Torn between duty and family: A law commissioner’s moral maze

By Lim Chui Choo

The award-winning Tang Mei Yun troupe, with its veteran performers and emerging talents, returned recently to Penang by popular demand – thanks to George Town World Heritage Inc.

The “chessboard game” of “Dilemma between Justice and Relationships” captivated full-house audiences at the Phor Tay Secondary School Sports Centre in Penang on 28-29 September 2024. Nearly a thousand opera fans thronged each show.

A unique theatrical experience, it evoked the nostalgia of ancient culture and heritage and reminded us that the rule of law must reign supreme.

Young musicians did justice to the engaging two-hour show, performing with aplomb in a blend of traditional opera and contemporary musical elements.

The intricate tale involves a newly appointed commissioner of law, Liu Chien-ping, caught in a dilemma while administering justice in an abduction and murder case involving his future brother-in-law, Yen Pai-chu.

The plot weaves together challenges, emotions, gratitude and righteousness, and includes a discourse on the code of law, which guides how justice is ultimately served.

Liu is an orphan raised and mentored by his future father-in-law, Justice Minister Yen Hui, and he is about to marry the minister’s daughter.

On his way to take up his new post as law commissioner, Liu is stopped by a fisherman, Chang Fan, who pleads for justice regarding the unknown whereabouts of his fiancée and her mother.                               

Through skilful questioning, Liu discovers from his future wife that her brother Yen Pai-chu had forcibly taken the fisherman’s fiancée as his wife and accidentally killed her mother!

Torn between “a life for a life” justice and his gratitude to his mentor, Justice Minister Yen Hui, the new law commissioner initially errs and rules leniently in favour of his brother-in-law (the minister’s son) Pai-chu.

Liu sentences Pai-Chu to 40 strokes of the cane to appease the fisherman, who is reunited with his fiancée.                                      

Hoping to resolve the murder case artfully, Liu invites the arrogant and unrepentant Pai-chu to a banquet, but Pai-Chu instead attempts to silence Liu by throwing him into a lake!

Fortunately, the law commissioner is rescued by the fisherman and his wife.

Liu then set off to the capital to meet the justice minister, his mentor, to tell him the truth.

The outstanding 60-year-old Tang Mei Yun assumes the later demanding (male) role of a conflicted Liu “on the horns of a dilemma” in the highly charged meeting where “lives and deaths are serious matters” but the “law is steadfast as the mountains”.

Compounding Liu’s dilemma is the imperial censor, whom the emperor had dispatched to investigate the ‘missing’ Liu.

The censor later offers to “settle matters privately” with Law Commissioner Liu regarding the attempted murder by Pai-chu.

You see, the censor himself has an ulterior motive. He wants his own son-in-law, who was sentenced to death by the justice minister (Liu’s mentor and future father-in-law), to be let off the hook.

The censor also has evidence of Liu’s brother-in-law Pai-chu’s crime. (The latter’s loyal servant was arrested during the investigations to become a witness to the attempted murder by Pai-chu.)  

Law Commissioner Liu finds the censor’s offer a tempting way to resolve the complicated case on his hands.           

However, the wisdom of his mentor, the righteous Justice Minister Yen Hui, prevails. The minister’s words highlighting “mini missteps, major mistakes” and “a wall built on tainted soil no paint can whitewash” ring in Liu’s ears.

These words prompt Liu, despite the risk of being accused of making a biased judgment and deceiving the emperor, to courageously reopen the case to ensure justice prevails.

The complex web of officialdom and deceit – “where officials settle matters privately” – mirrors the political scenario here. The tale holds hidden gems of wisdom for public officials appointed to serve justice to reflect on.

The call to uphold the law reminds me of the legendary Pao Kong, a Chinese official of the Song Dynasty, venerated for his integrity and sense of justice. That tale enraptured me as a child.

“Dilemma between Justice and Relationships” was as fascinating and inspiring to me at 72!

Lim Chui Choo is a Penang-based reader of Aliran.

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