AMENDMENT ARTICLE 121 OF CONSTITUTION PUT ON HOLD

Quote & Unquote NST 21/6/08

“Zaid: Proposed reforms to take some time

It looks like the reform of the judiciary will take longer than anticipated.

The cabinet has so far not decided on the proposal to reinstate Article 121 of the Constitution, which contains the provision for separation of power between the executive, legislature and judiciary and to form a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), which will kick start the judicial reform process.

For reasons of concern as exemplified in my earlier posting on 12 June 2008, I was most happy reading that there’s resistance in the cabinet to reinstituting Article 121 at this point of time. My hope is that such decision prevails until such time when the amendment/ reinstitution have been studied in great depth and the unstable political situation in this country has much improved.

This is Malaysia where Islam is the Official religion and more than 60% of the population is Muslims, our fabric of society and our culture is so different from that of UK for us to completely follow the Westminster Parliamentary System of Government. The cabinet’s decision or indecision was most relieving; I can sleep better now.

Shukor Alhamdulilah.