Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion.
– Henri Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher
To reasonably understand law, justice, politics and government where doublespeak and tongue-in-cheek statements concerning public policy are mercilessly unleashed upon a pliant citizenry, one must embark on a one-year study of philology, etymology, tautology, grammar, linguistics and the natural history of speech.
Dedicated lawyers spend years honing their skills in finding a legal effect to a legal text (statute) by checking, cross-checking and rechecking if their final thrust in argument stands on terra firma. Even this exercise does not sustain certainty or mathematical accuracy because “justice is blind and arrogant”, as P J Proudhon cautioned.
Moral contagions find expression and utterance especially in high-level corruption, malversation and plunder where a kakistocracy fights non-stop with a kleptocracy to outwit each other in the siphoning of public funds rightfully belonging to the citizens.
The culture of misappropriating public funds and stealing that thrives on self-imposed power and arbitrary authority is directly related to the ability to win elections and to engage in influence peddling. Reason, it is said, must only submit to facts and evidence.
The moral contagion of words and phrases have become allies frequently exhibiting adversarial proclivities. Even a clever lawyer can face surmounting difficulties when tackling the quixotic windmills of interpretation.
“In the corporate realm, where several laws are in operation, implementation receives a blow when it comes to interpretation and understanding the spirit and purpose of any particular law that may have been designed and promulgated for meeting a particular purpose in the light of the anomalies prevalent in the sector at any given point of time. Thus, I would call for establishing a sagacious method of study of law, and study of interpretation of statutes so as to develop the legal fabric,” warned Henrietta Newton Martin.
That which is in writing or in speech can mean a host of different and dissimilar things and meanings each designed to confound the other to the utter detriment of a seeker in desperate search of accuracy and certainty.
Those in authority wielding power generously use the sorcery and sophistry of euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook, and the nuances of inflated language. Albert Einstein observed that “blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth”.
Another disgusting moral contagion many democracies face with elected officials in public office is the “snollygoster” in reference to “an unprincipled person, especially a politician.” This becomes very visible when politicians defect from their party to another.
Anti-defections laws or floor-crossing laws are effective and popular in India, Israel, Portugal, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Romania, Samoa, Senegal, Suriname, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Pakistan, Thailand, to name a few.
Article 10(1)(c) Federal Constitution (FC) is safely hidden in the penumbra of insidious interpretation where the lines are blurred between the right to form associations and the right to disassociate oneself from a previous association. Anti-party hopping laws are a hard sell when the FC is malleable and resilient to the power-broker.
Citizens have the right of adversus hostem aeterna auctertas esto, — the right of eternal revendication (claim or demand) against enemies of the state. In America, it is the “right to honest services” codified as Title 18 United States Code section 1346. Malaysia should insist on having such a law for robust checks and balances to spur the MACC to greater heights (no pun intended).
The magic in Malaysia in criminal prosecutions is a well-planned, faulty and defective charge sheet that is judicially dismissed. The criminal walks as if the constable bungled knowing he cannot be charged and tried again thanks to Article 7(2) FC, the local version of double jeopardy even when freshly acquired evidence is adduced and produced to charge and convict.
Very convenient where cash is king. One courageous Court of Appeal judge was severely castigated for his vitriolic expose of fraud, deception and the injustice being practised and perpetrated for the mutual benefit of high-net-worth business people, public officials including some of his brethren in the Bench.
The vigilant citizenry knows that a “well-informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and vice… store it with ideas, teach it the pleasure of thinking…” advised Ann Radcliffe which has the force of finding remedies and solutions to most of the moral contagions in our lives.
Parliament should wisely, and expediently, pass mandatory death sentence laws for proven corruption, plunder and malversation.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
