PRIME MINISTER waiting to be kickout
Is this the man?
The custodian of the dying ember?
The man who generations to come will remember as the last man standing, before the new dawn set in?
OR
Is this the man who is going to set in an even more harsh regime?
To ensure he and his team will have a long run on the nation?
Driven by chauvinism, and detested by the international as well as the domestic society?
Is this the start of a dynasty in the Malaysian Public Life?
Does this mean that we Malaysians are so incapable that we need a select few families to tell us how to live our lives?
Are we so dependent that all aspects of our lives need to be controlled?
Are we so handicapped that we need these political dynasties to teach how to interact with each other?
CAN WE THE MALAYSIAN PEOPLE RISE TO THE OCCASSION WHEN THE NATION NEEDS US?
CAN MALAYSIA DEPEND ON US?
The custodian of the dying ember?
The man who generations to come will remember as the last man standing, before the new dawn set in?
OR
Is this the man who is going to set in an even more harsh regime?
To ensure he and his team will have a long run on the nation?
Driven by chauvinism, and detested by the international as well as the domestic society?
Is this the start of a dynasty in the Malaysian Public Life?
Does this mean that we Malaysians are so incapable that we need a select few families to tell us how to live our lives?
Are we so dependent that all aspects of our lives need to be controlled?
Are we so handicapped that we need these political dynasties to teach how to interact with each other?
CAN WE THE MALAYSIAN PEOPLE RISE TO THE OCCASSION WHEN THE NATION NEEDS US?
CAN MALAYSIA DEPEND ON US?
Just look at the tragedy that the Malaysian Parliament has become.What kind of political rubbish is this? What’s the point in discussing issues in debates on TV, when the same issues cannot be discussed in Parliament?Democracy is still the best known civilized form of governing a country. Sure it has many flaws depending on each country. Unfortunately over the last 50 years, our democracy has become more flawed rather than improving. Malaysia has its own share of aberrations piled up during the last fifty years.
The point I am trying to make is in our anger against the flaws of democracy we should not be tempted to throw away the system itself. Anything that follows will be worse. The need of the hour is to have vigilant civil society groups to protest and bring about corrections at local, state and centre level.
The Dewan Rakyat today passed the controversial Peaceful Assembly Bill, which bars street protests, with only six adjustments to the original proposal, and after a walkout by the opposition as well as a protest march led by lawyers.
Despite this morning’s big show from more than 1,000 Bar Council members and strident objections from the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) bloc who staged a walkout from the Dewan Rakyat, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government got its way.
The Bill was swiftly passed with the six amendments revolving around the advance notice required for an assembly.
Holding a government accountable, however, is of little value if it is ad hoc and necessitates violence. Rather, meaningful accountability occurs when it is embedded in a legal system based on a societal expectation that the government serves the people, not the other way around Egypt has a rich legal history that has produced one of the most complex and sophisticated legal systems in the Middle East. But this very system has been one of the strongest tools in the arsenal of Egypt's dictators. Mubarak and his predecessors were notorious for concentrating their power through rule by law.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today the government was following in the footsteps of toppled Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak by barring protests from taking place on the streets and at least 20 other kinds of venues.
“The prohibition of places like kindergartens follows Hosni Mubarak’s military rule,” the opposition leader said when debating the Bill that has been criticised by several quarters as being more repressive than existing regulations.
Mubarak’s 30-year presidency came to an end in February this year after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered to demand his exit.
The PKR de facto leader was replying to his colleague and Kuala Kedah MP Ahmad Kassim who asked “what is the meaning” of the long list of prohibited areas.
The Bill prohibits assemblies from being held at dams, reservoirs, water catchment areas, water treatment plants, electricity generating stations, petrol stations, hospitals, fire stations, airports, railways, land public transport terminals, ports, canals, docks, wharves, piers, bridges, marinas, places of worship and kindergartens and schools.
Anwar questioned how the government intended to “become the best democracy in the world” when it was “making it more difficult to gather than in Zimbabwe and Myanmar.”
He was referring to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement just days after his September 15 pledge of democratic reforms, including repealing the controversial Internal Security Act (ISA), that the move was to make Malaysia the world’s best democracy.
But critics have said that the proposed law is more repressive than those in countries like Myanmar, which has one of the world’s poorest human rights records.
Myanmar’s military-dominated Parliament passed a law last week allowing street protests and a notice period of just five days, fewer than the 10 days required by the Peaceful Assembly Bill.
“The new law is even more repressive than Section 27 of the Police Act. Powers held by the police and the minister have not changed, only the timeframe for them to act,” the Permatang Pauh MP said, referring to the provision that requires a police permit for all public gatherings.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has called for the Bill to be withdrawn and put before a parliamentary select committee.
Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia(picture) had allowed just three opposition MPs to debate the Bill, all of whom asked for it to be withdrawn and put before a select committee.
“This is our way of rejecting the Bill until we have a select committee,” PKR’s Subang MP R. Sivarasa told The Malaysian Insider as the opposition lawmakers left Parliament.
“This Bill does not protect national security, only the security of BN leaders,” said PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who was the last PR MP allowed to speak.
Critics have said the proposed law, which bars street protests, is more repressive than those in countries like Myanmar, which has one of the world’s poorest human rights records.
Myanmar’s military-dominated Parliament passed a law last week allowing street protests and a notice period of just five days, fewer than the 10 days required by the Peaceful Assembly Bill.
