Author: Dr Navin C Naidu

Freedom to associate

 Is there a juster justice and a more lawful law? – Max Radin, American legal scholar Article 10(1)(c) Federal Constitution (FC) is a broad-brush stroke upon the constitutional canvas expansively guaranteeing all citizens have the right to form associations while callously giving substance and meaning to liberty of the person

The Cobbold omission

The world turns on our every action, and our every omission, whether we know it or not. – Abraham Verghese, American physician The world turned on the Borneo Territories when Lord Cameron Cobbold, a governor of the Bank of England, learned in plutology and aphnology, not law, headed a fact-finding

The Reid omission

The omission of good is no less reprehensible that the commission of evil. – Plutarch, Greek philosopher Malayan legal heavyweights like Dr. Radhakrishna Ramani, Yong Shook Lin, C S Jayaswal, T Rajendra and E D Shearn were not included in or engaged by the Reid Commission in pre-Merdeka Malaya. Foreigners, untutored

Quo vadis independent judiciary?

An independent judiciary means little when the free market has reduced it to commodities available on sale to the highest bidder. – Arundhati Roy, Indian author Some 500 lawyers recently marched to petition the government for the much-vaunted independent judiciary. Is an independent judiciary independent of the government, or independent

Government: Quo warranto

Government has but a choice of evils. – Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher What is the right in law for government to indulge in a choice of evils even if it created such laws? Confucius theorised that “if your desire is for good, the people will be good”. Ergo, government is

The life of the law

The law is the public conscience. – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. of the United States Supreme Court is revered and remembered for his famous observation that “the life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.” His 1881 classic The Common

Celebrating responsibility

Liberty means responsibility. That is why men dread it. – George Bernard Shaw (Man and Superman, 1903),  Irish playwright A natural-born leader takes responsibility, and in the process makes decisions for the felt necessities of life in personal, professional, private and in public life disciplines. Although shunned by elected leaders

The emperor wears no clothes

The peacock has too little in its head and too much in its tail. – Swedish proverb The title depicts a situation in which subdued people are afraid to criticise something or someone because the perceived wisdom of the masses is that the thing or person is good or important.

A morally flexible culture

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to a thing till you get there. – Josh Billings, American humourist Ethics, from ‘ethos’ – Greek for “character” – encompasses honesty, respect, integrity and professionalism. It’s defined as standards of moral behaviour or professional conduct which helps one to act in a certain

Missing: Agents of change

Change is the process by which the future invades our lives. – Alvin Toffler, American writer There has to be someone or something we can turn to for stopping the of ethics and morals leading to the dismantling of decency and orderliness. There is no reason or purpose to accept