In God we trust, the courts can go to hell

Malaysia Today

There are those who can’t imagine why Anwar Ibrahim ignores the call for him to swear on the Quran in a mosque that he is innocent of the allegation of sodomy and also why Raja Petra Kamarudin ignores Malaysian courts.

On the Anwar issue, first of all, there is no such thing as swearing on the Quran in Islam and many religious scholars and leaders have said so quite explicitly. Why these people still insist that Anwar do so is perplexing. Read our lips: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SWEARING ON THE QURAN IN ISLAM. Let’s hope these sorry excuses for Muslims hear us loud and clear this time.

Secondly, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Bin Azlan, IC No: 850706-01-5687, of No. 29, Jalan BU 7/6, Selangor, swore on the Quran at 6.00pm on 15 August in the Federal Territory Mosque in front of Ramlang Bin Porigi, UMNO Member No. 03405853 of Cawangan Seri Macang, Bahagian Bukit Mertajam, Parlimen Permatang Pauh.

Can you now see the comedy of the whole thing? Ramlang Porigi, the so-called ‘Imam’ who conducted Saiful’s swearing on the Quran, other than possessing a name that sounds like an illegal Indonesian immigrant who has just been given a ‘blue’ IC, is an UMNO member from Permatang Pauh. Any wonder why Anwar ‘tak layan’ this whole matter? It was all a circus show for the benefit of the Permatang Pauh voters.

Now, with regards to the Raja Petra issue, today’s story from Bloomberg says it all. Before that, however, let us reveal what happened to Raja Petra in April 2001 and why he no longer ‘layan’ Malaysian courts.

Raja Petra was detained under the Internal Security Act on 11 April 2001. The Special Branch then demanded that he hand over his international passport. But Raja Petra did not have his passport with him. It was lodged at the British High Commission and there was no way the Special Branch could get its hands on it.

The Special Branch demanded to know why his passport was not in his possession but was instead with the British High Commission. Raja Petra refused to reveal the reason. “Never mind,” the Special Branch told him. “We have other ways of blocking your passport.”

Three days later, on 14 April 2001, the day of Raja Petra’s wedding anniversary, a letter was dropped into the letterbox of his house giving him 14 days to contest a bankruptcy order. Since he was under 60 days ISA detention he certainly could not make an appearance in court within the stipulated 14 days to contest the bankruptcy order. Anyway, the bankruptcy order was not served on him but was dropped into the letterbox.

Raja Petra was released from ISA detention on 6 June 2001. A few weeks later, he went to meet Manjeet Singh of Sri Ram & Co. to try to get them to set aside the bankruptcy order. Sri Ram & Co. checked with the courts and discovered that the whole file had disappeared. There was no way they could contest the order, Manjeet told Raja Petra, since the file had disappeared. Anyway, Manjeet told him, once bankruptcy has been obtained you can’t apply to set it aside. You are supposed to contest the order within the 14 days given to you. The fact that one is under 60 days detention and there was no way one could appear in court to contest the order does not change the decision of the court.

Since then Raja Petra ‘tak layan’ Malaysian courts. Malaysian courts do not dispense justice. They serve their political masters.