by Daniel Albert
The refusal by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to take any further action or proffer charges against any of the six named individuals involved in the Lingam video clip fiasco has received scathing criticism from the public – and rightly so.
This pre-mature attempt to close official investigations into this matter is an affront to the judiciary and a slap in the face to us all.
by Edmund Bon Tai Soon (Chairman of the Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee)
These past few months have been immensely hectic. The Malaysian Bar is extremely fortunate to have a pool of incredibly talented, young and energetic group of lawyers, pupils-in-chambers, and students working night and day on this Campaign. From the words “let’s move”, the action has been continuous, non-stop, and it has been difficult to keep up with even the emails!
by Micheal Loo Yeong Huei (member of the Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee)
Yeoh Yen Kee
Recently, I came across news about 19-year old, Yeoh Yen Kee. She obtained 11As for SPM, and was to pursue her dream to study medicine. She was awarded a scholarship to study in the Czech Republic.
However, in 2008, she was diagnosed with leukemia and could not proceed with that plan. After undergoing chemotherapy, and another relapse, she was told that she needed a bone marrow transplant. Despite numerous attempts, efforts to find a donor were in vain. Finally, through the National Marrow Donor Programme Registry in USA, her family managed to find a suitable donor.
Dilaporkan oleh Malaysian Insider bahawa 5 tahanan ISA termasuk Mat Sah Satray yang telah ditahan lebih 7 tahun telah dibebaskan.
Malam ini, seorang suami pulang ke pangkuan isteri. Seorang ayah pulang ke dakapan anak.
Malam ini, tangisan hiba selama tujuh tahun bertukar kepada jemari yang mengangkat syukur ke hadrat-Nya.
Kebebasan!
For the 1Malaysia concept to work, there has to be equal treatment of people by the judiciary regardless of race, religion, wealth or political influence.
A FEW weeks ago, two minors were detainedby the police. According to the law, they must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of their arrests. They can only be detained further if the magistrate grants a remand order.
I went to the police station as one of the lawyers representing one of the minors in the remand application before the magistrate.
The crap has hit the fan.
You see, deception is manageable if its in small doses. A lie here. A misrepresentation there.
But if you weave a web of deception, of lies on top of lies, it’s hard to manage. Don’t handle it well and you might get tangled in your own web.
That’s what UMNO tried to do. When it was revealed that Mr. Rohaizat Othman, Barisan’s candidate for Permatang Pasir, was disbarred from practising, UMNO said it was something to do with his firm which he had no connection with. When Bar Council issued statement that you don’t get barred for misconduct of your firm partner, they insisted that he was a victim and even a hero by ’saving’ his firm through the act of paying back his client’s money.
Our beloved Deputy Prime Minister even accused the Bar Council as having an agenda.
But now the crap has well and truly hit the fan. Mr. Rohaizat’s former partner has come forward to clear his name.
You can read the detailed report the press conference of Mr. Yusri Ishak, Mr. Rohaizat’s former partner, on Malaysiakini.
I’d love to see the faces of Mr. Muhyiddin Yassin, Mr. Ahmad Maslan and Mr. Zahid Hamidi, staunch defenders of ‘hero’ Rogaizat’, when they heard what Mr. Yusri said.
Ok, you’ve got a crucial by-election battle coming up. You must show that Malay support for your party has increased. You’re heartened by your strong showing in the last by-election where your party lost by a margin of only 65 votes.
It won’t be easy. The by-election is in a PAS stronghold and in the Opposition leader’s backyard of Permatang Pauh. Even in 2004, when the feel good factor of the then Prime Minister Mr. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi swept the nation, the seat remained in the hands of the opposition.
To have any chance of winning, you must go on the offensive right from the start.
You’ve got all the necessary tools at your disposal. The might of government’s machinery. Promises of development and stability. The media, let by Utusan Malaysia, to paint a picture that the opposition pack is a threat to the Malays. If you play your cards right, you might just win the seat.
So then what do you do? You field a candidate who has been barred from practising as a lawyer.
Now, your campaign will be spent defending your man.
Brilliant strategy, Barisan Nasional…
Taken from the Edge:
Rohaizat’s offence a personal misconduct, Ragunath says
PERMATANG PAUH: The offence for which Permatang Pasir Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Rohaizat Othman was struck off the Malaysia Bar Council’s list involves the individual lawyer.
Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan told The Edge Malaysia that the proceedings under Section 103D of the Legal Profession Act 1976 involved misconduct of the individual lawyer.
“The offence was for personal liability and does not involve any other persons as Rohaizat was named by the complainant, and not his partner.
“Rohaizat was disbarred on March 7 last year and he appealed against the Bar Council decision to the High Court, which also dismissed his appeal on Aug 12 this year,” he added.
Ragunath said the offence committed by Rohaizat involved stakeholders’ money from Koperasi Pekebun Getah and there was no account for it.
“When the board looked into this matter and the order was made, there was no reimbursement to the stakeholders involving the sum of RM140,000.
“Even if you pay, the offence has been committed and it is a serious offence as this involves dealing with client’s money.
“If you are an innocent party, you would not be found guilty by the disciplinary committee and the charge leveled under Section 103D is tantamount to criminal misconduct,” he added.
