It is a small village in the kecamatan of Tambusai, Kabupaten Rokan Hulu in the Province of Riau, Sumatra. During the Padri Wars of 1830's , Tuanku Tambusai (aka known as Fakeh Hj Muhammad Salleh ) fought the Dutch forces together with Imam Bonjol and Tuanku Rao in West Sumatra and in Northern Sumatra .The last defence was in Benteng 7 Lapis,Daludalu which fell in 1838. He escaped capture and came to Malaya. He was buried in Rasah in 1882.
Friday, April 09, 2010
Due Process
The term "due process" is usually used when the law has to take its course in bringing the accused to court and given a trial, and for those who had been a public servant involved in administration whether at local government level, district, State or Federal would have at least have been familiar with what is known as due process especially when an offence has been committed by a person directly or indirectly either as property owner or ordinary citizen when there is a breach of the law in the form of subsidiary legislations , State enactments or Acts of Parliament.
Often times we hear the phrase " Ignorance of the law is no excuse" which means all citizens are presumed to know the law related to the commission of the offence and when the authority issue a compound or when a summons to appear in court is served, one cannot plead ignorance by uttering " I am not aware of it" because it is presumed that everyone have been duly informed by publication of the government gazette.Nowadays I am not sure that people knows what a government gazette looks like, especially those who have no exposure to government administration. During my early days in government service I looked forward to see the government gazette when it was circulated by the office in order to know what was new in there, especially who were confirmed after finishing their probationary period as MCS officers because in determining one's seniority was not only the date of appointment but also more importantly the date of confirmation.
Recently there was a lot of fuss about a woman from Perak who was found guilty for breaching the Shariah law enacted in the State of Pahang, was spared the whip and the sentence commuted to doing community service, after due process of the law had taken place, because an appeal was made as provided for by the State Enactment. Thus whether the outcome of the due process of the law is accepted by everyone or not is immaterial, as long as the steps have been followed in accordance with the provisions of the law. In civil courts, the term " natural justice" do crop up whenever a person have been given the opportunity of being heard. This is also closely related to the term "due process" because if the principle is not observed by the prosecution, a flaw exists in the procedure and shall jeopardise the case before the court.
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2 comments:
You write on constitiution and you write on due process. Are you going for Phd in this area as well, yto outdo Dato' Dr Jins? I wish I knew half that much about law. I know at the end of a dadah arrest there will be .... dadah merbahaya ... B .. carrying mandatory death sentence, or something like that.
Dear Pak Cik,
A PhD would be a bonus should I have acquired it during my service with the government since a study leave not only allows you to draw your normal salary but an allowance to top it. Nevertheless I had no regrets because my interest in learning is a lifelong one, not for the sake of others but in keeping with one's faith.
The law had always a special appeal to me, particularly constitutional law because not many specialise in it perhaps there is not much money there. In my career which spanned more than three decades it had been of practical value because I always believe to go by the book. I suppose that is the manifestation of Rule of law and not by man. Since man is more often driven by the "Nafs" it is safer to be guided by the book.
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