Bar Council

Bar groups to discuss judicial term extension challenge

Nur Farzana Md Yusof

Source: The Malaysian Insight 

THE three organisations representing lawyers in the country may mount an unprecedented legal challenge against the term extensions of Chief Justice Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal President Zulkefli Makinudin.

Malaysian Bar President George Varughese will meet with the leadership of the Sabah Law Society and the Advocates Association of Sarawak in Miri this Saturday during a regular biannual tripartite meeting.

“We believe that if these appointments are not declined, it can lead to a constitutional crisis,” Varughese told The Malaysian Insight.  Read more →

Can Media and Law Co-Exist?

Source: Bar Council

In conjunction with World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2017, the Bar Council Continuing Professional Development and Malaysiakini are collaborating to organise this event to provide a platform for the fourth estate — comprising the press and citizen journalists and, by extension, people who generate everyday content for the public — to understand how Malaysian law regulates a key right enshrined in the Federal Constitution, ie the freedom of expression. The speakers for this event are representatives from both the legal community and media industry, who will examine and analyse how the exercise of the freedom of expression can be challenged, and how to safeguard this right in times of heightened political, religious and racial contestations.

Malaysia: Can police be trusted to investigate their own failures? — Zan Azlee

Coordinator

Source: Asian Correspondence

Policemen stand outside North Korea's embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 7, 2017. Pic from Reuters

Policemen stand outside North Korea’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 7, 2017. Pic from Reuters

“I received a call from the police saying my husband was in a very serious condition. The next thing I know, he is dead,” said a sobbing S. Perimilah, the wife of the late M. Thanaseelan who died under police custody.

Thanaseelan’s passing is one of the 1,654 custodial deaths since 2010 until February 2017, according to Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who revealed the statistics in Parliament recently.

“I want to know if he died because of what happened to him when he was in police custody or after he had been sent to the hospital,” she said before having to be consoled off the stage by her daughter because she couldn’t control her emotions any longer.

Perimilah was one of the panelists at a public forum entitled Let’s Talk About Our Police at a suburb in the outskirts Kuala Lumpur over the weekend. The forum also saw in attendance lawyer R. Sivaraj from the  and the Sevan Doraisamy from human rights group Suaram. Read more →

Public Forum on Rule of Law and Police Accountability

The Bar Council is renewing its call to the Malaysian Government to establish an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (“IPCMC”), as was recommended by the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police in its report published in May 2005.

This talk entitled “Rule of Law and Police Accountability”, organised by the Bar Council Task Force on IPCMC, will feature Steven Perian, QC, a Malaysian barrister based in the the UK. More information about the speaker can be gleaned from the accompanying flyer-cum-registration form.

Details of this public forum as follows:

Date: Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Time: 6.00pm to 8.00pm
Venue: Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium, Straits Trading Building, Unit 2-02A, 2nd Floor, 2 Leboh Pasar Besar, 50050 Kuala Lumpur
Programme: please refer to accompanying flyer-cum-registration form

Admission is free but advance registration is required. Please respond to the organiser using the accompanying flyer-cum-registration form, or register online.

bc-publicforum-ruleoflaw-dec2016

Forum on Creating a Law Reform Commission of Malaysia

The Bar Council Law Reform and Special Areas Committee is holding a forum on “Creating a Law Reform Commission of Malaysia”.

The objectives of the forum are to:

(1) highlight the importance of establishing an independent law reform commission, which would accept suggestions for reform and revision to statutes from interested parties, legislators, members of the legal community and the public, as well as draft legislation for consideration; and

(2) consider the constitution and structure of a permanent law reform commission.

 

List of panellists:

(1) Dato’ Mohd Hishamudin Yunus, Consultant, Messrs Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill; Judge, Court of Appeal (Rtd);
(2) Dato’ Sri M Ramachelvam, Member, Bar Council; Member, Bar Council Law Reform and Special Areas Committee; and
(3) Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, Legal Advisor, Universiti Teknologi MARA (“UiTM”).

 

Date & Venue

3 Dec 2016 (Saturday) 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium
Straits Trading Building
Unit 2-02A, 2nd Floor 2
Leboh Pasar Besar
50050 Kuala Lumpur

 

Programme

10:00 am Registration and Breakfast
11:00 am Welcoming Address
11:10 am Panel Discussion
12:10 pm Question-and-Answer Session
12:40 pm Closing Speech by Co-Chairperson of the Bar Council Law Reform and Special Areas Commitee

 

Registration

Admission is free but advance registration is required. Places are limited and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. To register, kindly download, complete and submit the registration form by 30 Nov 2016 (Wednesday).

With Sosma abuse, it’s time for repeal, says lawyer

admin

Source: FMT News

FMT News file pic

Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA) — FMT News file pic

KUALA LUMPUR: A security law passed in 2012 must be abolished as the government has abused it to silence critics, a Bar Council member said.

Ravi Nekoo said this law has been used against three persons, the latest being Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah on grounds her act was “detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.

“Prime Minister Najib Razak did not keep to his promise when the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act or Sosma was introduced,” he told a forum themed, Sosma: The new ISA?

He said this was similar to the introduction of the now repealed Internal Security Act in 1960 to counter the communist insurgency.

Ravi, the Bar Council’s National Legal Aid Bureau chairperson, said the ISA was later used against government dissidents and others, including NGO members and journalists.

He said Najib had assured that Sosma, a procedural law, would be used to check extremism and terrorism in the country and which originated outside Malaysia.

“Section 4(3) of Sosma details out that no person will be arrested and detained solely for his political belief or political activity. But is this the case?” he asked. Read more →

No proof Soros foundation funding anti-government agenda, deputy home minister says

admin

Source: The Malay Mail Online

Billionaire investor George Soros of Soros Fund Management, January 26, 2013. — Reuters pic

Billionaire investor George Soros of Soros Fund Management, January 26, 2013. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 ― The police have not found any evidence to support allegations that American billionaire George Soros was funding Malaysian civil societies to undermine Putrajaya.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the Open Society Foundations (OSF) founded by Soros has been supporting environment-related programmes here for the past decade, The Star Online reported this evening.

“Police have not found any proof to show that OSF or NGOs in Malaysia are using foreign funds to organise activities that threaten the nation’s peace,” Nur Jazlan was quoted saying in Johor Baru.

However, the Pulai MP said the police will continue their investigations, adding that action would be taken against non-governmental organisations found to misuse the funds for political purposes. Read more →

Report: Bar Council probed under security law over Soros funding

admin

Source: The Malay Mail Online

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 ― Police are investigating the Bar Council for allegedly attempting to undermine parliamentary democracy because it purportedly received a grant from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) for a research study.

News portal Malaysiakini reported Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar as saying that the Bukit Aman five-member special team that is investigating polls reform group Bersih 2.0 and Malaysiakini under the same law ― Section 124C of the Penal Code ― is also responsible with probing the decision-making body of the Malaysian Bar.

“Once investigations are completed, we will submit our findings to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further action,” Khalid was quoted saying. Read more →