Roger Tan appointed water commissioner

New Sunday Times

KUALA LUMPUR: New Sunday Times columnist and lawyer Roger Tan has been appointed a member of the National Water Service Commission.

Tan confirmed the appointment in his website, saying he had been appointed a commissioner by Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui for two years, beginning June 1.

Tan was involved in the corporatisation of the Johor Water Supply Department and drafting the Water Supply Enactment 1993 of Johor.

He had also acted as the external legal consultant for the Johor government in various water privatisation projects.

Earlier in March, Tan was appointed a board member of the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation by the Housing and Local Government Ministry.

Tan was also a four-term member of the Malaysian Bar.

The barrister-at-law from Gray's Inn, London, holds a Bachelor of Law (hons) degree from Queen Mary College of London University and a master's of law from the National University of Singapore.

Choosing the best to sit on the Bench

WITH the coming into force of the Judicial Appointments Commission (Selection Process and Method of Appointment of Judges of the Superior Courts) Regulations 2009 on June 1, the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) should now be fully operational.

The JAC, a legacy of former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was set up by the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009 (Act 695), which came into force on Feb 2.

The main function of the JAC is to select suitably qualified persons who merit appointment as judges for the prime minister's consideration so that the prime minister, if he accepts any of the persons recommended by the JAC, may proceed to tender his advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in accordance with Article 122B of the Federal Constitution, which provides that superior court judges are appointed by the king, acting on the advice of the prime minister, after consulting the Conference of Rulers.

Only persons who are qualified under Article 123 of the Federal Constitution may apply for selection as a High Court judge. Such a person must be a citizen and, for the 10 years preceding his appointment, must have been an advocate of those courts, or any of them, or a member of the judicial and legal service of the federation or of a state, or sometimes one and sometimes another.

In the case of a qualified person who is a serving judicial and legal service officer, the application has to be submitted through the head of department, who will forward the application to the JAC together with the relevant service information and a statement as to whether he supports the application or otherwise.

In relation to vacancies in the Federal Court and the Court of Appeal, the following persons may propose names to the JAC for selection:

(a) the retiring chief justice (CJ), for vacancy in the office of CJ;

(b) the CJ and the retiring president of the Court of Appeal (PCA), for vacancy in the office of PCA;

(c) the CJ and retiring chief judge of Malaya (CJM) and the retiring chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak (CJSS), as the case may be, for vacancy in the office of CJM or CJSS;

(d) the CJ, for vacancy in the office of a Federal Court judge; and,

(e) the CJ and PCA, for vacancy in the office of a Court of Appeal judge.

However, the JAC may also consider names proposed by eminent persons who have knowledge of the legal profession or who have achieved distinction in the legal profession in respect of vacancies in the Federal Court and the Court of Appeal.

The applicants must satisfy the selection criteria set out in section 23 of Act 695, which are:

- integrity, competency and experience;

- objective, impartial, fair and of good moral character;

- decisiveness, ability to make timely judgments and good legal writing skills;

- industriousness and ability to manage cases well; and,

- physical and mental health.

A person who is a serving judge or judicial commissioner must not be appointed if he has three or more pending judgments or unwritten grounds of judgments that are overdue by 60 days or more from the date they are deemed to be due.

In selecting candidates, the JAC must also take into account the need to encourage diversity in the range of legal expertise and knowledge in the judiciary.

The applicants are then subjected to a screening process by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Royal Malaysian Police, Companies JAC of Malaysia and Department of Insolvency Malaysia.

Only the applications of those who have passed the screening process will be considered by the selection committee.

In a selection meeting, the JAC shall select no fewer than three persons for each vacancy in the High Court and no fewer than two persons for each vacancy involving either the Federal Court or Court of Appeal judges.

The chairman of JAC shall also be the chairman of the selection meeting but he may nominate a judge from among its members to chair a selection meeting when selecting persons as High Court judges.

The quorum for every selection meeting shall be seven. Any vote taken at the selection meeting must be made by secret ballot and by majority decision. The decision of the JAC is final and conclusive.

Therefore, it is an offence for any person who wilfully gives false or misleading information, or directly or indirectly in any manner whatsoever, attempts to influence any decision or member of the JAC.

After making its selection, the JAC will submit the recommendation to the prime minister, which will contain the reasons for such selection and any other information which is necessary for his knowledge.

The prime minister may, after receiving such a report, request for two more names to be selected and recommended for his consideration with respect to any vacancy to the office of the CJ, PCA, CJM, CJSS, Federal Court and Court of Appeal judges.

In this respect, the JAC has to ensure that reserve candidates are available in order to comply with the prime minister's request.

Meanwhile, judges' salaries and perks have also been revised upwards and backdated to Jan 1 when the prime minister signed the Judges, Remuneration (Amendment of First, Second and Fifth Schedules) Regulations 2009 on May 18.

With this revision, the judges' monthly pensionable salaries (with previous salaries in brackets) are now as follows:

- CJ -- RM25,000 (RM18,367.80);

- PCA -- RM22,000 (RM16,102.44);

- CJM -- RM21,687.06 (RM15,949.37);

- CJSS -- RM21,129.50 (RM15,536.10);

- Federal Court judge -- RM19,186.91 (RM14,108.02);

- Court of Appeal judge -- RM18,470.85 (RM13,581.50); and,

- High Court judge -- RM17,754.76 (RM 13,054.97).

