Justice a la carte

Under normal circumstances, any change of judges hearing a case does not bat anyone’s eyelid. But for a high profile case, there should have been no changes, if at all possible, to avoid any perception of bias in the choice of a judge, in this case, obligated or at least friendly to the ruling party.

This has happened before, and looks like it is happening again and again, without any regard to public perception. The decision makers could not have been naïve not to know of the effects it has on the public, and one would only conclude arrogance rears its ugly head again. Nathaniel Tan calls it shamelessness:

jelas: judge-changed-without-reason-in-nizar-zambry-suit

Wow. It seems that shamelessness is a hallmark of the Najib era.
Not one, but two judges were parachuted suddenly, and with absolutely no reason given, to hear cases related to the Perak constitutional crisis. Malaysiakini:
Abdul Aziz is a High Court judge who was just transferred from Sarawak. Today was his first day at work in Kuala Lumpur.
Justice Balia Yusof Wahi is a High Court civil division judge who had been brought specifically from Kuala Lumpur to hear the case.
According to one of the lawyers representing Sivakumar, Edmund Bon, they were not informed of the change until the very last minute.
Bon also said that no reason was given for the change.
Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail was present for that case making his submission for the Election Commission.
And surprise, surprise. Justice Balia has basically already ruled for Najib. I will bet my bottom dollar that the other judgment will go in exactly the same way.
We talked so much of wanting to become a first world developed country. The media in any such country would have crucified the judiciary for such blatantly irregular practices - bringing hand picked judges to deliver hand picked judgments? Goodness.
I think in this way, there is nothing differentiating Najib and Mahathir. The former will likely try to buy every single judge until he controls the judiciary.
My fellow Malaysians, I hope you never have to appear in court under such a regime.
What was the name of that movie? Justice, my foot!!