WITHIN all cultures, especially in modern civil law settings, institutional forgiveness is equated with some kind of unconditional pardon for crimes committed, and through remorse and prison terms to be served. In fact, based on that famous OJ Simpson, who was released from prison recently; they too have some kind of legally instituted Pardons Boards to review such cases based on agreed ground rules.

For another example, recently it was reported that the Selangor State Pardons Board recommended and the Sultan of Selangor pardoned a criminal.

ARAU: The Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah on Friday commuted the death sentence of a civil servant to life imprisonment. Joe (not his real name), 52, currently serving time at the Perlis Correctional Centre (PKP) here, was sentenced to death for the murder of a Pakistani man in Selangor in March 1996.

My particular retort in this three-part column about Blue Bloods shows why or how our ‘blue boys’ may have bloodied by their hands by sheer ignorance of the primacy of our civil law system.

My colleagues in blue

The first graduates from University of Malaya entered the police force about the time I joined the Public Services in the early 1970s. Tun Haniff Omar was the first ever university graduate and he established some good and notable standards for good governance.

When we at the NITC alerted and warned the whole nation-state about the dangers of the internet age and its future disruptive technology in 1997, we clearly foresaw things to come in the information and knowledge age.

We even went to Bukit Aman and briefed the entire leadership of the police force in the late 90’s. Why then are my true blue friends not comprehending the core issues of this new age? Why then do we not focus our pursuit of real criminals and radicals; as we did with armed communists in yesteryears? Are these ethical failures not also white collar crimes?

Are these not our real priorities of our police force?

Furthermore dear Royal Police, can we not do better with modern science based forensics with today’s criminal law enforcement? Why then do we lose so many criminal cases in courts?

The men in blue of Malaysia must learn to “use their brains more and not to get their eyes and hands so bloody with non-reason.”

The close-one-eye culture of blindness to good reasoning, distracts from learning to become true blue bloods with a singular commitment and conviction about the nature of civil and criminal laws in Malaysia.

Moral, ethical and spiritual issues in Malaysia

There is no confusion at all that Malaysia is a secular moral, ethical, and spiritual nation-state. Secularity only means that we do not use any particular set of religious values to define criminality in public and civil space. We have civil laws for that.

There is a civilised set of moral and ethical guidelines (premised upon religious thinking and being) found within all our religious worldviews. But, these are always the jurisdiction of personal values; our personal faces and spaces.

Spirituality is by definition, always, a personal faith-based journey of getting ready to meet our creator; both here and there. That is not the jurisdiction for any state; whether local, regional, or global. Morality and ethics can be developed or evolved by universal values of right and wrong; as a common space and culture for ordinary people. - January 1, 2018.

* KJ John worked in public service for 32 years, retired, and started a civil group for which he is chairman of the board. He writes to inform and educate, arguing for integration with integrity in Malaysia. He believes such a transformation has to start with the mind before it sinks into the heart!

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.