Stephanie Sta Maria
The Bar Council’s walk of protest against the controversial Peaceful Assembly Bill has received international backing from the Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The Bill which was tabled last Tuesday will be debated in Parliament today and is expected to be voted on today.
The Bill has been slammed by the opposition and various civil society groups as being even more repressive than the Section 27 of the Police Act which it is meant to replace.
At 11.30am today Bar Council members and supporters will begin their march from Lake Gardens Park to Parliament where they will submit a draft copy of an alternative proposal.
In a show of support, HRW has written a letter to prime minister, Najib Tun Razak, urging for the march to be allowed to proceed without disturbance from police.
“Malaysia’s lawyers are marching out of real concerns that Malaysians’ freedoms of peaceful assembly and association are under threat from the proposed law,” said HRW deputy Asia director, Phil Roberson in a statement today.
“They have serious proposals to amend the law and the government should give them a serious hearing.”
In its letter to Najib, HRW also raised concerns about the Bill’s blanket prohibition against “assemblies in motion,” such as marches and processions.
Other concerns raised include “overly broad authority” for local police officials to regulate and disperse assemblies, an extensive list of prohibited places and a ban on participation by children below 15 years and non-citizens.
HRW further noted the “undue haste” with which the Bill is being propelled through parliament and the “lack of meaningful consultation” with civil society before it was introduced.
“The Malaysian government should withdraw the draft law immediately and refer it to a Parliamentary Select Committee where stakeholders can have an opportunity to express their views on the measure,” Robertson stated.
“The government has yet to explain why it is rushing to pass a law that so many Malaysian groups are saying is seriously flawed. Najib should take the time to listen to all sides in this critical debate, starting with the Bar Council.”
The umno general assembly is essentially a gathering of the biggest thieves in the country. They know that to continue to steal, umno has to get the necessary votes to stay in power and control the country’s revenue which in 2011 was RM183 billion. A rough estimate, based on the AG’s reports and other revelations, would suggest that the BN thieves and their cohorts could have stolen about a third of the revenue or about RM60 billion in 2011. The money is stolen in many different ‘legal’ ways such as kickbacks on overpriced contracts and purchases or by giving out huge NFC style soft loans which probably will be written off. There is thus intense competition for the top posts in umno because the higher positions result in a bigger share of the loot. As expected Sharizat now gives a hollow speech full of sound and fury to impress her fellow thieves, who would also be wondering when or if they would ever be as lucky as Sharizat to get a quarter billion ringgit windfall.
Comment by Samudra — November 30, 2011 @ 2:44 PM |
What do you expect the Umno delegates to debate at their AGM?
The NFC fiasco?
The overpriced APCs and patrol boats?
Or the fact that so many UMNO ministers were conned by Ling on PKFZ?
The Auditor-General’s report ?
There must be a theme to deflect attention from all the actual abuses, and what better bogeyman to bring to the centre of attention than DAP?
Comment by Bob — November 30, 2011 @ 3:09 PM |