THE judiciary should by now be keenly aware of the antics and delaying tactics of certain accused persons, in particular those who fall under the ‘court cluster’ category.
The case of Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim getting postponed today (Aug 26) because he suddenly had to be admitted to hospital for a gastric ailment brings this matter into focus even more sharply.
A few months ago, former first lady Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor also had her hearing postponed because she too was admitted to hospital for neck pain and backache.
As such, author, political critic and veteran journalist Kee Thuan Chye is hopeful that in the court cases of such individuals, the presiding judges will not grant stay of execution if these individuals are found guilty.
“At any stage. Even if they are going to lodge an appeal,” he told FocusM. “In other words, if any of them were to be found guilty, they should be sent to jail even if they are expected to appeal.”
After all, Kee insisted that there is no law that says that bail must be granted even when the convicted person is expected to lodge an appeal.
“It seems to me that when such individuals are allowed bail to fly free as birds, they would be motivated to seek delays as we have seen in (former prime minister) Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd case,” asserted the author of Ask for No Bullshit, Get Some More! (sequel to No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians).
“But if they were sent to jail, they would not be likely to do so. They might actually want to expedite their appeals and other impending cases.”
In all fairness, Kee caveated his opinion that he is only expressing a hope as oppose to telling the judges what to do.
“So please don’t get me wrong,” he noted. “I’m only interested in the administration of justice. As our eminent and learned Chief Justice recently said, ‘justice delayed is justice denied to other people’. I can’t agree more.”
Jail first pending appeal
Meanwhile, Prof Zaharom Nain who is attached to the Nottingham University’s Media and Communication Studies Department said when someone is found guilty of a crime in a court of law, that person is no longer “innocent until proven guilty”.
“That person now is a convicted felon who – in Malaysia and many other countries – may appeal the conviction in a higher court. He’s in effect, ‘guilty’ but is trying to appeal the guilty verdict in a higher court,” he told FocusM.
“So, if such persons have been convicted of committing a serious crime – murder, violent assault, major theft, money laundering, abuse of power, etc – they really ought to be jailed pending the higher court decision instead of being set free to provide a one-sided view of their case, including on social media.”
Zaharom further stressed that these individuals must include the elites in society “who must not be allowed to roam free and mock our justice system”.
“They, too, must be prevented from inordinately delaying justice just because they have the money and the lawyers to do so,” he opined. “The fact is, there have been too many cases of the law allegedly being applied differently for different individuals and groups, and this awful practice really must stop.” – Aug 26, 2022
Main pic credit: The Malaysian Reserve
