Justice of Peace revoked

The Sultan of Johor’s decision to revoke all Justice of Peace (JP) awards in the state is an applaudable effort to save the honour of titles given by the state.

The prestige of state-bestowed titles in particularly the JP must be maintained and the appointments should be confined to deserving individuals for their contributions to society rather than due to political connections.

Sultan of Johor gave a spot-on explanation on why the irrelevancy of JPs in today's society as there were enough legally-qualified magistrates serving in the courts.

Technically, a JP is a second class magistrate. However, many JPs are not legally qualified with some are even illiterate. Therefore, it is time for the people to understand that JPship are no longer relevant or needed to honour individuals for their contributions to society because there are many other titles for that purpose.

All heads of states should take the cue from Sultan of Johor by stop giving out JP awards with immediate effect. This is especially so since most rulers have stopped appointing JPs for many years. Johor has not appointed JPs since 1980, Penang (23 years), Pahang (12 years) and Selangor (11 years).
Lim Lip Eng