The former Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Anwar Ibrahim recently ( on 18th.Sept.2007 )revealed the video tape of a conversation between a senior lawyer and a personality who is believed to be the present Chief Justice . The said lawyer was said to have brockered the promotions of certain Judges including the present CJ. This was said to have taken place in 2002 but the VCD was just recently handed over by an informant to Partai Keadilan Rakyat Malaysia ( PKR ) .Incidentally what was said to have been brockered really did came through .What a coincidence ? I don't really think that that was just a coincident .However that made me wonder how powerful was that Indian lawyer . By the way the same lawyer was photographed holidaying in New Zealand with the previous Chief Justice some times ago . I was so curious to know about it and so surf on the internet (tube) which viewed the recordings . I was shocked to know that this state of affair could have really taken place in the highest institution of this country -the institutions which was supposed to be the guardian of the people - the Court . This is supposed to be the last institution where the people could hope for . But now it is all gone . Most of us have lost confidence in the judiciary . Where else could we go to seek redress to our problems since they are now not to be trusted ? What could have happened to the former DPM's trial , the Air Molek case and so many other high profile cases ? They were all craps .
The problem of cronyism and nepotism actually became prominent during the previous PM's eror . Apparently, the same PM was in power in year 2002 . With due respect to the previous PM , although he has done a lot of good things to the country , he has also brought the country into disrepute . In those days cronyism and nepotism was the order of the day . It happened in all government departments and in almost all aspects of life . Getting a job or a promotion was not based on what you know but was rather on whom you know . I could still remember vividly around the same year when my name was submitted by the Personnel Department of my Department to be recomended for a promotion but was turned down not once , but 3-4 times by the then IGP and his ' Promotion Board ' . This was confidentially revealed to me later by a very senior officer . Finally they had to transfer me to Port Dickson on a lateral basis .I could still remember when I was called to Bukit Aman to attend a briefing prior to my departure to PD where the then IGP himself told me that he was sending me to Port Dickson to learn about ' PR ' ( public relations ) . That was his exact word that he told me .What the hell he was talking about PR when I was then already a Superintendant and had been holding positions of OCPDs and Dy. OCPDs and had met and dealt with people of various capacities . Obviously he was implying that I did not know to take care of him and his bunch of cronies . Well that's it . I lost confidence in him but I still went to Port Dickson as OCPD but under protest .That means I would work according to the book . I was also ready to submit my application for early retirement if situation warranted me to do so .
While I was there as OCPD I refused to bow down to political pressures . The UMNO people hated me so much . On one occassion the UMNO of Teluk Kemang applied for a permit to have a funfare in order to collect money for their party's fund . I refused to give them the permit on security ground because normally whenever there was a funfare or anything of that sort , our crime statistic would shoot up . It would also lure youths from the nearby towns to come to PD and commit various crimes such as thefts , especially theft of motor cycles and create social problems . On another occassion ,the UMNO people were not happy with me because I approved permits for the opposition to have political ceramahs . They were not happy because according to them I should not have allowed political ceramahs as it was not election time . I told them that there was no law that forbid political ceramahs during other than election time and that they could also applied for the same permit to counter their ceramahs , if they wished . They refused to do that and they assumed that I was an opposition sympathiser . Infact I did not . I was just doing my job following by the book . As enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution , the people has the right to an assembly and to express their views/feelings . As a result of that they complained to my CPO , Bukit Aman and even to the Prime Minister himself . By then the PM was Dato Sri Abdullah Badawi . Soon after they spread rumours that I was to be transferred out of PD . I could still remember one day I received a call from the ADC of the PM informing me that the PM wanted to see me in his hotel room at the Regency Hotel during one of his visits to PD . I braved myself and went to see him in his hotel room . I told him that I refused to allow myself to be pulled by the nose by anybody and was just doing my job . I thought he understood my position and accepted my explaination since he did not make any comment . To my surprise a few weeks later I received a transfer order to Bukit Aman but with a promotion . I think they had no where else to send me and because of my seniority ( more than 8 years as a Superintendant ) in my rank , they had no choice but to promote me , otherwise I would create more problems for them .
That was then the scenario . The moral behind this story is that , it is no surprise it also happened in the judiciary as reported recently . True to the saying which says the fish rots from it's head .
