Whistleblower judge marks retirement by publishing three books

 

Former Appeals Court Judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer retired yesterday and is going out with a bang by authoring three legal books on the subjects of company law, construction law and the Federal Constitution.

Hamid enjoyed an illustrious career on the bench having been elevated first as a judicial commissioner in March 2007 and then a High Court judge in October 2009 and thereafter as a Court of Appeal judge in January 2013.

Over the course of 14 years on the bench, he wrote thousands of judgments on various aspects of the law.

Hamid was notably suspended by the Judges’ Ethics Committee in February until his retirement yesterday. This was after he had filed an affidavit in 2019 claiming abuses and fraud in the judiciary. A substantial part of the affidavit has since been expunged.

The then Pakatan Harapan government had considered setting up a royal commission of inquiry to investigate the claims, but the attorney-general at the time Tommy Thomas said this did not materialise due to objections by a number of serving and retired judges.

Despite his suspension, Hamid kept himself busy and marked his retirement with the publication of the three books, meaning that he has now written over 10 books on legal matters.

His books have been widely used by those who are involved in the study, practice as well as the administration of law and justice in Malaysia.

"In the discharge of my duties and obligations to the nation as a judge, I have adhered to my oath of office, the rule of law and Rukun Negara," said Hamid in a statement yesterday.

"I am pleased to say that I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Federal Constitution. I stood up to my oath of office notwithstanding many challenges I had to endure."

Of the three newly-launched books, the one on company law delves into the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2012. 

Lord Nicholas Bourne of Aberystwyth, a member of the UK House of Lords had this to say of the book: “His outstanding characteristics are independence of thought and action which I massively admire and respect.”

The book on construction law includes areas on adjudication and mediation. Experts in the field such as Colin Ong QC and the past president of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, Francis Xavier, who is senior counsel of the Supreme Court of Singapore, have lauded the book.

Meanwhile, the book on the Federal Constitution includes chapters on the oath of office, rule of law and judicial review, with public and private international law coming with a foreword by retired Court of Appeal judge Hishamudin Yunus and advocate and solicitor Bastian Vendargon, as well as a review by Prof Emeritus Shad Saleem Faruqi.

Affordable arbitration

To facilitate greater understanding of the Federal Constitution, Hamid and his team are now working towards publishing Bahasa Malaysia and Tamil versions of the book.

It is understood that Hamid has decided upon his retirement to dedicate most of his time to promoting affordable arbitration as a global initiative.

He hopes that this concept could be implemented for matters filed in court and where parties have agreed that upon an unsuccessful mediation, they will submit to affordable arbitration.

For this purpose, Hamid has mooted the idea of establishing a LLP Partnership to facilitate affordable arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services in Malaysia as well as in other countries.

He hopes that his efforts will bear fruit and, in the process, will help the poor, needy and oppressed to have access to justice through this ADR mechanism, which will save costs for litigants and streamline the appeal process. - Mkini