I am appalled by our beloved Minister in Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Aziz's statement in describing the lawyers as part of the opposition.
As a chambering student, I really feel that we (the lawyers) need to do something about the state of the judiciary, as the government is going to give us another lip-service with, "We will investigate and come back to the public with the investigation report".
Haven't we been listening to this all the time? Or are we so forgetful that such a statement would lull us into thinking that at least the government is going to do something about the matter. I think the latter is true because after some time, we will get back into our daily routine and mind our own business - and that is what the government wants us to do.
The fact that the lawyers are outraged shows that we are concern. And if the government is not prepared to do anything positive to show that it is interested to salvage the already tarnished image of the judiciary ever since the 1988 crisis, then I do not know how much lower do we need the judiciary to stoop before we do something.
If Nazri thinks that the lawyers' action in staging the 'Walk for Justice' is the right of only the opposition, then I suggest that he advise the Umno supreme council to haul up all the Pemuda Umno members, especially Khairy Jamaluddin, and question them why they acted like the opposition when the United States state secretary Condoleezza Rice came here the last time.
If I remember correctly, Pemuda Umno also staged a 'peaceful' walk to the KL Convention Centre to hand over a memorandum to her. And just like the 'Walk for Justice', there were police personals deployed, but it was 'surprising' to see how Khairy forced himself through the 'police barrier' and not get arrested like any opposition party members would have under such circumstances.
Well, maybe the brighter side to Nazri's statement would be that he finally had some good advice from his pals to depart from his usual statement - "We are the government that is selected by the rakyat, thus what we do is the reflection of the rakyat's will". Looks like it is high time for the rakyat to show otherwise.
