Young lawyers to drive Bar approval for sedition law protest

The Malaysian Insider
BY V. ANBALAGAN, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Seven years after marching to save the judiciary, the Malaysian Bar is expected to debate and approve today a peaceful march against the Sedition Act 1948 that has been used extensively this year.

Senior lawyers said this was significant, although not historical, as the Malaysian Bar had held such extraordinary general meetings (EGM) that touched on issues which breached on the basic rights of citizens.

They said the debate on the sedition law was timely following an unprecedented slew of charges slapped against opposition elected representatives, lawyers and activists.

Datuk Jagjit Singh said young lawyers, who make up 60% of the 15,500 members, had shown a lot of enthusiasm about the issues surrounding the 1948 law which was enacted during the colonial period.

"They are idealistic and full of energy. I will be there because I too feel strongly about the abuse of the sedition law," Jagjit, who has been a member of the Bar since 1968, said.

The former Bar council member remembered an EGM held in the early '70s to protest against the annual renewal of licence for newspapers under the former Printing Ordinance of 1948.

"That requirement basically curtailed our freedom of expression and free flow of information," he said.

After the EGM, a group of 42 lawyers marched to Parliament but police stopped them.

"We were charged with failure to disperse but luckily we were bound over for one year for good behaviour," he said.

Jagjit said it was the duty of lawyers under the Legal Profession Act to uphold the cause of justice without regard to the Bar’s own interest or that of its members.

"Our criticism at the EGM should be viewed as constructive as most of us do not have political interest," he said.

Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram recollected an EGM held in 1975 to discuss the now repealed Internal Security Act which was used indiscriminately. A lawyer, the late Abdul Razak Ahmad, had been arrested in the course of carrying out his duty.

He said the Bar president at that time was the law minister-cum-Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Yusof, who came under fire from members.

"The resolution was passed to condemn the detention of Razak who was later released," said Sri Ram who sat on the bench from 1994 to 2010.

Sri Ram, who is one of the 121 lawyers who supported the motion for the peaceful walk, said there was nothing surprising about today’s EGM as the complaint was that the sedition law was used indiscriminately.

He said in the past, the Bar had acted fearlessly and independently on public interest issues.

"This meeting to debate the Sedition Act is important as it infringes on the freedom of speech which is one of the cornerstones of our Federal Constitution," he said.

"My concern is that the Bar Council should not become a political organ," said Sri Ram.

Eric Paulsen said the recent prosecutions and investigations under the sedition law was akin to the Ops Lalang as even lawyers who gave their legal opinions were not spared.

(On October 27, 1987, police detained more than 100 politicians and activists under the ISA in a police operation, codenamed Ops Lalang, and some were held without trial for two years.)

"To me this is something unprecedented and I’m glad the Bar has risen to the occasion. I believe members will not fail the public," he said.

Paulsen, who is also Lawyers for Liberty executive director, said the peaceful walk, if approved, would be the members’ strongest protest against the law.

The last time the Malaysian Bar held an EGM was on May 11, 2012 where members approved a resolution condemning the police for using “excessive” and “indiscriminate” force to disperse Bersih 3.0 protesters on April 28.

The resolution, passed by way of voting, also demanded that the home minister and Inspector-General of Police apologised to the public and the media over police conduct during the rally.

The Bar, under the leadership of Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, organised the “March for Justice” in Putrajaya in 2007, calling for judicial reform and the investigation of a videotape allegedly showing lawyer, Datuk V. K. Lingam, fixing judicial appointments and judges’ case assignments.

The actions and intense lobbying led to the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry which called for corrective actions.

Last month, Seri Delima assembyman R.S.N. Rayer, also a lawyer, was slapped with two separate sedition charges over his "celaka celaka Umno" (damn damn Umno) remark.

Others who have also been charged with sedition included lawyer and Padang Serai MP N. Surendran of PKR, and Shah Alam MP and PAS central committee member Khalid Samad.

On September 2, Universiti Malaya law professor Dr Azmi Sharom was charged with sedition based on statements in an article over his comments about the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis which was published in a news portal on August 14.

Sabah politician David Orok was prosecuted under the same law on September 3 for allegedly insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad in a Facebook posting two months ago.

Freelance public speaker and preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussein pleaded not guilty on Wednesday for making a seditious statement which insulted Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor in a Facebook posting in November last year.

Human rights lawyer Edmund Bon is also being investigated for alleged seditious remarks made in an article in January.

The EGM is scheduled for 3pm at Dewan San Choon, Wisma MCA, in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. – September 19, 2014.