KUALA LUMPUR (The Star) - Judges should always remember that the basic foundation of the Federal Constitution is “the rule of law” and not “rule by law,” said Tan Sri Richard Malanjum.
The Chief Justice said that keeping this in mind was a challenge for judges.
“I hope that judges continue to keep the constitution alive. The biggest challenge is to keep in mind at all times that the basic foundation of our Constitution is the rule of law, not ruled by law.
“It is quite sad when colleagues say that the law is just (for us) to follow it without realising that piece of legislation may be contradictory to the spirit of the rule of law, and that should be remembered all the time by judges when they read the Constitution,” he said.
He said this during the book launch of Our Constitution authored by constitutional law expert Emeritus Prof Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi at Universiti Malaya yesterday.Malanjum added that understanding the premise of the rule of law and not rule by law was important as this was how democracy was kept alive in the country.
Hence, Malanjum hoped that the book authored by Prof Shad would be a source of help to the judiciary as well as the public.
“The law is meant to serve us, not the other way around,” he said.
During the launch, Prof Shad said he hoped that his book would improve constitutional literacy.
He lamented that after 61 years of independence, the Constitution was still not treated as the compass and anchor of the nation.
Also present at the launch were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk David Wong Dak Wah, UM Faculty of Law Dean Datuk Assoc Prof Dr Johan Shamsuddin Sabaruddin, book publisher Thomson Reuters Asia country head Girish Kamat as well as many Federal Court and Court of Appeal judges.
The book which costs RM50 is available at Marsden Law Books, Joshua Legal Art Gallery, Kinokuniya and MPH bookstores.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/03/21/rule-of-law-not-rule-b...
