Bar Council man suggests court order against Bersih invalid

The Malaysian Insider 
by Hafidz Baharom

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 ― The court order barring Bersih rally participants on April 28 from entering Merdeka Square may have been null and void, the Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) public inquiry heard today.

Roger Chan, a Bar Council observer, said the court order had not been gazetted by a government-certified printer as was required under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), during the testimony of the former police chief of Dang Wangi district.

“ACP Mohamad Zulkarnain Abd Rahman, are you aware that if a notice is not gazetted, then the court order is considered null and void?” he said, asking the former police chief of Dang Wangi district who answered in the affirmative.

Chan said that if the court order had not been gazetted, then the barricades erected around the square were illegal. Mohamad Zulkarnain disagreed.

“If you did not see anything or hear anything, was there still a threat to public health and national security?” Chan asked.

Mohamad Zulkarnain said the protesters were still a threat to public health and national security since the roads could not be used and they were disrupting the peace.

Bersih observer Andrew Khoo also grilled the senior police officer on the contents of the court order, noting that the court’s designated “forbidden zone” had not included Lebuh Pasar and Jalan Tun Perak where barricades were set up. “I don’t contend the court order, but I do not remember this map included with the court order,” Mohamad Zulkarnain said.

Khoo said that the court order also included a paragraph that said the police did not receive any notification from Bersih by April 26 regarding the rally, a point he contested with a letter from Empower dated April 13.

“The language in this court order was written by someone else. I used my authority to sign it,” Mohamad Zulkarnain said.

But panel chief Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee said that the police officer, being the signatory, had to bear the responsibility for the sworn statement that was the basis of the court order.

When asked if he could specify the chain of command, Mohamad Zulkarnain said the Kuala Lumpur Chief of Police (CPO), Datuk Mohmad Salleh, or his deputy could have given orders to his subordinates directly.

The response prompted Danial Albert, a second Bersih observer, to suggest Mohmad be called as a witness given that he may have overridden Mohamad Zulkarnain on the day.

“Seeing as how this witness testified that the CPO could be giving contradicting orders of the ACP, we ask that he be brought forward to testify in front of the panel,” said Danial Albert, another Bersih observer.

The panel chief agreed and asked the SUHAKAM secretariat and police observers to work on the request.

The inquiry resumes on October 8.