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Top 10 reasons to oppose the Peaceful Assembly Bill

by Zan Azlee
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 25, 2011

NOV 25 — I disagree with the Peaceful Assembly Bill which is being tabled in Parliament at the moment and I know that many sane Malaysians also disagree with it.

There’s been (and will be) tons of people writing and voicing their thoughts on the matter and here’s my list of top 10 reasons why I disagree with it:

1. The right for people to assemble is the right to freedom of speech and expression. If you limit and restrict that right, then you are denying democracy.

2. Myanmar just passed a law to allow public protests. I repeat — Myanmar just passed a law to allow public protests.

3. Prime Minister Najib Razak says this new law will be “revolutionary.” Sure! It’s as revolutionary as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards! Continue reading “Top 10 reasons to oppose the Peaceful Assembly Bill”

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Are we stupid enough to fall for the same scam?

By Kee Thuan Chye | Nov 24, 2011
Malaysiakini

I can’t help but wonder if the government really thinks that Malaysians are stupid. So stupid that we can be hoodwinked into believing that the changes they propose to our laws amount to actual reform.

Two months ago, when Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that newspapers would no longer have to renew their publishing licences annually, he might have expected us to go ga-ga and applaud and say that the media would now be freer.

But if we had done that, we would indeed have been stupid. Because we would not have realised that there is really no change.

Even if the newspapers need not renew their licences every year, the fact remains that the home minister still retains the power to suspend or close down any newspaper at any time – if he feels it is too free in expressing its views, or for whatever reasons.
Continue reading “Are we stupid enough to fall for the same scam?”

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Najib has smashed to smithereens the mirage of political transformation and “best democracy in the world” which he created two months ago with a repressive and undemocratic Peaceful Assembly Bill

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has now smashed to smithereens the mirage of political transformation and “best democracy in the world” with the first reading of the undemocratic Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011.

The mirage created by Najib that he wants to make Malaysia “the best democracy in the world” lasted only two months as the proposed repeal of Section 27 of the Police Act requiring police permits for any gathering of three or more persons is to be replaced by a more undemocratic and repressive Peaceful Assembly Bill violating the constitutional right of Malaysians to freedom of assembly.

In many respects, the Peaceful Assembly Bill is even more restrictive and repressive than Section 27 of the Police Act. Under the new law, for instance, a person can be fined up to RM20,000 as compared to RM10,000 under the Police Act.

In banning “street protests”, restricting assemblies from “prohibited places” or “within fifty metres from the limit of the prohibited place”, requiring notice of 30 days for an assembly to be held as well as empowering the police which is a total stranger to the concept of “democratic policing” to impose arbitrary restrictions and conditions for an assembly, the fundamental constitutional right of freedom to assembly runs the risk of being grounded to ashes. Continue reading “Najib has smashed to smithereens the mirage of political transformation and “best democracy in the world” which he created two months ago with a repressive and undemocratic Peaceful Assembly Bill”

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Let Parliamentary Select Committee review Peaceful Assembly Bill

By Proham | November 23, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

NOV 23 — Proham views with grave concern the proposed Bill on Peaceful Assembly fails to reflect the true spirit of human rights that is consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Federal Constitution and the promise of the Prime Minister to institute democratic reform.

However, Proham acknowledges that the proposed bill recognises the citizen’s right to organise an assembly or participate in an assembly peacefully, although it makes it very difficult in practice.

The withdrawal of the permit to assemble is welcomed and reflects the PM’s commitment to further democratic reforms. However this is substituted by a whole range of pre-conditions and prior approvals, and restrictive legal provisions , including strengthening the powers of the police, that will severely discourage and dissuade the freedom of peaceful assembly, which is a basic human right.
Continue reading “Let Parliamentary Select Committee review Peaceful Assembly Bill”

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Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011: Unconstitutional and anti-democratic

By Tommy Thomas | November 23, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

NOV 23 — Why is it always the case that the Malaysian government, in the guise of improving the freedoms of its citizen, enacts laws that actually erode liberties?

