Rule of Law : Rais Yatim's intellectual dishonesty

Media statement by Lim Kit Siang,

Wednesday 15 Nov 2000 Deputy Speaker most unfair and irresponsible in not allowing the Opposition Mps the chance to expose the intellectually dishonest answers given by Rais on the rule of law during question time yesterday. Petaling Jaya: The Minister in the Prime Ministers Department, Datuk .Dr. Rais Yatim gave the most intellectually dishonest answers about the rule of law in Parliament during question time yesterday but the Deputy Speaker Dato' Haji Muhamad bin Abdullah was most unfair and irresponsible in not allowing any Opposition MP the chance to expose Rais intellectual dishonesty. Rais said that the concepts of rule of law' as well as rule by law' were practised in Malaysia with adjustments to suit the country's characteristics. Quoting a maxim of well-known jurist, Rosenhoff, that the rule of law' is a concept based on the balance of power and administration which focuses on achieving justice for all, Rais said:
"But this is a universal view and needs to be adjusted and moulded in order to fit the characteristics of an individual country." (Malaysiakini 14.11.00)

the protection of judicial enforcement agencies.

and

law

Rais was being intellectually dishonest in trying to claim that there is rule of law in Malaysia when in his 1995 book "Freedom under Executive Power in Malaysia", based on his research and study from 1991 and 1994 at Kings College, University of London, he was very categorical and unequivocal in asserting that the rule of law had been superseded by the rule by law in Malaysia. This is what Rais wrote in his book:
"The future for the rule of law and human rights in Malaysia is dismal. Rule by law and not rule of law supersedes and takes priority in most aspects of ruling the people. The decline of the rule of law and human rights in Malaysia can be traced to the corrupted notion of democracy which the executive holds. It has been suggested that in Malaysia human rights and the rule of law are precepts peculiar to the West which, so the imputation goes, it is inappropriate to apply in Malaysia. This should be seen as a severe distortion because human rights and the rule of law are no longer within the confines of the geo-political parameters of each country. They are now universal rights."

Rais said many countries including Malaysia's neighbours practised both concepts in meeting the needs of emergency and security laws. He said that the rule of law' was the central theme of the country's legal foundation and its tenets were found in Articles 121, 122 and 8 of the Federal Constitution, he added. Rais said all parties must abide by these Articles to ensure that Malaysians enjoy
Rule of Law : Rais Yatim's intellectual dishonesty

Rais was also very categorical and unequivocal in his assertion that there was no independence of the judiciary in Malaysia. This is what he wrote in his book:
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"The judiciary has lost its tussle with the executive in controlling arbitrary executive power. The executive that directly alters the affairs and status quo of the judiciary in a manner that the Malaysian executive has done is indeed a rarity and its mode of attack on the Malaysian judiciary in 1988 is not known to be practised in the liberal democratic world. But again one must understand, Malaysia is not a liberal democratic country." "The executive has come to occupy a truly supreme position that renders the other segments of government - Parliament and the judiciary - subservient to it."

interest in the importance of civil liberties. We have noted how excessive executive powers, omnipresent and far-reaching as they have been, have rendered constitutional freedoms meaningless. And yet there appears to be little or no resistance from the man on the street to counter these inroads. There can be only one explanation to this: the culture of fear has set in. The underlying fear of executive reprisal has slowly but surely reduced Malaysians into being reluctantly submissive in many respects of their daily life."

Rais used very harsh terms to express his contempt for Parliaments failure to protect the rule of law and fundamental freedoms and instead, "aided and abetted in their serious violations", when he wrote:
"With an overwhelming majority in Parliament of the same political party since Merdeka in 1957 it has now become a misconception to regard the Malaysian Parliament as the safeguard of rights and freedoms. In many respects that institution is the issuer of licence to violate freedoms."

The state of the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, Parliaments role as the safeguard of rights and freedoms, human rights and democracy have gravely worsened since the publication of Rais "Freedom under Executive Power in Malaysia", exposing the country to a slew of unfavourable international assessments which damaged the countrys international standing and jeopardised the long-term national economic wellbeing of Malaysians by driving away international investors from the country. The recent slew of unfavourable international assessments for Malaysia includes the damning 2001 Index of Economic Freedom where Malaysia dropped 57 places in the past six years from the 18th position in the 1995 index to the 75th position in the 2001 Index and slipped from "mostly free" to the "mostly unfree" category; the World Economic Forum (WEF)s 2000 global competitiveness ranking showing a catastrophic collapse in Malaysias international competitiveness rating, falling by nine notches in the past year or 16 places in the past three years; Transparency Internationals 2000 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranking Malaysia at the lowest placing ever at the 36th in 2000 as compared to
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I was particularly drawn by his lamentation about the culture of fear and the lack of understanding and appreciation of the rule of law by the Malaysian people, especially as he has now personified the very culture of subservience and servility which he had condemned in his book, when he wrote:
"Equally perplexing has been the seemingly calm and patronising attitude of the Malaysian people in facing and accepting these excesses vis-a-vis their rights. It is as if Malaysians have lost touch with their basic rights in a country that prides itself in being democratic and leading the voice of liberation within the third world countries. Even with the increasing number of the young and well-educated in the country there appears to be little

Rule of Law : Rais Yatim's intellectual dishonesty

23rd in 1995 and the terrible indictment on the Malaysian system of justice by the international judicial and legal community in the report entitled "Justice in Jeopardy: Malaysia 2000" released worldwide in April this year. It is sad that instead of informing Parliament as to what had been done in the past year since his appointment as Minister in the Prime Minister with specific responsibility for law and justice to restore the rule of law and regain national and international confidence in the system of justice, Rais has become the apologist par excellence of the very system which he had denounced in his book - a system which had since gone from bad to worse! This was probably why the Deputy Speaker, Datuk Haji Muhamad bin Abdullah, breached established parliamentary convention and did not allow any Opposition MP to ask a supplementary question to Rais, although this was the first time that Rais was standing up in Parliament since his return

to Cabinet a year ago to talk about law and justice - the very portfolios under his direct responsibility. Normally, two supplementary questions are allowed for each question during question time, but in this particular case, after answering the question by the Barisan Nasional MP for Jelutong and a supplementary question by the Barisan Nasional MP for Batang Lupar, the Deputy Speaker ignored the many Barisan Alternative MPs who had stood up to pose a supplementary question and went on to the next question. Muhamad might have "saved" Rais from a grilling from the Barisan Alternative - but at the expense of another example of the devaluation of the role of Parliament which Rais had described so aptly in his book. (15/11/2000)
*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman

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Rule of Law : Rais Yatim's intellectual dishonesty

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