AG post: Bar, don’t play role of cybertrooper

Bar Council has no role to play in the selection, appointment or consideration of any one person for any political position or office.

COMMENT

By Manjeet Singh Dhillon

I am shocked, dismayed and in disbelief that the Bar Council, which represents the West Malaysian Bar, has taken on the role of a cybertrooper, and has moved away from its classic role of being apolitical.

It has no role to play in the selection, appointment or consideration of any one person for any political position or office.

For what it is worth, that role, in line with the Federal Constitution, should be that of the King, upon advice by the prime minister.

There are known procedures, rules and regulations that govern a nation and its wellbeing.

We must never forget history because it has a nasty habit of repeating itself.

Are we being any different now from the previous administration in our haste to rush in and do things and seal the situation in our own way and, as Omar Khayam said, nearer our own heart’s desire?

The Bar should remember its history, struggles, role and independence.

In its haste to celebrate the coming of age of a nation, it has to remember the consistency that has been missing in the application of the rule of law in Malaysia.

Do we all join the strident call and forget the rule of law?

Do we, can we, forget the Anwar Ibrahim formula and how clearly with aligned minds it was put into effect? Is Anwar the only one who needs and warrants a pardon and the salvaging and restoration of a lost life and lost years?

So why the double standards now? Leopards do not lose their spots and the eagle hunts in its own way.

Perhaps somewhere in the archives of this nation, there will be the role of Attorney-General Mohtar Abdullah, of Abdul Gani Patail, of the Malaysian police, of the plight of many and the chilling narrative of what under their very noses was done, for example to Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja, Munawar Anees or S Nallakaruppan. Ask who the AG was then and what happened to the rule of law?

The Bar Council should be wary of rushing into new roles and advocating personalities, and the president, in particular, for who should be AG.

Take a flash back to the murder trial of Mokhtar Hashim and how the trial in court proceeded and how expert evidence that would have cleared him was prevented.

Recall Salleh Abas? And the judges who were booted out? And then Altantuyaa? Who was AG then? And the fact that two unknown policemen decided to shoot and blow up a woman. For what? A share of a bribe? The threat of an unborn child? Who was AG then? And that’s why the investigations not being taken to the core became an issue.

We have no room for double standards in this country. The Bar has to stand its ground. It knows the rule of law and is aware of the history of the AG’s office and its untold conventions and the way they have been exercised.

We need to lay them bare. Only then will the nation grow up.

And it will not be through nominating certain candidates. The Malaysian Bar is not a cybertrooper. There are enough of them out there.

Manjeet Singh Dhillon is a lawyer and former Malaysian Bar president. -FMT