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BBC and Reuters have some updates on the prosecution of Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy. Dubbed “Sodomy 2” by the local media, the case is actually in all likelihood just another attempt by the ruling coalition to dirty Anwar’s reputation. The articles do contain some interesting comments about the state of Malaysia’s judiciary. Here are some highlights from Reuters:

Malaysia has made some progress in cleaning up its commercial courts, dogged by complaints of delays and inefficiency, said the Bar Council’s Lim, who noted that trial disposal rates had shot up to 597 in 2009 from 87 in 2008.

I do think Said Ibrahim at the end gets it right – UMNO has focused its efforts on keeping the senior judges loyal. Occasionally, lower courts might issue a controversial ruling, but those generally get overturned by the Federal Court. I expect the High Court’s  “Allah decision” will too.

Here’s a brief book review I just posted on Amazon.com about Constitutionalism and Dictatorship: Pinochet, the Junta, and the 1980 Constitution (Cambridge Studies in the Theory of Democracy) by Robert Barros. As I state in the review, the book presents a fascinating argument about constitutions in dictatorships, but doesn’t develop it well enough to apply elsewhere. As such, the book is probably only of interest to scholars of Chile’s history or hardcore constitutional law nuts. I will argue in an upcoming paper that Barros’ theory might help explain Burma’s new constitution (more on that later). Here’s the review:


In Constitutionalism and Dictatorship, Barros provides some fascinating alternative perspectives on courts in authoritarian regimes. He proposes that the Chilean Junta drafted the 1980 constitution i large part to institutionalize the junta and allocate power among all four branches of the defense services. Contrary to popular opinion, Pinochet did not wield absolute power, but rather all stakeholders in the junta limited their own power in order to convince the other branches that they would abide by the rules. Thus, the Tribunal Constitucional was created to enforce the authority of Pinochet in the executive and of the air force and navy as the legislative branch.

As a book though, I found Constitutionalism and Dictatorship both too long and too short. First, for those readers who know nothing about Chile – like me – it doesn’t provide much context. Barros frequently referred to other prominent politicians in the junta, but I didn’t have the context to appreciate some of his comments. The book seems geared toward readers with an interest and background in Chilean history. However, for readers primarily interested in constitutional theory, the book might seem a bit too long. The intricacies of the constitutional negotiations might be much. Indeed, Barros only gets to the tribunal 2/3 into the book. If you just want to understand his theory, I recommend reading one of his articles instead. 

In yet another sign of the increased focus on the rule of law in the development community, the U.N. recently launched a website for its Rule of Law projects. The site connects all of the various U.N. agencies that work on rule of law projects and makes their research accessible to the public. Unfortunately for Rule by Hukum, the site does not categorize projects by country or region, so the only interview you’ll get of the U.N.’s rule of law work in Southeast Asia is a brief summary at the bottom of the homepage.

I thought I’d post this useful link in case anybody who reads this blog is interested in the American Bar Association’s rule of law projects in Southeast Asia. The ABA’s Perspectives from the Field 2009 Update was actually held back in March, but I recently had to find the link again for something I am working on. It contains presentations by ABA staff from Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines, as well as a panel on China. Podcasts on all of the sessions are free and easy to download. Here’s the link:

http://www.abanet.org/rol/perspectives_09/podcasts.shtml

The National University of Singapore, Southeast Asia’s premier law faculty, recently opened a Centre for International Law (CIL). Unlike most centers for international law, this one seems destined to focus on Southeast Asia in particular. In fact, one of the CIL’s first projects is “Integration through Law: The ASEAN Way in a Comparative Context.” You can read the project’s mission statement online.