pegawai Awam Kelakuan dn Tatatertib 1993 (Pindaan 2002) for being involved in “trading” through Kinsajaya. But Mahinder now says that Kinsajaya is dormant and has no activities. In any event, the Peraturan prescribed its own punishment as a departmental breach and not for any punishment under the Penal Code.
Another MACC witness, Mr Lee who is the Deputy Director of Land Survey Dept of Sabah confirmed Mahinder’s evidence and said that no agricultural activity had taken place because the survey has not been completed. In fact, Kinsajaya did not even get the land approved by the State Government what more to carry out any activity or business on the land!
The Comic In Court: MACC IO Wan Abdul Rahman
Things got worse when the star witness, Investigating Officer (IO) Wan Abdul Rahman, was cross examined by the much respected Dato’ Seri Shafee Abdullah. He contradicted the whole charge when he unabashedly admitted that his investigations showed that Kinsajaya was a dormant company and has not carried on any business and even said unequivocally “Kinsajaya tidak ada perniagaan!” after being cornered countless times for his inconsistent answers.
Still bewildered by the slew of questions, the IO even confirmed that his investigation showed that Dato’ Ramli has no involvement in the business of Kinsjaya although he had earlier said that Dato Ramli has committed an offence under section 168 of the Penal Code.
This befuddled IO Wan Abdul Rahman can’t seem to understand that Section 168 which makes it an offence for a civil servant to carry on trading would not, by his own admission, apply to Dato’ Ramli if Dato’ Ramli has no involvement in business and Kinsajaya is a dormant company. “ Its elementary my dear Watson” is what Sherlock Holmes would have said.
With the situation being hopeless, the two DPPs tried to shield him and sought a 15 minutes break. Things did not, however, abate after the break when IO Wan Abdul Rahman became moré incoherent in his answers to the point of being bizzare, contradicting himself at every turn. It became very clear that IO Wan Abdul Rahman was just a foot soldier being sent to the front lines to be shot at. That is what happens when the MACC is used to fix someone.
Tan Sri Bakri Omar’s Letter and the Hidden Hand of Kevin Morais
TanSri MohdBakri Omar
The juicier part was yet to come. Dato’ Shafee then showed him an unsigned letter of approval from then IGP Tan Sri Bakri to Dato’ Ramli. Already there was a KDN letter of approval which this IO could not avoid from admitting. Apparently, Tan Sri Bakri’s letter was in the Prosecution’s bundle. In an attempt to extricate himself, IO Wan Abdul Rahman said that he was IO for this case only whereas that bundle was from Dato’ Ramli’s earlier KL case handled by IO Saiful Ezral. When pressed who could have arranged all this, IO Wan Abdul Rahman pointed the finger at Kevin Morais. So there you have it, Kevin is not just a lying faggot, he is also a fixer! In my previous articles on the Rosli Dahlan Trial, I have already provided clear illustration of Kevin Morais- The Liar Who Got Buried In His Own Lies!
Despite some tension, I felt that all these revelations that unfolded before my eyes were divine. It was heavenly for me, in my pursuit for justice for Dato’ Ramli, as my lovely dear wife, Dr Kamsiah, had attended court with me today for the first time. I enjoyed today’s court proceedings immensely as on the bench was the beautiful Judge SM Komathy Suppiah who was as serene as the statute of justice.
Kudos to DPPs Ahmad Bache and Ahmad Sazilee
I should also mention that unlike my previous experience observing uncouth DPPs like DPP Dzulqarnain, DPP Sophian and that faggot DPP Kevin Morais in Rosli Dahlan’s case, the DPPs in this case were gentlemanly ie Sr DPP Ahmad Bache and his junior DPP Ahmad Sazilee. Their court ethics are commendable.
Sr DPP Ahmad Bache is a credit to the AG Chambers given the difficult task he faced. He displayed admirable advocacy in the truest sense of justice and fairplay. He is a role model for the younger DPP Ahmad Sazilee of MACC to emulate. I then saw a sight that humbled me. I saw Dato’ Ramli and his close friend and lawyer, Rosli Dahlan, walking up to and shaking the DPPs hands. I heard both Dato’ Ramli and Rosli thanking them for being fair. Two accused persons thanking their prosecutors for being fair. Mind you, these are gestures among decent gentlemen, regardless of what the verdict would be later. Yes, an unusual sight to behold indeed!
I felt so appreciative of their admirable qualities that I just had to walk up to shake their hands. Unlike DPP Dzulqarnain who withdrew his hands upon hearing my name, Din Merican, DPP Ahmad Bache remained as calm as ever and like a good muslim, shook my hands firmly but gently. I could feel the pulse of an honourable man.
It is such a coincidence that both DPPs should have the name Ahmad, which is Prophet Muhammad’s name in heaven. I could only consider this as a good omen. It is a good omen because next week, on Monday, Judge Komathy will deliver her decision. Next week, Muslims will start Ramadan.
