A call for equal justice
Regardless of who they are, wrongdoers should be punished according to the gravity of their crimes.
“WHERE the law is subject to some other authority and has none of its own, the collapse of the state is not far off. But if law is the master of the government and the government is its slave, then the situation is full of promise and men will enjoy all the blessings that the gods shower on a state.”
Plato, the most influential philosopher of all time, observed this around 350BC.
Equal justice under the law, a basic tenet of human rights, is central to functioning societies.
Essentially, it means no one should be above the law, especially those who rule over others, and that all should receive equal benefits and protection provided by it.
The law is also equated with justice, symbolically personified as a deity wearing a blindfold holding a balance and a sword.
Lady Justice, as she is known, is an embodiment of two goddesses of justice and divine order – Iustitia of ancient Rome and Themis of Greece.
But equating law with justice has become a myth. Today, the perception is the law is a lot cosier to wealth and power than to ordinary folk.
Fair-minded Malaysians fear that against the face of power and money, justice could be disregarded in the legal process.
There is a pattern of peculiar judgments and punishments reflecting this. Let me cite some recent examples.
On July 25 last year, a magistrate fined Datuk Seri Chin Kok Wah, 50, RM1,000 after he pleaded guilty to injuring security guard T. Ramaraj, 44, at a luxury condominium.
Ramaraj was assaulted after he recorded Chin’s act of using a steel cutter to remove a tyre clamp on his wrongly parked vehicle.
Although the offence carries a maximum one-year jail term and a fine of up to RM2,000 or both, merely saying he was remorseful was enough for Chin to get off so easily.
On Nov 17, a magistrate sentenced Marmi Zabrin Mian, 34, to a year’s jail and fined RM1,500 for causing hurt to Bank Negara analyst Or Su Lin, 34, at a pedestrian bridge.
The jobless man, was identified as the “serial kicker” who had been sneaking up behind women and kicking them. There was no mention of him being ordered to undergo mental assessment.
On Feb 1, a married couple, both former lieutenant commanders of the Royal Malaysian Navy, were jailed and fined a total of RM30,000 by the Ipoh Sessions Court for brib- ery involving RM420,852.
Rizalman Ghazali, 38, was jailed nine months and fined RM20,000, while his wife, Rozlin Mustafa, 35, was sentenced to six months’ jail and fined RM10,000.
Compare this to another case a week later – M. Subramaniam, 56, a primary school headmaster in Rawang, received eight months’ jail for taking RM4,000 in bribes to extend the school’s canteen operator’s contract.
On Sept 21, Forestry officer Zainal Abidin Maskon, 33, was only sentenced to nine months’ jail and fined RM150,000 for five counts of bribery involving RM340,000 to speed up the approval of logging licences in two forest reserves.
Let’s not forget the case of Shashikumar Selvam, who was jailed 10 years for stealing rice and cans of sardines in 2015.
His story is even more tragic as he was found hanged in the Kluang prison shortly after serving time.
On Nov 14 last year, JB coroner Kamarudin Kamsun found that Shashikumar had not committed suicide but a person or persons unknown caused his death.
The latest appalling episode is the absurdly lenient sentence imposed on a Datin who inflicted horrific injuries on her Indonesian maid two years ago.
Datin Rozita Mohamed Ali, 44, was bound over for five years on a good behaviour bond of RM20,000 by Petaling Jaya Sessions Court judge Mohammed Mokhzani Mokhtar on March 15.
The housewife was first charged with the attempted murder of Suyanti Sutrinso, then 19, under Section 307 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail sentence of 20 years.
Among other things, Suyanti was attacked with a kitchen knife, a steel mop, a clothes hanger, and an umbrella. A security guard found the maid lying semi-conscious in Mutiara Damansara. Her face was swollen, and she had multiple injuries on her head, eyes, legs, hands, and internal organs.
She also suffered fractures on her jaw and cheekbones, a broken shoulder blade, injuries to her right lung and a blood clot near her brain.
In spite of the injuries, the charge against Rozita was later amended to causing grievous hurt under Section 326 of the Penal Code, to which she pleaded guilty.
Understandably, Malaysians are outraged by the unduly lenient punishment handed to her and regard the judgment as a gross travesty of justice.
Lawyer Ramkarpal Singh pointed out that the judge had erred as the law no longer provided for a good behaviour bond for cases involving serious offences that are punishable with a jail term of 10 years or more under the Penal Code.
Human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen said it was hard to see the extenuating circumstances for the Datin to deserve to be bound over for such a grave offence.
A petition calling for justice to be served equally to the rich and poor has been signed by over 60,000 people so far.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers has since filed a notice of appeal against the inadequacy of the sentence. The Shah Alam High Court is set to hear the application to review the sentence against Rozita today.
It’s a good time to reflect that justice is all about protecting the rights and punishing the wrongs, based on the moral concept of ethics and fairness.