Brave to sue, but no gumption to take witness stand

YOURSAY | ‘If you want to sue, you should have the guts to go to court.’

Najib, Rosmah want suit heard without calling witnesses

Ipohcrite: The PM and his wife (Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor) want to sue but don't have the gumption to go to court and take the witness stand.

The entire nation eagerly awaits the appearance of our VIP couple in court. What are they afraid of?

Anonymous 2006551440333206: The late Lee Kuan Yew went to court to give testimony personally in all his defamation suits against his political opponents.

Here we have a plaintiff asking for a summary judgment for his defamation suit. Isn't that sound ridiculous? If you want to sue, you should have the guts to go to court.

CQ Muar: Why must the country's law bend to suit you just because you are the prime minister, Najib?

Besides, why are you so afraid to take the witness stand and be such a coward as to be unable to take questions from the defendant’s lawyer?

You are a disgrace to the nation for not having guts to appear in court over a litigation, what more when you're required to defend yourself over the 1MDB debt and the RM2.6 billion you allegedly transferred into your personal accounts?

Najib, you've caused enough embarrassment to the country, therefore stop aggravating it with more scandals. Don't you realise more than half the nation's population is hoping to see you behind bars?

Anonymous_40f4: Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming planned to call Dr M as a witness. That has apparently frightened Najib and Rosmah.

Now they asked for a summary judgment from the court without the need of witnesses being called. Do they control everything under the sun in this country?

Victor Johan: "Najib and Rosmah said the photograph was of them with several cabinet ministers and high-ranking Wisma Putra officials at a hotel room on a visit to China, and not at a cabinet meeting as alleged by Nga."

Question: Was Rosmah at this apparent meeting, supposedly in a hotel room in China, as a cabinet minister or as a high-ranking Wisma Putra (Foreign Ministry) official?

Has Rosmah sign an oath to secrecy to represent Malaysia? As this is apparently an official meeting where confidential matters are supposedly discussed, are there minutes of the meeting which stipulate that Rosmah attendance was in an official capacity?

Surely Rosmah was not there as a tea-lady nor as one of the services waitresses or as a China doll model to 'brighten up' the ambience of that room.

Turvy: The law is such that, a person with no reputation worthy of protection, especially one with heavily soiled reputation, cannot be defamed. What is not there cannot be offended.

Anon1: A summary judgment in a defamation case? Why not build a special court for kleptocrats with ridiculous civil procedures presided by infamous morons of the country?

Tipping the scales - have our courts lost the balance?

Basically: There are two worrying aspects about our judiciary that are symptomatic of the root problems - that our government insists on appealing rulings meted out in the courts for obvious political reasons, such as the transgender, Allah, Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA), child custody and even water contract cases, and worse, that the rakyat can already predict the outcome of Federal Court appeals even before session begins.

And it's telling our predictions are never, ever wrong.

ACR: In 1988, Article 121 of the Federal Constitution was amended from, "the judicial power of the Federation shall be vested in two High Courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction and status", to include the following, "the High Courts and inferior courts shall have such jurisdiction and powers as may be conferred by or under federal law".

This and the removal of then chief justice Salleh Abas in the same year killed the doctrine of separation of powers in this country. We can thank Dr Mahathir Mohamad for this.

The Analyser: It’s all about interpretation, isn't it? When judges should be the interpretive arm of a changing society, the interpretation of the law will reflect changing social values.

But when the interpretations of the judiciary are dictated by government pressure and outdated religious concepts, there is no way that changes in Malaysia will keep pace with social changes.

Anonymous_40f4: We saw how the courts behaved in the two cases involving former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim - Sodomy 1 and II.

Now the case filed by the late private eye P Balasubramaniam's family is exposing the courts once again.

They don’t seem to follow the law. The rakyat are desperately looking for justice from the courts, which is the last bastion in protecting their rights. -Mkini