Legal Maxim: Everyone is Innocent until Proven Guilty & Presumption of Innocent

-

I am obliged to say something regarding what is currently happen in Malaysia. The political phenomenon is very disturbing. At one side we can see clearly one political party (Barisan Nasional) in its desperate move trying to use the 'last weapon' of Malay Supremacy and Legacy issue burning the heart and conscious mind of Malays. On the other side, one party (Pakatan Rakyat) invoking the new idea of new era of liberalization in Malaysia, which is yet to be tested before on its practicality under Malaysian socio-politic.

Both sides may battle till the last drop of their blood. And we, the citizen is still left behind begging our interest not to be put at stake. Believe me, the citizen only welcome whoever take care our interest as proud citizen of Malaysia. Somehow, at this particular point of time the 'ball' is at Permatang Pauh voters' hand. We again put our hope to them to decide our future.

Meanwhile, be it whatever issue; Attantuya Case, sodomy case and so on as a good law abiding society, we must understand the carefully the meaning of legal maxim of 'everyone is innocent until proven guilty' and the 'presumption of innocent'. The basic principle already long accepted universally, internationally, and locally even in religious teaching be it Islam, Christian, and so on. United Nation Declaration of Human Rights 1948 Article 11 Section 1 endorsed the maxim crystal clear and so do the European Convention for Protection of Human Rights 1953 Article 6 section 2 and United Nation International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 14 section 2.

So unless, you saw the criminal act right in front of your bare eyes, you shall not speak or comment. Moreover, look may be decisive. Let the court of law do their duty to deliver judgment. But remember for the court, justice must not only to be done but must also be seen to be done. Otherwise the 'public-citizen court' takes over.

What current happen is that the citizen-court already in display, people are divided but clearly both sides ignoring the basic maxim of innocent until proven guilty. Those who are refusing to embrace this rule also mean rejecting to concept of presumption of innocent. May Allah and clear conscious mind guide us for the truth.

Regards,

Kamarul Irzuan Bin Busu Piah, Advocate & Solicitor, High Court of Malaya.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Small Claim Court: Do-It-Yourself (DIY)

-
Salam, Last post I have explained on how simple it would be to claim ' dishonored ' cheque from the drawer in court. And now, in this post I am going to show you another simple claim that everybody can do by themselves. It is normally called 'Small Claim Procedure'. So make it easier to understand, let me put it in point form. What is 'small claim procedure'? Small Claim Procedure is where an individual (not agent or company or person holding power attorney or etc) wants to claim from someone else (debt) using court procedure, i.e. suing in court of law. The total amount of claim must not exceeding RM5, 000-00 The claim must be made through summons in Magistrate Court No lawyer can get involve in this small claim proceeding … (that's bad for me…hehehe), everything is done by the plaintiff himself (person who is suing) with the guidance of court (staff). To illustrate, if B owes A RM 5, 000-00 and B refuses to pay, A can sue B in Magistrate court under this ...
Read more

Non Muslim Divorce Proceeding-brief email question & answer

-
the email:- hello.. my fren is planning for a divorce and she has no clue about the regulations abt it and she need a lawyer to help through the process.. her situation is like this: she is married but not fully 1 year. she dun have any children.she wanted divorce as she feels that she and her husband are not suitable anymore. no more more particular reason.. any of ur reply i will forward it to her.. hope to hear from u soon..hope tat u can help her..thanx.. the brief answer:- Hi, no divorce petition can be brought to court within 2 years of marriage except for very strong reason eg intolerable marriage with eminent danger to either wife or husband (normally wife). there 3 reasons to get divorce, one of simple reason to give irrevocable broken down of marriage. establish the first requirement and your friend can file the divorce petition either joint petition (both husband and wife agree to a divorce) or single petition filed by one of the party (the other party may or may not agree t...
Read more

Hire Purchase: Car Repossessed?

-
Image
Salam, I have one assignment yesterday regarding one poor chap's car repossessed by his financier. His case is straight forward but one that typical type of problem, the brief is simple:- This guy has a car which is still under hire purchase He defaulted for more than 3 months which gave the bank rights to repossess his car under the Hire Purchase Act, and the bank did. The car was kept at one store somewhere in Penang for 2 months pending auction. He however managed to settle his overdue installments (after getting some soft loan from friends) and wanted to bring out his car. Too bad, somehow when he tried to get back his car from the store, he noticed that some (quite substantial) 'things' and parts of his car is no longer intact. He did a complaint to his bank and then lodged a police report. The police due some reasons (God knows why) asked his just to refer back to the bank and had done nothing till date, in fact he was advised by the police to settle the matter direc...
Read more