Since 1960 when the Emergency was revoked, only to be immediately replaced by the dreaded Internal Security Act, 1960 (“ISA”), successive governments have taken state action to the detriment of its people. The Peaceful Assembly Bill, 2011, which had its first reading in the Federal Parliament yesterday, is another example of such retrograde law making.

I cannot believe that after 54 years of Merdeka in the 11th year of the 21st century, the Executive has the audacity to present a Bill, which, in its own Explanatory Statement, describes it as “one of the efforts initiated by the government to undertake the transformation of the existing legal framework in relation to the constitutional rights of citizens to assemble”.
Continue reading “Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011: Unconstitutional and anti-democratic”

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New assembly law undermines Constitution, says Ambiga

By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 22, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 – Bersih 2.0 chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan slammed today the proposed new law on peaceful assembly for giving greater powers to the home minister and the police to curb dissent and undermine the Federal Constitution.

In a statement today, the prominent lawyer accused the government of failing to keep up with international standards and creating instead the illusion that Malaysians now have greater freedom as provided by the country’s supreme law.

“This Bill restricts our rights as much as possible. It gives unfettered powers to the minister and the police to further restrict the freedom to assemble. It impinges on free speech. In short, it will stymie legitimate dissent in ourcountry,” Ambiga (picture) charged.

“Furthermore freedom of assembly includes peaceful street protests. By excluding this as a right altogether the Federal Constitution is once again undermined,” she said.

Ambiga moved to punch holes in the Peaceful Assembly Bill tabled this morning, saying it was worse than the existing and unconstitutional section 27 of the Police Act 1967 it was to replace. Continue reading “New assembly law undermines Constitution, says Ambiga”

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The right to assemble

— The Malaysian Insider
Nov 22, 2011

NOV 22 — On September 15, Datuk Seri Najib Razak went further than just saying he will repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA). In effect, he said the government of the day will treat all Malaysians as adults by reviewing section 27 of the Police Act on the freedom of assembly.

This freedom is enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution and the prime minister said then that the government will allow public gatherings based on international norms while taking a firm stand against street demonstrations.

Today, he made good his promise. In the most surprising of ways. His administration tabled the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 that actually ends any right to a public procession for any other reason except for religious events and funerals. Continue reading “The right to assemble”

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Malaysians caught in a cultural gridlock

Terence Netto
Malaysiakini
Nov 6, 2011

COMMENT

At least, we have the MRT, the biggest infrastructure project in Malaysian history, on the cards to ease the traffic jams that have been building up on our roads, particularly in the Klang Valley, over the past three decades.

But what solvents are there for the cultural stalemates we increasingly encounter these days, those that threaten to render public discourse in the country an exercise in which the argumentative appear to be talking to the deaf.

Strident Muslim groups, aided and abetted by a ham-fisted police force, frowned on an annual rite of commiseration for gays, lesbians, transgender and transvestites because, they asserted, it would promote an alternative lifestyle considered repugnant in some religious traditions.

People of unconventional sexuality are outraged and their sympathisers appalled because the police have moved in to stop Seksualiti Merdeka’s annual workshop on the grounds that the project is a threat to national amity.

The ban supposedly placates Muslim sensitivities, thought to have been rendered taut by the suspicion that proponents of unconventional sexuality are pushing to have their orientation given public respect.

Muslim sensitivities are Muslim sensitivities, but in a plural society they are not the only sensitivities extant. Continue reading “Malaysians caught in a cultural gridlock”

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Nazri talking through his hat!

By P. Ramakrishnan, Aliran’s President
4 Nov 2011

Nazri has given expression to the saying, “Talking through the hat!” That was what he was doing when he rather foolishly commented on the majority decision of the Court of Appeal which ruled in a landmark case that Section 15(5)(a) of the Universities and University Colleges Act was unconstitutional.

In spite of the Court of Appeal’s ruling, for the Minister of Law to insist that “it does not invalidate the Act” and to dismiss the Court’s decision as “an opinion in passing” is appalling and shocking, exposing his alarming ignorance of the judicial process.