There is also a corresponding increase in the monetary value of the perks.

With that, it is hoped that more qualified aspirants will be encouraged to apply, especially those from the legal profession, but only time will tell whether all the above will bring about a more independent and transparent selection process in the appointment and promotion of judges.

Published in the New Sunday Times, 14 June 2009

Lawyer now a SPAN member

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Roger Tan has been appointed a member of the National Water Service Commission (SPAN), according to its website.

Tan confirmed he had been appointed a Commissioner by Energy, Green Technology, and Water Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui, for two years from June 1.

The barrister-at-law from Gray’s Inn, London, holds a degree in Bachelor of Law (Hons) from Queen Mary College of London University and a Master of Law from the National University of Singapore.

He was also a four-term member of the Malaysian Bar Council.

Being involved in the corporatisation of the Johor Water Supply Department, and drafting the Water Supply Enactment 1993 of Johor, Tan has also acted as the external legal consultant for the Johor state government in various water privatisation projects.

He was appointed a board member of the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation by the Housing and Local Government Ministry in March.

English can help rather than hinder

LAST Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin met seven Chinese educationist groups who want the teaching of Mathematics and Science in Chinese primary schools to be reverted to the Chinese language.

The Chinese educationists have been rather unhappy since the English for Teaching Mathematics and Science (ETeMS) policy was first announced by the former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on May 10, 2002.

To them, there is no valid reason for the implementation of ETeMS to be extended to Chinese primary schools when the first switch from teaching Maths and Science in English to Bahasa Malaysia in the late 1970s involved only the national schools.

The Chinese educationists have many reasons for opposing ETeMS, but to my mind, their main concern is actually this.

If the two subjects are taught in English, that spells the beginning of the end of Chinese primary schools in this country.

Apart from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Malaysia is the only other country which has the Chinese language as the medium of instruction in Chinese primary schools.

They suspect that if the ETeMS policy is implemented, there would come a day when non-Chinese-educated teachers will be roped in to teach Maths and Science in English in Chinese primary schools, thereby changing the character of the schools.

To them, this is an insidious attempt to do away with vernacular Chinese schools in this country.

To a certain extent, such a fear is not unfounded. Before independence, the British administrators in the 1951 Barnes Report had wanted to abolish the vernacular schools.

Then the 1960 Abdul Rahman Talib Report also brought about the new Education Act 1961, which contained the infamous Section 21(2) (now repealed) empowering the minister to convert any national-type vernacular primary school to a national primary school.

To the Chinese, education is the issue most dear to their hearts.

It often evokes strong emotion and passion in the Chinese community, and it is said that any political party which attends to the educational needs of the community will win their hearts and minds.

Likewise, any Chinese- based political party which advocates the closure of these schools will only be committing political suicide.

Today, more than 90 per cent of Chinese pupils study in Chinese primary schools, and close to 90 per cent of them also move on to national secondary schools after their primary education.

But what the educationists and Chinese-based political parties have failed to address since independence is the high drop-out rate among Chinese youths who are unable to cope with the switch to English or Bahasa Malaysia at the national secondary schools.

Hundreds of thousands of them also cease having further education after Form 5 due to their poor academic performance.

As a result, many of them end up with blue-collar jobs.

While it is novel that Chinese children in this country get to learn about their heritage and culture at primary school, it is really a sad thing if later thousands of them are unable to cope with their studies at the national secondary schools.

They must realise that having a good command of the Chinese language is not sufficient in this globalised world. This is evident in China these days where millions of youths are trying all sorts of ways to learn and become proficient in the English language.

In my opinion, learning Maths and Science in English in primary schools will help those pupils who later switch to national secondary schools.

It also increases their proficiency in English because, for example, if the students end up in the Science stream, they will be studying most of the subjects in English as all the Maths and Science subjects -- General Maths, Additional Maths, General Science, Chemistry, Physics and Biology are taught in English.

If they take only Maths and Science subjects in Form 6, they are as good as studying in an English school. This also makes the acquisition of knowledge in these subjects easier.

As I said before in this column, many of our Form Five students will not even be able to answer the English language paper of the Singapore Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE).

Today, that is the exact state of English proficiency among our young. Indeed, I have met many young Chinese teenagers who cannot comprehend or read a simple passage in English.

Already, most of them think in Mandarin before they form any sentences in English.

It is therefore not uncommon to hear sentences like, "You eat what?" or Ni chi shen me in Chinese instead of "What are you eating?" or "I never eat until" or Wo hai mei you chi dao instead of "I haven't eaten it yet".

I am not advocating the closure of these schools. But with the government's assurance that these schools will stay, the Chinese educationists should at least consider ETeMS favourably since six years in the vernacular schools will make the pupils proficient in their mother tongue, and this should really be the main purpose of vernacular schools anyway.

Similarly, this policy must be divorced from the implementation problems which I believe are surmountable if we have the will to carry it out.

As a start, with ETeMS, Remove classes should be abolished altogether.

Another way is to shorten the duration of secondary education to allow those who excel in UPSR to sit for SPM when they reach Form 4.

Those who are slower can spend an extra year to take the SPM examination when they reach Form 5.

All in all, our education system must not be allowed to progress at the pace of the slowest learners if we want to be competitive.

Published in the New Sunday Times, 31 May 2009