Lina Joy

I'm pondering what this means for all of us. Some of my friends see this as a blow for women's rights (which it is), others a blow against Christians. It is both these things, but only in as far as women and Christians are Malaysian. Because what has been undermined is the Constitution, and by implication, the rule of law in Malaysia. To deny someone the right to follow the religion of their choosing - there is no doubt that this is denying freedom of religion. Anything else is mere semantics. Our Constitution may be a living document, but it is one that is being buried alive.

I refrained from writing on this yesterday, having driven home in a state of rage and misery parallelled only once in my history as a political activist. Because I was hurting, am hurting, too bad to really be rational about this. But I'm trying. So please bear with me, I'm grieving. I'm grieving for the judiciary, I'm grieving for Lina Joy, I'm grieving for my nation. (Though I feel a small spark of satisfaction at thinking that Pembela have argued themselves out of being members of a meaningful profession - because what use is a lawyer, when there is no rule of law?)

We have lost the narrow boundary that preserved us from sliding into a theocracy. Which was Constitutional supremacy, upheld by an impartial judiciary. The judiciary, at least as represented by two of the three judges, decided that this was not their job, their job did not lie in upholding the law but ensuring a politically acceptable outcome. The last bastion of law and order has fallen.

Yes, a mob would have been a bad thing. It may well have happened. But a mob can be overcome. The police could have, within the bounds of the law, coped. How do we cope with the abdication of responsibility by the judiciary?

We have had our freedoms abrogated by acts of Parliament, in the past. And the judiciary has upheld that. But this is taking things further. The fundamental right of freedom of religion can be abrogated by mere regulations. Presumably that means so can the other fundamental freedoms.