Section 15(5)(a) has been invalidated as unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal ruling – which means that the provisions of that section are no longer applicable and cannot be enforced. That section, as a result of the Court’s decision, is void and invalid.

It is a binding decision and cannot be dismissed merely as “an opinion of the Court” without any consequence. Until and unless the Federal Court overturns or sets aside this ruling – thus upholding the High Court decision – no power on earth professing the democratic tradition can ignore this decision. It is as simple as that!
Continue reading “Nazri talking through his hat!”

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Appeal against UUCA judgment flies in the face of PM’s political transformation programme

by Tony Pua MP
National Publicity Secretary DAP
5.11.11

The decision by the Cabinet to allow the appeal of the Court of Appeal judgement that Section 15.(5)(a) of the University and University Colleges Act1971 (UUCA) is unconstitutional flies in the face of the Prime Minister’s “politicaltransformation programme”.

After a series of calls for the Government to not appeal the Court of Appeal judgement that Section 15.(5)(a) of the UUCA made by top politicians from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, hopes were high that the Cabinet will abide by and accept the Court’s decision.

The UMNO Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin, Deputy Higher Education Minister, Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah and MCA Youth Chief, Datuk Wee Ka Siong have made a show of openly supported the Court’s position that the relevant section of the UUCA is unconstitutional and the UUCA should be amended accordingly.

In the “spirit” of the political transformationprogramme launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the eve of Malaysia Day where he announced the proposed repeal and amendment of various draconian Acts such as the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Printing Pressand Publications Act (PPPA), Malaysians were expecting an enlightened decision by the Cabinet to finally remove the shackles of academic freedom at our institutions of higher learning. Continue reading “Appeal against UUCA judgment flies in the face of PM’s political transformation programme”

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Rahim Noor should crawl back into the woodwork

by P. Ramakrishnan
1 November 2011

A man who infamously trampled upon the rights of others has no right to speak on human rights. He is the least qualified to speak on this subject.

Yet, the former Inspector–General of Police, Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor, emerging as it were from the dead, expressed some startling views on human rights.

He is quoted as having said that the coming of a “human rights wave” would threaten the principles on which this country was founded. Continue reading “Rahim Noor should crawl back into the woodwork”

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At the Commonwealth summit, the human rights proselytisers no longer hold sway

by John Kampfner
guardian.co.uk
30 October 2011

The Perth summit reveals how compromised western leaders are in their efforts to promote human rights

The death knell of the Commonwealth has been sounded for as long as there have been summits. By accident rather than design, this anachronistic gathering of 54 states may actually say more about the state of global priorities than the participants realise. And the direction of travel is grim.

At their meeting in Perth over the weekend, the leaders rejected many of the recommendations of a report by a team of the great and good, the eminent persons group (EPG), designed to move the Commonwealth’s democratic laggards towards basic norms.

In search of a lowest-common-denominator consensus, the summit accepted some less controversial ideas, such as a charter. The idea of a human rights commissioner, however, proved too much. “There have been a few blips like in any part of the world but I don’t think it demanded a commissioner,” noted Suruj Rambachan, the foreign minister of Trinidad. Under pressure from South Africa and other states, the summit even refused to publish the EPG’s report.

The former prime minister of Malaysia, who chaired the EPG, said the summit would be remembered as a failure. Malcolm Rifkind, the former UK foreign secretary, described the unwillingness to publish the report as a disgrace. This is hardly surprising, as the Commonwealth comprises a veritable who’s who of governments with dubious human rights records – from Nigeria, Cameroon and Rwanda to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Singapore. Continue reading “At the Commonwealth summit, the human rights proselytisers no longer hold sway”

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Commonwealth leaders refuse to publish key report’s findings

By Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News
Vancouver Sun

PERTH, Australia – Commonwealth leaders have ignored warnings that their decaying association will die without urgent reforms and have failed to reach significant agreement on how to ensure its member nations abide by human rights principles and the rule of law.

