COMMENT | “Rule of law”. A phrase often used by our former prime minister, politicians, lawyers, and those in the position of power in the former Malaysia Baharu. But what does rule of law even mean? More importantly, what does it mean to LGBTQ+ persons in Malaysia, who have long been excluded from the fairness and principles of it?

The doctrine of rule of law was popularised by British jurist AV Dicey in 1885, who viewed it in three principles known as “absolute supremacy of law”. Former lord chief justice of England and Wales, Tom Bingham, propounded the quintessential modern description by defining eight fundamental elements of rule of law.