2013: A roller coaster of local court cases

Six-year-old William Yau went missing in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya, on Jan 16. His body was found floating at Sungai Sireh jetty in Port Klang eight days later. Pressed to determine the cause of the little boy’s death, an inquest was called beginning March 12. The inquest which ended on May 31, saw a total of 21 witnesses testifying including the boy’s distraught parents. During the verdict, the Coroner’s court disproved theories that William was murdered or abused by his family, but rather, labelled the unfortunate incident as a misadventure. Coroner Mohd Hezri Shaharil said the location of an open drain near the field where William supposedly walked, strengthened the theory that the boy had accidentally slipped and knocked his head on the rocks in the drain and died.

The findings in the 2010 Auditor General’s report on the money mismanagement of the National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp), left a bitter mark on the government and it will be a while before Malaysians can put the incident behind them and move on with life. NFC executive chairman Datuk Seri Dr Muhamad Salleh Ismail who is former Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s husband was subsequently charged with two counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and two offences under the Companies Act last year. Shahrizat also filed a RM100 million defamation suit against PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli and PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin last year. However, the suit was short lived Shahrizat withdrew it on November 11, this year.

Sex bloggers Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee, better known by their nickname Alvivi, uploaded a picture on their Facebook page, depicting them eating bak kut teh (a pork dish) and describing it as fragrant, delicious and appetising, with a Selamat Berbuka Puasa greeting. Their Facebook page was permanently shut down after that. On July 16, they said they would only turn themselves in to the cops if they are “summoned personally” by the cops. Two days later, they faced three charges for their Ramadan bak kut teh greeting on their Facebook page and pornographic pictures in their blogs. They claimed trial for all three, at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

A group of men believed to be armed, landed on the shores of Lahad Datu, Sabah of February 12 and Malaysia had to bring in military forces to ward them off while protecting the nation. Former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Ismail Omar identifies the group as comprising Filipinos linked to the so-called 'Sulu Sultanate' from southern Philippines.Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak says, the Malaysian Government will try its best to handle the issue of intrusion before ousting them from the area. Later on, the standoff turned bloody as more than 10 Malaysian troops and even more intruders died in battle. On March 20, eight Filipino nationals were charged in the Tawau High Court over the Sabah incursion. They were charged under Section 121 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty, for waging war and Section 511 of the Penal Code, which also provides for life imprisonment, for harboring a terrorist group. Between April to July, over 30 more Filipinos were also charged for terrorism.

Arab Malaysian Banking Group (AmBank) founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi was shot dead on July 29, shocking Malaysians as the incident took place in broad daylight as he and his wife emerged from from the Kuan Yin Temple in Lorong Ceylon. The gunman, reportedly escaped in a taxi together with his accomplices after the incident. On Aug 16, the taxi driver Chew Siang Chee, 45, who allegedly ferried the suspected killer, claimed trial to possessing a pistol and four live bullets. On Oct 3, tow truck operator Koong Swee Kwan, was charged with murdering Hussain and attempting to murder his wife, Cheong Mei Kuen. He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death sentence if convicted.

It all started when on Dec 31, 2009, High Court Judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan ruled that the Home Minister’s decision to forbid Catholic weekly The Herald from using the word “Allah” in the publication was illegal, null and void. On Jan 5, 2010, the Home Ministry and Government appealed against High Court’s decision. On July 9, the Archbishop filed an application to the strike out the Government’s appeal but another three-member panel of the Court of Appeal rejected it unanimously on Aug 22. After the hearing of the Home Ministry’s appeal, the Court of Appeal, on Oct 15 this year, ruled that the The Herald, will not be allowed to use the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia edition because the court found that the usage of the name ‘Allah’ is not an integral part of the faith and practise of Christianity. The Herald has said it will appeal the decision by the Court of Appeal.

The government agreed to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate problems related to illegal immigrants in Sabah, dubbed as Project IC, on June 2, last year. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the RCI would be given six months to complete its investigation on the influx of illegal immigrants in Sabah. Key witnesses include former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir who denied any knowledge of Project IC and Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who said it is impossible that Dr Mahathir did not know about Project IC as such a large-scale operation could not have been carried out without the approval of the executive, especially as Dr Mahathir was also Home Minister in the 1980s and 1990s. The proceedings of the RCI ended on September 20 this year, with a full report of the investigation expected to be completed by the year-end.

On January 7, Malay right-wing group Perkasa published an article by blogger Zainuddin Salleh which had allegedly tarnished the image of High Court judge Datuk V.T. Singham. Singham had presided over Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's defamation suit against Utusan Melayu and its editor-in-chief, Abdul Aziz Ishak. At the time of publication of Zainuddin’s article, Singham’s decision on the defamation suit was still pending. On January 21, Singham ruled in favour of Anwar in the defamation suit, which was over the publication of two articles on his comments to BBC in an interview on homosexuality laws. Following the decision, Anwar initiated contempt proceedings and cited Ibrahim and Zainuddin for the attacks against Singham. On November 19, Ibrahim was sentenced to one day in jail and fined RM20,000 after being held in contempt by the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Zainuddin received four weeks' jail.

On Oct 23, a security guard working at the Ambank branch in USJ Sentral, Subang Jaya shoots dead a bank operations officer Norazita Abu Talib, 37. Norazita was allegedly shot in the face by the suspect with a pump gun when she opened the bank’s vault with another female officer. The suspect then fled with about RM450,000 from the vault. The police immediately formed a task force to investigate the case and arrest the suspect. The man was caught on Nov 11 at Kampung Belungkor, Kota Tinggi. On Nov 19, the Indonesian national, La Ode Ardi Rasila was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction. The 36-year-old also faced a second charge under Section 3 of the Firearms Act 1971 which provides the mandatory death sentence upon conviction, even if no injury was inflicted.