With due respect to all parties concerned, I am not writing about the right or wrong in this case from the aspect of the judgement or the crime. No. I am writing about the value of things being contested and in this case it is an act of removing 120 eggs that were worth RM9.18 more than two decades ago.
The ex-UPM guard brought legal action at the High Court against UPM in the same year that he was dismissed (1986) seeking a court order to declare that his dismissal by the university was wrongful and sought that he be reinstated and compensated. After the High Court which had dismissed his suit in 2006, Palaniappan, now an odd-job worker, brought his case up for appeal which was dismissed yesterday. His counsel, M. Mohan Ghandi, told reporters that he would bring the case up for appeal to the Federal Court.
I am no legal expert but a citizen who is concerned about how the cost of the suit borne by tax payers' money is greater than the loss of RM9.18. I am expressing my concern about the opportunity cost of this case.
Secondly, even if he did remove the 120 eggs, are the eggs so precious that he must lose his job? Could he not be given a stern warning or put on probation? Are there people who are so pious in life that they can lose their sense of forgiveness and humanity by being dogmatic over RM9.18 worth of eggs?
In the first charge, it was difficult to prove dishonesty. How can one prove the intention to cheat? Then the article says that a fresh charge of taking out the eggs without the university's permission was framed against him.
To me, it is absurd that our legal system has to set aside precious time to talk about such a petty case about eggs when there is a backlog of cases especially the PKFZ which runs into millions.
I wonder if this is the most unusual case in history...
If we do simple mathematics, if a case worth RM9.18 takes 25 years, how long will it take to resolve other cases that run into millions and billions?
Apart from this, we read about defamation cases that run into millions. There seems to be little logic left that such incidents can occur. Then there are so many other public interest cases which are still pending including the TBH case, Kugan case, other corruption cases and so on.
There has to be greater effort to build harmony and unity rather than creating negative messages at the expense of other fruitful and worthwhile/pertinent activities which merit public attention and scrutiny. All we need is a little bit of love, kindness, tolerance and forgiveness for one another. Is that such a tall order?
johnnie lim this is yet another case of how our court &systems operates, and the thing they consider as importance. millions and billions have been stolen, but there is no case, but petty things like this they are ever so efficient. makes you want to cry doen't it?