There seems to be some misunderstanding and misrepresentation of my earlier writing “Time to malaysianise common law system” (The Star, 18.09.07. Title in IKIM website: “Malaysian Common Law”). I am grateful to those who responded to my short article. However, allow me to clarify and re-examine a few things. When I used the word ‘Malaysianization,’…
The Chief Justice of Malaysia, YAA Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, in his officiating speech at IKIM’s seminar surrounding ‘Ahmad Ibrahim: His Intellectual Thought and Contributions’ last August, expressed his disappointment over the captive mentality of our legal experts, practitioners, judges and lawyers in reference to the high esteem the aforementioned accord English law,…
All the hue and cry prior to and after the Federal Court’s judgment in the Lina Joy case are manifestations of ignorance, arrogance and sheer defiance of logic. It once again proves that the most unsettling problem afflicting our people is the problem of knowledge. It’s alarming to encounter certain individuals or groups of people…
Last Tuesday (08.05.07), I attended a roundtable discussion regarding the ongoing jurisdictional conflict between the Malaysian civil and Syariah courts at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Many issues and concerns were raised, and suggestions to address the situation were made accordingly. Some recommendations seemed plausible but when it came to practical amicable resolutions, none…
The lack of uniformity and standardization of Islamic law in Malaysia, in addition to certain arguable legal restrictions, has eventually lead to the apparent disunity among Muslims, followed by misperception among the non-Muslims, leaving both perplexed and confused. This is partly reflected by the fact that Islamic law is only applicable to Muslims. Currently there…
Prof. Emeritus Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Ahmad Mohamed Ibrahim (d. 1999) hardly needs any introduction especially among the legal fraternity in this country. His vast contributions in the development of the Malaysian judicial and legal systems, both civil and Islamic, draw notable recognition and acknowledgement from many. A considerable number of individuals-from all ranks and…
Arguably, our community appears to always be grappling with the issue of how and where to put thing in its proper place. This absence of wisdom, which is indeed difficult to achieve without proper and true knowledge, yields injustice which consequently is manifest in almost every single dimension of our social, political, cultural and even religious…
This apparent human rights related issue is highly sensitive to the multiracial and multi-religious character of Malaysia. It turns to be problematic, untenable to some, especially when it deals with conversion into and out of Islam. It’s true, the whole question involves certain legal and social implications. At times, its repercussions appear to rattle the…
The doctrine of human rights basically concerns the so-called ‘fundamental rights’ of every person to justice, equality and freedom. As adopted by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), it proclaims that all men and women, regardless of their social, economic or political background and status, are “born free and equal in…