The development came Saturday, as the leaders spent the second day of their biennial gathering – known as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) – debating the merits of a report delivered by an advisory group established two years ago.

But instead of endorsing the report, the leaders adopted a distrustful view about its contents – even deciding that it should be kept secret and not be published.

The report by a panel of “eminent persons” which includes Canadian senator Hugh Segal called for major reforms to ensure the Commonwealth – which is quickly losing its international credibility – becomes relevant and avoids a slow slide to death. Continue reading “Commonwealth leaders refuse to publish key report’s findings”

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Mahathir has won the shadow power battle of three Prime Ministers on the sidelines of Perth 2011 CHOGM

The fourth Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir seems to have won the shadow power battle with the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the sixth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razaki on the sidelines of the Perth 2011 CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) 2011 on the Eminent Person Group’s (EPG) proposal for a Commonwealth Commissioner for Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights.

The latest news from the Perth 2011 CHOGM is that the Commonwealth heads of government have not only rejected the EPG’s proposal for a Commonwealth Commissioner for Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights, they have taken the shocking decision not to publish the EPF report on Commonwealth reforms to make it relevant and not an anachronism.

This has led to the unprecedented unanimous criticism by the seven-member EPG in Perth against the CHOGM decision.

It is good to see Abdullah, who is chairperson of the seven-member EPG, leading the EPG attack against CHOGM and issuing the warning: Continue reading “Mahathir has won the shadow power battle of three Prime Ministers on the sidelines of Perth 2011 CHOGM”

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Commonwealth leaders refuse to publish EPG report

by Matthew Franklin,
chief political correspondent,
The Australian
October 29, 2011

MEMBERS of an Eminent Persons Group (EPG) advising the Commonwealth have attacked the 54-nation body for refusing to publish its report recommending ways to make the organisation more relevant.

UK representative Sir Malcolm Rifkind today said it was a “a disgrace” the report had not been released to promote debate about Commonwealth reform, while Canada’s Hugh Segal said it was apparent some nations believed silence was the best option in dealing with serious issues like human rights violations among the group’s members.

Today’s unanimous criticism by the seven-member EPG has turned the three-day CHOGM meeting on its head after Commonwealth leaders last night declared they had acted to secure the Commonwealth’s ongoing relevance.

At yesterday’s session, leaders lifted the powers of the Commonwealth ministerial action group, made up of foreign ministers of member nations, to intervene when member nations were slipping away from the observance of basic democratic principles. Continue reading “Commonwealth leaders refuse to publish EPG report”

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The Commonwealth: Will wise heads prevail?

By Sir Ronald Sanders
Huntington News
October 27, 2011

A visitor to Perth in Australia during the week ending 30th October would be forgiven in believing that the City revolves around the 54-nation Commonwealth.

The entire city is festooned with banners highlighting “CHOGM 2011” as Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers and hundreds of representatives from every Commonwealth country have gathered here for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) with several important side events.

Among the side events are a Commonwealth Business Forum which, on this occasion brought together businesspeople from many Commonwealth countries, and a People’s Forum – a meeting of many of the 90 civil society organisations that exist under the Commonwealth banner.

Perth has certainly been a great host and its people have reacted well to the disruption of their lives with closed-off streets, restricted areas and armed police along the main routes from hotels to the impressive Perth Convention Centre where the CHOGM is taking place, and for which Queen Elizabeth II came as Head of the Commonwealth.

Pedestrians are pleased to be helpful to Commonwealth delegates seeking direction on the streets, and vehicular traffic – even buses – have been ready to stop to allow visiting Commonwealth pedestrians to take precedence on the streets.

While there is no doubt that Perth has successfully hosted the Commonwealth meeting and all the activities associated with it, judgement of the success of the actual Heads of Government Conference will have to await the end of what Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said he believed would be a ‘landmark event’ that would raise the bar for future such gatherings. Continue reading “The Commonwealth: Will wise heads prevail?”

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Kirby warns CHOGM at ‘watershed’ moment

Sabra Lane reported this story on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 12:30:00
The World Today
ABC

ELEANOR HALL: Australia’s representative on the panel looking at how to revamp the Commonwealth is the former High Court justice Michael Kirby.