Rosli Dahlan’s Trial continues in the Holy Month of Ramadhan
Suddenly, I felt sad for Rosli Dahlan because while Monday August 9 will be the end of the last of Dato’ Ramli’s case, Rosli’s fate is still in the balance. His case has not ended since it started in Ramadan of 2007, and there no sign when it would end. When I mentioned to Rosli the coincidence of the two DPPs Ahmad, Rosli agreed with my views and spontaneously recited the Quranic verse which sounded like this: “ Wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan lil alamin”. Rosli then explained to me the meaning that it was God’s testament to Muhammad PBUH that he (Muhammad) has not been sent except to be a blessing upon the universe.
A mere handful of professions are honoured with an honorific that survives beyond the office. Priests, judges, armed services officers, professors and doctors, of both the medical and academic disciplines: that’s about it. Journalists, even editors, and politicians, even cabinet ministers, would invite ridicule if they handed out visiting cards marked ‘Editor X’ or ‘Cabinet Minister Y’. Indians are, at best, ambivalent about media and politics. They respect our guardians of law, knowledge and security. There is a new tendency among former envoys to add ‘Ambassador’ before their name, a practice borrowed from America, but this is a title snatched from vanity rather than bestowed by popular acclaim.
Ego sometimes persuades a pompous politician to flaunt a bogus ‘Dr’ on his nameplate. This is not a reward for academic brilliance but an upgrade to a peacock feather, the ‘honorary doctorate’, a worthless piece of paper handed out by an institution desperate for attention. However, this does not matter too much, since we do not expect a high level of honesty from our politicians. Only two letters separate use from abuse, so there will always be a quack preening himself in the garb of a doctor. But when a person held in high esteem dilutes the trust reposed in him, it affects the collective reputation of the brotherhood.
Justice M S Liberhan did not need 17 years and a thousand pages to tell us what has been public knowledge since December 6, 1992. The Babri mosque was not torn down in the dark of night. It was brought down slowly, stone by stone, in Sunday sunlight, before hundreds of journalists, to the cheers of countless thousands of kar sewaks in and around Ayodhya. The mosque was not dynamited in a minute; it was demolished by crowbar and shovel.
Of course, senior leaders of the BJP and RSS were present, for they were kar sewaks as well. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not there, but he was in nearby Lucknow, albeit a reluctant guest, but unable to refuse the invitation to the party. Newspapers the next day, and magazines the next weekend, published their pictures, some of which became iconic. We did not need a wait of 17 years to learn that Vinay Katiyar was responsible: he has been claiming responsibility for over 6,000 days.
Sharad Pawar, then defence minister, showed a filmed record of December 6 to an invited group at the home of a party MP a few days later. The Liberhan Commission could have completed half its report by taking a look at that film. The media was equally comprehensive in its coverage of the brutal riots that followed: The Sri Krishna report has done far greater justice to the truth in its findings on the Maharashtra riots, so much so that there is all-party collusion on its non-implementation. There was only one question trapped in doubt: What was prime minister P V Narasimha Rao doing while Babri was destroyed on the longest day of the last two decades? Why was home minister S B Chavan, father of the present Maharashtra chief minister, immobile, inscrutable and stolid?
Shock raced through Delhi when word filtered through that an assault had begun in Ayodhya. Phone calls began to pour into the prime minister’s residence in the hope that he would use the authority of the state to uphold the rule of law and fulfil a political and moral obligation. There was a monstrous response from the prime minister’s personal secretary. The PM was either unavailable or, worse, asleep. It was a lie. Rao’s inaction and Chavan’s collaboration were deliberate.
Liberhan protects Rao with an equally conscious fudge, shuffling the blame on to unspecified intelligence agencies. Everyone knew what was going on, IB officers better than most. Rao called a Cabinet meeting only in the evening, when there was nothing left to be saved — not even reputation. By this time, fires of hatred were lighting up the dusk of Mumbai and dozens of cities across the nation. An elaborate programme of blame, reward and punishment was put into place. Those (including bureaucrats and journalists) who acquiesced in Rao’s charade were rewarded; Congress Muslims got a bonus for silence. Rao remained in power till 1996, but he neither ruled nor lived in peace.
The words of this column will make no difference. A government can reduce the past to rubble as easily as an Opposition party can erase a centuries-old mosque. My apologies for a rare detour into the personal, but this is a rare moment. I was a minor part of the Rao government and resigned on the night of December 6 since the stone wall constructed around the prime minister’s house had become impervious to anything except sycophancy. Words demand a different kind of loyalty, and one was relieved to return to the world of words.
I walked away humbled with the thought that in the bog of all these confusions caused by the MACC, there is clarity of mind in one person being accused and unfairly treated by the MACC. That clarity could only have come from an innocent mind!
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