At the end of question time, I asked Deputy Minister Datuk Liew “What will you report to your boss, Datuk Seri Nazri about this meeting?” He replied, “the truth.” When I asked him to elaborate, he said “trust me,” plus a bit of fluff and added no specifics.
Last night, at St Paul’s Church in Petaling Jaya, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Liew Vui Keong spoke about reforming Malaysian Law. The audience included one infant less than a year old and about forty adults. The moderator was Andrew Khoo, Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Bar Council and a prominent Christian.
Datuk Liew’s boss is Datuk Seri Nazri, de facto Minister of Law. Datuk Liew, a Sabahan, is Chairman of the Malaysian Law Reform Committee (MLRC), Government of Malaysia, and M.P. for Sandakan, Sabah. In his most recent “big appearance,” he read the Subordinate Courts (Amendment) Bill in Parliament – hastily passed on 8th July, and lambasted by the Bar Council as another of several examples of legislation without adequate consultation.
Datuk Liew’s self-introduction focused on his being a Christian. He spoke of how he won against all odds in Sandakan, against the incumbent independent, with a slim majority of 176 votes, one of the last results to be announced. He said that during the pre-election period he was often “on his knees,” and that he received Bible verses and encouragement from many, including pastors of some renown. He said he told both Pak Lah and PM Najib that he attributes his “unexpected win” to God in Christ.
Datuk Liew was the first speaker in the Daniel Lectures series organized by CCM youth. Daniel is a prominent “politician-governor” in the Bible, praised for his faithfulness to God in disobeying an imperial edict. His defiance lead to an attempt by the raja to turn him into lion food and to cremate alive his close associates: but God saved them all. Their miraculous escape elicited the raja’s remorse and further blessing: Daniel was given greater political power.
It was therefore striking that Datuk Liew, who said he has practiced law for twenty years, chose to begin his presentation by flashing the text of Romans 13: 1-7, in which the apostle Paul exhorts Christians to submit to the authorities. One member of the audience burst out: “but John in the book of Revelation equates some governments with beasts.” We could have added that the early preachers often disobeyed the authorities and suffered for it. The apostle commands submission to authorities worthy of respect, not thoughtless submission!
Datuk Liew also said the prophets who pepper the pages of the Bible can be thought of as politicians – few Bible readers would disagree. However, he seems not to have noticed that the prophets were opposition politicians, abused by the authorities for refusing blind submission. I recalled with sadness the 19th century English preacher C H Spurgeon’s insightful response when told that “so and so” read his Bible on his knees. Spurgeon said “he should sit comfortably when reading his Bible. That way, he may understand it better.”
When Datuk Liew described the scope of his Law Reform Committee: “to study laws since British times that are ARCHAIC, that hinder progress and development and recommend REFORM,” I realized we had been duped by the ruling party. “Law Reform Committee” is a sham name. It’s really a Committee to Remove Barriers to Business.
Contrary to news reports, Datuk Liew denied he had given inputs on the ISA Amendments which he said will be read in Parliament on 11 October 2010 by the Home Minister.
When a citizen thinks of reforming the law, the laws which come to mind are those which allow the administration to act as kings (kerajaan) rather than administrators (pentadbiran) answerable to the public. We think of the Internal Security Act, the Printing Presses Act, the Official Secrets Act, the rights of non-Muslims, etc. The MLRC – which is not a parliamentary select committee (which would have representatives from all parties) – is focused on laws which apply to business, companies, insolvency, land, minor offences, registration of births and Torrens.
It’s curious that the Subordinate Courts Bill is not in the list!
The truth Datuk Liew should tell Datuk Seri Nazri: “I followed the course, I did as you tutored me, I kept them in the dark and I promised to ‘get back to them.’ The people refuse to be duped. They want us to treat them as intelligent. They want us to listen. They expect us to earn their respect. They expect us to be administrators, not rajas.”
Rama Ramanathan maintains the blog Rest Stop Thoughts
The Micah Mandate is a Christian-based public interest advocacy ministry that seeks a transformation of our nation through justice, mercy and humility.
August 9th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
thank you brother rama for sharing a session some of us could not attend (being out of state)
and datuk liew, if you do read bro rama’s feedback, we pray you do, please also know that the people are angry with the way the law has been bent so badly to perpetrate so much bullying, injustice, cruelty and evil across the land
charles spurgeon when elaborating on jonah 4:9 “God said to jonah,’doest thou well to be angry?’” reminds us -whether it is sin against God, or with ourselves beause ‘we remain so foolish after so much divine instruction, or with others when the sole cause of anger is the evil that they do – he who is not angry at transgression becomes a partaker in it’