Judges fixated on ‘locus standi’ preventing public interest actions: Tommy Thomas

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KUALA LUMPUR – The stymieing of public interest litigation (PIL) in Malaysia has come under a blistering new spotlight as Tan Sri Tommy Thomas chided the country’s judiciary for whipping up the “locus standi” card and hampering access to justice.

The former attorney-general said the legal fraternity and the judiciary should undertake more PIL cases to ensure that the federal constitution’s focus on fundamental liberties, as enshrined in part 2 of the document, receives wider interpretation.

Thomas said the Malaysian judiciary has yet to emulate its Indian counterpart in allowing more PIL cases to be heard – instead of being dismissed on grounds of locus standi.

The issue of locus standi is critical as it refers to one’s right or standing to bring a legal action to a court of law. Judges have been known to dismiss attempts to bring public interest matters to court on grounds that the individual or group pursuing the matter lacks locus standi.

Thomas said that the Indian courts throughout, except for an odd review, would even strike constitutional amendments passed on a two-thirds majority in the nation’s Parliament as being unconstitutional, therefore protecting and enlarging fundamental liberties.

“Whereas our courts, as you know, never did that,” he said. “So that is the result. It is a failure on the part of the courts, sad to say.

“Because for both cases, the executive was minded to shrink space, Parliament was controlled by the executive, (and) it was the judiciary left to do its duty.

“One judiciary did its duty and one did not do it so well.”

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