Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim did the right thing in withdrawing himself from hearing the two cases against Perak Speaker V Sivakumar.
It is the only decent thing to do after the ridiculous decisions he had made in these cases which denied the Speaker the choice of lawyers and his own right to defend himself. His position has become untenable.
Ridwan has put the judiciary in a very poor light with his inexplicable judicial decisions that had dismayed and disappointed Malaysians who were looking forward to the return of the glory days of the judiciary.
The case will now be heard before Justice Wan Afrah Wan Ibrahim. We are very confident that in this instance it won’t be another comedy of errors!
The Perak cases involve substantive issues of law and principles of justice. They involve our parliamentary system of governance and the court decisions will have a great impact on our notion of justice and fair play.
This is why it is so imperative that these cases should be heard before a very senior judge who has a fair understanding of basic issues of right and wrong.
In view of what transpired under Ridwan, it would be useful to recall the wise words of Jean de La Bruyere: “The duty of judges is to render justice; their profession is to discern it. There are some who know their duty and who practise their profession.”
P Ramakrishnan
President, Aliran
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