KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Malaysians ought to speak out for the betterment of Malaysia and not be cowed by the authorities, as that is the only way to ensure that the country improves, a former law minister said today.
In his latest blog post, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said although he may face a sedition charge for one of his writings, he will continue speaking out as he believes that that is “the least” he could do.
“If all we can do is write, then we must continue writing. If all we can do is speak, then we must speak out.
“There is no better country than Malaysia and there is no better set of people—made up of various races professing different religions—than the people of this country. But the promise of who we can truly be will only be fulfilled if the people want things to be better,” he said.
Zaid was relating details of a phone call he shared with his sister over his looming case, which was triggered by his criticism of the recent court decision in M. Indira Gandhi’s conversion-custody battle.
The former Umno man said his sister had contacted him to express concern and even suggested that he stop blogging, but he said he dismissed the idea and refused to back down from his convictions.
He maintained his opinion that he felt the judges in Indira’s case had been “heartless” and “unkind” and said he would not be cowed by any judge.
Judges, he added, are meant to be the “last bastion of protection from tyranny” but they have instead lost their “capacity for compassion.”
“So I told my sister, let’s not be cowed by these judges. They are like that because the people have given them too much latitude. They have rubbed shoulders with politicians and members of the royalty for far too long.
“In the end, some of them have forgotten about little things such as kindness, compassion and the feelings of a mother,” he said.
“Judges are the special individuals who can dispense justice when politicians and the other stakeholders in the system have failed altogether.
“But when high-placed judges lose their capacity for compassion — in Indira’s case, to do what’s right and just for a mother — then we have a problem. The least we can do is to voice our concern,” he added.
In 2009, Indira’s Muslim convert ex-spouse Muhammad Riduan Abdullah snatched away their youngest daughter Prasana Diksa then aged 11 months old, before unilaterally converting the three children in their absence.
In the long drawn-out child custody battle, Indira subsequently won full custody of her three children in the Ipoh High Court on March 11, 2010, with the same civil court issuing a recovery order in her favour.
On December 30 last year, the Court of Appeal reversed a lower court’s order quashing the unilateral conversion of Indira’s three children to Islam, a critical blow to the Hindu mother’s battle against her Muslim ex-spouse.
Zaid subsequently wrote in his blog that the Hindu mother will not receive any justice from the Shariah courts, and labelled the judges “heartless” for the decision.
He also called Malaysian judges “arrogant” and “hypersensitive” to criticism to the point of charging cartoonists and bloggers with sedition for merely expressing an opposing view.
Yesterday, Zaid said that he expects to be charged with sedition after a police probe over his blog post criticising the judiciary over Indira’s interfaith custody case.
Last year, Zaid was also questioned by police under the Sedition Act over his blog post, but was later charged under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act for allegedly causing hurt with a blog post calling for Malaysians to rally behind former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in calling for the current prime minister’s early resignation.