“The Malaysian Bar is resolute that any attempt to regulate a fundamental liberty guaranteed under the Federal Constitution must only be done after due consultation with all stakeholders, including opposition parliamentarians and civil society groups.”–Lim Chee Wee, President, Malaysian Bar CouncilDear Wakil Rakyat,
You may have heard that the Malaysian Bar opposes the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 (“PA 2011”) on the grounds that it imposes unreasonable and disproportionate fetters on the freedom of assembly that is guaranteed under the Federal Constitution.There are provisions in PA 2011 that are far more restrictive than the current law, such as the banning of “street protests” (assemblies in motion or processions) and the unlimited powers vested in the police to dictate the time, date, place and conduct of an assembly.
There are also provisions in PA 2011 that are simply illogical. As an example, although Police do not need to be notified of a religious assembly, such an assembly cannot be held at a place of worship.
Furthermore, a person living within 50 metres of a kindergarten or school cannot hold an open house for a festival, a funeral procession or a wedding reception.
The Prime Minister, in his Malaysia Day speech on September 15, 2011, promised the Rakyat of the following:
I often opine that long gone is the era in which the government knows everything and claims monopoly over wisdom. . . .
The government will also review Section 27 of the Police Act 1967, taking into consideration Article 10 of the Federal Constitution regarding freedom of assembly and so as to be in line with international norms on the same matter. . . . (emphasis added)
Be confident that it is a strength and not a weakness for us to place our trust in the Malaysian people’s intelligence to make decisions that will shape the path of their own future. . . .It is absolutely clear that the steps I just announced are none other than early initiatives of an organised and graceful political transformation.
It stands as a crucial and much needed complement to the initiatives of economic transformation and public presentation which the government has outlined and implemented for over two years in the effort to pioneer a modern and progressive nation. . . .
In closing, I wish to emphasise that free of any suspicion and doubt, the Malaysia that we all dream of and are in the process of creating is a Malaysia that practices [sic] a functional and inclusive democracy where public peace and prosperity is preserved in accordance with the supremacy of the constitution, rule of law and respect for basic human rights and individual rights.
‘Outrageous to prohibit processions’
PA 2011 is neither consistent with “international norms”, nor “in accordance 
with the supremacy of the Constitution, rule of law and respect for basic human rights and individual rights”. Instead, the Bill will take us further away from being “a modern and progressive nation”.
with the supremacy of the Constitution, rule of law and respect for basic human rights and individual rights”. Instead, the Bill will take us further away from being “a modern and progressive nation”.It is outrageous that assemblies in motion are prohibited. Assemblies in motion provide the demonstrators with a wider audience and greater visibility, in order for others to see and hear the cause or grievance giving rise to the gathering.
Assemblies in motion has been described as “a potent method of expression and is a common phenomenon in democratic societies”[1].
History is replete with peaceful assemblies in motion, which were agents of change and of good.
Processions led to nation’s founding
On February 27, 1946 Onn Jaafar, founding father of UMNO and the grandfather of our present Minister for Home Affairs, led a procession of 15,000 individuals to protest the establishment of the Malayan Union, which disregarded the interests of the Malay Rulers and the Malays.
This was the first of a series of processions that successfully opposed the Malayan Union, and later led to our nation’s independence.On February 27, 2008, the then-Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi led 20,000 people in a one-kilometre procession from the Batu Pahat UMNO office to the stadium to commemorate this rally.
There have been other processions calling for the abolition of the Internal Security Act 1960, rights of minorities and electoral reforms.
For the Malaysian Bar, we organised the Walk for Justice, which was held on September 26, 2007, to call for a royal commission to investigate the VK Lingam video clip and the establishment of the Judicial Appointments Commission, both of which were subsequently set up by the government.
The present prohibition of procession robs the rakyat of a right that currently exists under Section 27 of the Police Act, which regulates “assemblies, meetings and processions”.Elsewhere, history is full of various peaceful processions led by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela, to name but a few, which brought an end to oppressive laws, policies and regimes.
It is ironic that the government now wants to prohibit the very processions that led to the founding of our nation, and others that moved the prime minister to promise legislative reforms.
These promised reforms now strike back at the very demonstrations that catalysed them.The Malaysian Bar is steadfast in its stand and determination that PA 2011, in its current form, must not become law.
The Malaysian Bar is resolute that any attempt to regulate a fundamental liberty guaranteed under the Federal Constitution must only be done after due consultation with all stakeholders, including opposition parliamentarians and civil society groups.
No Other Choice
To this end, the Malaysian Bar has proposed an alternative bill to be considered, and calls for PA 2011 to be remitted to a parliamentary select committee for consideration.
At the second reading of PA 2011, we ask that you, as a wakil rakyat, support our call.
It is not an exaggeration to say that tomorrow, you will hold the liberty of the rakyat in your hands. We ask that you treat it with the deference it deserves.
It is not an exaggeration to say that tomorrow, you will hold the liberty of the rakyat in your hands. We ask that you treat it with the deference it deserves.Now, more than ever, you must remember that you were elected as a representative of the people, to carry out responsibilities as a ‘wakil rakyat’.
Please do not put blind obedience to party and partisanship before your duties as a servant of the people. The rakyat should not be made to suffer the consequences of party politics. PA 2011 is an unjust law, being made in undue haste, which has received the condemnation of the Rakyat.
There can be no other choice.
Do not pass PA 2011. Support our alternative bill and our call for a Parliamentary Select Committee.
Yours faithfully,
Lim Chee Wee
President
Malaysian Bar
President
Malaysian Bar
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