Ragunath said the other partners only would be penalised if it involved negligence of the law firm concerned, but the offence committed under Section 103D was for personal misconduct.
On Sunday, Penang Umno chief Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a press conference that it was Rohaizat’s partner who was involved in the scandal which resulted in Rohaizat being struck off.
Meanwhile at the nomination centre, when asked whether Rohaizat’s credibility would come into question following the revelation of him being disbarred, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said: “There is no controversy with regards to his candidacy as we have done our homework.
“As far as the law is concerned, he has been declared eligible to contest and we believe the voters will understand when we explain to them what actually happened.
“We have our ways of explaining to the voters, the opposition can do whatever character assassinations they want.
“We will expose all their lies and the rakyat can judge for themselves,” he added.
On 24 July 2009, when defending Cabinet’s decision to set up the inquiry, the AG came out with the following statements (taken from the New Straits Times):
In addition, the government has decided to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry. The functions of this royal commission must not be confused with an inquiry under the Criminal Procedure Code. Section 2 of the Commissions of Enquiry Act 1950 clearly makes reference to the inquiry into the conduct and management of government officers and departments or for the public welfare.
Welfare is defined in The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as “happiness, well-being, good health or fortune of a person, community, etc; successful progress, prosperity”. Therefore, it cannot be overstretched to cover an inquiry into the death of this nature, wherein an inquiry by the magistrate under the Criminal Procedure Code is more appropriate and sanctioned by the law.
As reported by Bernama:
On the Royal Commission of Enquiry, Abdul Gani said thus far, the government had set up Royal Commission of Enquiry, among others, in relation to the tragedies at the Penang Ferry Terminal and Bright Sparklers Fireworks factory.
“Those were tragedies and disasters where many lives were lost due to negligence and non-compliance of operating procedures by the relevant authorities. None touched on the cause of death of a person,” he said.
But then, this was reported by the Star:
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock would also look into the findings of the inquest.
It will look into the evidence adduced by the inquest and therefore would only be formed after the inquest has been completed, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said here on Tuesday.
But didn’t the AG say that a Royal Commission cannot look into the death?
Taken from Sinar Harian 03 August 2009 edition. Shameless, I know…
530 dibebaskan, 59 masih ditahan
KUALA LUMPUR – Seramai 530 daripada 589 orang yang ditahan semalam kerana dipercayai mempunyai kaitan dengan perhimpunan haram mansuhkan ISA di ibu negara dibebaskan, semalam.
Antara baki 59 orang yang masih ditahan ialah Naib Presiden Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), R Sivarasa.
Mereka kini ditempatkan di Balai Polis Bukit Jalil untuk menunggu sama ada akan dikenakan perintah reman atau dibebaskan.
Suasana di balai polis itu sedikit kecoh apabila ibu kepada seorang yang ditahan merayu di pekarangan balai itu untuk bertemu dengan anak lelaki dan menantunya yang ditahan semalam.
Syahredzan Johan, antara peguam dari Majlis Peguam yang bertindak mewakili mereka yang ditahan, ketika ketika ditemui berkata, proses menanti pembebasan atau dikenakan tahanan reman mengambil masa kerana ia melibatkan proses dokumentasi yang rumit selain melibatkan jumlah yang ramai ditahan.
Mereka yang ditahan di beberapa lokasi sekitar ibu negara semalam termasuk 44 remaja di bawah umur 18 tahun.
Ketua Polis Kuala Lumpur Datuk Wira Muhammad Sabtu Osman melalui khidmat pesanan ringkas (SMS) kepada media berkata, mereka dibebaskan selepas keterangan mereka selesai diambil.
* Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee has released a media statement which can be found on the website of the Malaysian Bar. The following is a reproduction of the same.
Media Statement
For the first time in the history of the Malaysian Bar, the Bar Council this term (2009/2010) formed a Constitutional Law Committee (ConstiLC) to entrench constitutional study and promote constitutionalism as part of the Bar’s already wide-ranging initiatives in society.
The ConstiLC’s vision and mission is to, inter alia:
The ConstiLC has adopted a two-year Blueprint 2009-2011, which sets out the Committee’s programme. Our core initiative is to conduct a first-of-its-kind national campaign – “Kempen PerlembagaanKu” or “MyConstitution Campaign”. The aim of the campaign is to educate and empower the rakyat and to create greater awareness about the Federal Constitution.
As part of this campaign, the ConstiLC will embark on the following, inter alia:
The focus of the campaign will be on explaining important concepts and themes of the Federal Constitution such as:
The ConstiLC trusts that this initiative will be of immense benefit to the people of Malaysia. Given this, we wish to invite partners including the federal and state governments, academic institutions, NGOs and media organisations to support and join us in this campaign.
Discussions on the finer details of the campaign have begun and the official launch will take place soon.
Thank you.
Dated this 31 st day of July 2009
Edmund Bon Tai Soon
Chairperson
Mahaletchumi Balakrishnan
Co-Deputy Chairperson
Syahredzan Johan
Co-Deputy Chairperson
Constitutional Law Committee
Bar Council Malaysia
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