Have uniform laws

Cleaning up: A contractor raking the litter trapped in a floating boom installed in Sungai Batu near Kampung Simpang Batu, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysians must realise that whatever we throw into the drain will eventually flow into the river.

The Sunday Star

Legally Speaking by Roger Tan

There should be a law to deal with all matters relating to our water resources, including management and preservation of rivers. 

THERE is a saying that if you follow the river, you will find the sea. But these days, this may not literally be the case any more. The old river may have already turned into a stream or its path has been severely obstructed by waste. 

Yet, whenever there is a flash flood, we would blame nature for causing the river to burst its banks. Take the Gombak River, for example. The flood problem has been there ever since the beginning of the century. 

As someone related to me, during the great flood of 1920 when Kuala Lumpur was inundated with a metre of water, workers had to paddle to work in sampans! When the water receded, the Chartered Bank, located at Benteng, actually spread millions of soggy bank notes to dry on the Selangor Club’s field (now Dataran Merdeka)! 

In another big flood a few years later, even the body of a tiger was swept through the city from upstream!

Hence, Malaysians must realise, if not begin to realise, that whatever you throw into the drain will eventually flow into the river. Waste must be properly disposed of, otherwise it will clog the drains and rivers. Similarly, if you discharge any environmentally hazardous substance into the river, it will cause pollution. 

Adult and baby diapers now 12.14% of waste disposed in Malaysia

The Star

by Isabelle Lai

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are throwing away more diapers each year, as the population ages and more elderly people have started using diapers, aside from babies, said the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry.

Its secretary-general Datuk Seri Arpah Abdul Razak said on Tuesday that diapers now formed 12.14% of the total waste disposed in the country.

“This shows that we have an ageing population as more senior citizens are using diapers, too,” she said in her presentation entitled “Solid Waste Management in Malaysia: A Way Forward” at the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) Congress 2013 in Austria.

AFP reported that Arpah shared Malaysia’s experience in transforming its solid waste management through three approaches.

The approaches are federalisation of solid waste management, privatisation of household solid waste collection services and treatment and disposal of solid waste.

Lawyers want Sabah and Sarawak to ease restrictions

The Star

PETALING JAYA: Senior lawyers have suggested peninsula lawyers to be allowed to practise in Sabah and Sarawak without a work permit to enhance national integration.

Lawyer Roger Tan said legal professionals in Sabah and Sarawak should adopt a progressive stance as integrating the legal systems and profession would ultimately benefit the nation. 

Lawyer Datuk V. Sithambaram said for a start, conditions for an ad hoc admission to the High Court of Borneo – if a lawyer from the peninsula were to work in the two states – should be eased. 

“It will be good in the long run to encourage lawyers in the two states and peninsula to learn from each other and stand together,” he said. 

Ex-judges must remain ethical

The Sunday Star

Legally Speaking by Roger Tan

Who a former judge later associates with and what he subsequently does or says will still be closely scrutinised by the public.

THE morning after I retired, a Rolls Royce arrived at my house with a message that I was required to attend a very important board meeting. Without further ceremony, I was taken to the penthouse of the Chartered Bank. Here, I was appointed chairman and required to call the meeting to order.

“There were only three items on the agenda. Caviar, champagne and any other matters arising therefrom. At noon, we adjourned to a private room in the Shangri-La for a sumptuous lunch. When I was driven back home at 3pm, I greatly regretted I had not retired years earlier!”

Those were the bantering words of one of Malaysia’s most celebrated judges, Tun Mohamed Suffian, at a dinner given in his honour shortly after his retirement as Lord President on Nov 12, 1982. At first glance, these may well be facetious remarks, but it does go to show that a retired judge can be commercially marketable and become an asset for any organisation to be associated with.

Needless to say, who an ex-judge later associates with and what subsequently he does or says will still be closely scrutinised by the public. His judicial conduct during his pre-retirement or resignation days may even be called into question if he later exhibits strong inclinations or preferences whether politically, socially or morally.

However, currently, the Judges’ Code of Ethics 2009, made pursuant to Article 125(3B) of the Federal Constitution, does not deal with the conduct of judges after their retirement or resignation. Hence, an ex-judge will have to be guided by his own conscience when he embarks on any post-retirement activities. Most of them will become an arbitrator or join a legal firm as its consultant or a statutory body as its chairman. To date, only three are said to have returned to the court as counsel – Tun Mohamed Salleh Abas, Datuk Kamalanathan Ratnam (better known as R.K. Nathan) and Datuk Gopal Sri Ram.