Federal Court judge Augustine Paul, who passed away yesterday, will be remembered by many Malaysians for his role in the Anwar trial during the reformasi era.
His frequent use of the word “irrelevant” during the Anwar corruption trial whenever Anwar’s defence counsel wanted to raise what they felt was pertinent evidence soon resulted in the word becoming something of a sarcastic buzz-word in Malaysia.
Paul’s meteoric rise through the judicial ranks, immediately before and after that trial, raised eyebrows.
One of his last major decisions was in the case of Kampung Buah Pala, where some 300 residents were facing eviction and the demolition of their ancestral village. On 24 June 2009, Federal Court judges Paul, Hashim Yusoff and Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff dashed the villagers’ hopes by unanimously rejecting their application for leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision that had overturned a landmark High Court verdict in their favour.
Augustine Paul sealed the villagers’ fate when he dismissed their leave application after holding that the issue of locus standi (legal standing) of the residents on the land had not been adequately addressed.
It was a decision that effectively killed off the villagers’ legal challenge and spelt the death knell for their historical settlement.
Three months later, by mid-September 2009, the developer’s demolition team had smashed the village to rubble amidst traumatic scenes among the villagers.
And another three months later, on 2 January 2010, Paul passed away – about a decade after delivering his 394-page guilty verdict and six-year jail sentence on Anwar.
Paul’s funeral will be held at an Anglican church, St Peter’s, in KL this afternoon. Brought up in Batu Gajah, he had previously attended Sunday Masses at a Catholic church, St Francis Xavier’s, in PJ.
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The comments left here are very moderate. At another online portal, they are not very kind. It brings me back to the day when the Mattress was brought in and out of court. The building was not even completed when the accused was said to have committed the crime in it. Puan Azizah and her little girls appeared in and out of court. Their family life changed forever and many more others sad things. God is merciful and he will forgive anyone who sincerely sorry for their sins. But can this man forgive himself for all the harm he had… Read more »
to daniel 5.20pm
(his) deeds did not stop at anwar’s in 1999. it continued well into the recent perak fiasco….
Augustine Paul’s conduct and personality is not for me to judge. However, as his fellow human on this planet Earth, this mortal do not deserve my respect at all.
KARMA KARMA KARMA
Ex-Kg Buah Pala residents should feel something good now.
Never forget LGE’s sedition statement….
It’s every man’s business to see justice done.
Sherlock Holmes [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Crooked Man,” Memories of Sherlock Holmes, 1892]
“Paul’s funeral will be held at an Anglican church, St Peter’s, in KL this afternoon. Brought up in Batu Gajah, he had previously attended Sunday Masses at a Catholic church, St Francis Xavier’s, in PJ.”
I am curious why he left the Catholic Church. Did the Catholic Church kick him out? Or the Catholic parish did? If anyone who has more info, perhaps can share it here.
Only Anwar and Anwar’s family can forgive him. What he did has brought much disgrace to all fair minded Malaysians. His conduct of the trial must be the biggest Malaysian joke of the last century….
i went GAGA!
Good riddance to a waste of space
I am not one to judge but its so obvious that he has sold his soul…..Still Lord forgive him.
Why don’t you just worry about your soul brother..For how you judge other, you will be judged..
If he did wrong, or is ‘irrelevant’ to the country,let God be the judge. We are not here to judge him. Judge not and you yrself will not be judged
Mist,
The reason is pretty obvious. Greed and power just like these BN/UMNO scumbags. He may be a christian but he is after all a man.
Of the many replies above, I like the one from Kunta Kinte the best.
A glut of intellect combined with scarcity of integrity makes for a cursed mix in any personality
Which sums up everything that is happening in Malaysia, not only to that … who croaked.
Thank God to save taxpayers’ money by reducing one name from the payroll.
If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all…so I won’t.
No pity for him…
Dying at 60 something…. never got to enjoy…
Many more to follow… Next..?
Good beginning to 2010…
When i read the news this morning that Paul Agustine has died, i was elated…
Thought of sms to his children about how HAPPY i am but my friends said dont “play play” with MACC…
I really cant help but am really, really very happy…
To those bad guys directly or indirectly involved in the deaths of Altantuya and Teoh Beng Hock, be very very scared from now on as your DAY is getting near…
I will get myself two cans of beer to celebrate…
To all the like-minded readers here, CHEERS !!!
Hope that someone congratulates you when you father died/ dies.
Not very nice isn’t it?
REMEMBER : ONly God Knows What Really Happened!
THERE WAS A BIGGER HAND AT PLAY. FIND THAT HAND IF YOU CAN.
Who are we to just another mortal? He may have had a reason (may be not at all valid in our view) for the various decisions especially the one affecting Anwar…
So let us wait for the demise of the puppet master himself, then all you judges and jury can have a field day. May his soul rest in peace.
Augustine “irrelevant” paul has died and we continue to vilify, condemn, curse and show our contempt for him. Do we really understand the man ? Or are we angry with him by what he had done and assumed that the had done so due to greed ? If our emotive responses were based on some preconceived idea of the man than there is no understanding. He had done some terrible things to DSAI and to the nation but do we really know the motivation or the pressure he was under to deliver a verdict that was acceptable…? Until and unless… Read more »
he acn have all the full page obituaries he wants….
how ironic for him to pass his last judgement against his own kind… before he will be judged….
For me, i wont shed a tear for him.
What a waste of talent! So much intellectual promise that has now remained a promise merely because … of a consistent litany of case laws….
A glut of intellect combined with scarcity of integrity makes for a cursed mix in any personality….
We all making mistakes in our lives. Simply because we have pride, hatred and jealousy. This world is only temporary and as Christians, we ought to make correction (rather repentance). If we do wrong against another person, we need to reconcile with that person. If Augustine has made mistake in his judgment in Anwar case, he should get forgiveness from Anwar before he could ask forgiveness from God. So, please donot offend anyone in this world. But, it is now all between Anwar, Augustine and God. I will encourage all to have mercy on others and always forgive others. Your… Read more »
From dust you came, unto dust you shall return…Riches, status and honour shall have no part in it.
When one is entrusted with the role of fair judgement and abuses it, the above remarks pour out. I pity the fool!