He spoke to our chief political correspondent, Sabra Lane.

MICHAEL KIRBY: Unfortunately it hasn’t been released to be available to citizens but it is all there and it is 116 unanimous recommendations and I do hope it will receive very careful attentions at a critical moment.

SABRA LANE: Are you worried that because the report hasn’t been released publicly that the Commonwealth is under pressure to water down what you’ve recommended, especially on things like the proposed commissioner for democracy and the rule of law and human rights?

It is known that there is a fair amount of activity happening behind the scenes for the Commonwealth not to go ahead with that.

MICHAEL KIRBY: Well, I’m not worried in the sense that I’ve discharged my duty by performing the working on the group and putting our recommendation forward now in the orderly way these things happen. It is left to the politicians to decide what should be done.

There has to be more visible action by the Commonwealth that you just can’t espouse great principles and then do nothing when they are under threat, that the machinery of the Commonwealth has to work more quickly and more visibly and that secret diplomacy is sometimes useful but it isn’t the whole picture. Continue reading “Kirby warns CHOGM at ‘watershed’ moment”

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Was Rahim Noor’s Perkasa speech warning of “a human rights wave” an open proxy shot in a battle of three Malaysian Prime Ministers?

Was the former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Rahim Noor’s Perkasa speech warning of “a human rights wave” which would be like “a new religion” and threaten and erode the basis on which the nation was founded an open proxy shot in a battle of three Malaysian Prime Ministers about democracy, human rights and the rule of law not only in Malaysia but in the Commonwealth and the world?

It can be no coincidence that Rahim Noor’s speech was immediately given endorsement by his former boss and the fourth Malaysian Prime Minister of 22 years, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who warned that “Opposition politicians are using human rights issues for their political benefit”.

It can also be no coincidence that the two warnings by Mahathir and Rahim, made in a matter of 24 hours, came on the eve of the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, which is to consider the scathing report of the 11-member Eminent Persons Group (EPG) with wide-ranging and far-reaching reform proposals to end its organizational “decay” and to avoid the Commonwealth being condemned by history as “hypocritical” allowing rogue member states to violate human rights and democratic conventions.

It has been reported that the 220-page report of the EPG, which has not been made public despite the EPG’s request that it be released before the CHOGM opening this morning, contained “a wide ranging and at times unexpectedly radical road map for change, outlined in 106 detailed recommendations aimed at hauling the organization into the 21st century” – including the appointment of an independent Commonwealth Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights commissioner empowered to monitor violations and propose action against them. Continue reading “Was Rahim Noor’s Perkasa speech warning of “a human rights wave” an open proxy shot in a battle of three Malaysian Prime Ministers?”

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Human rights movement like Communism, says former IGP

By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 26, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 – The nation’s former top cop has likened the rise of the human rights movement in Malaysia to Communism, and said this would lead to the questioning of “accepted truths” like the social contract.

“Every century has its wave… and we cannot avoid being hit by this wave.

“Now, it’s the human rights wave… Before that, it was the wave of Marxism, Socialism,” former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor said today.

He was speaking at the 2nd Perkasa general assembly at Dewan Centrum here today after officiating the event. Continue reading “Human rights movement like Communism, says former IGP”

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Is Muhyiddin fit to continue as Education Minister when he could violate a student’s child rights just to serve a blatant and dishonest political agenda?

I am indeed shocked and outraged by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement yesterday that Lim Guan Eng’s denying sexual harassment claims against his son (my grandson) was inadequate.

Let the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and every Cabinet Minister declare whether they agree with Muhyiddin or not – which will also be a measure of the quality of Cabinet Ministers Malaysians have.

The school principal concerned has denied that there was ever such an incident of sexual harassment involving my grandson. The Penang State Education Director Ahmad Tarmizi Kamaruddin also said yesterday that his department found no evidence to back the allegations in several blogs.

The alleged victim Anya Corke, who is a 21-year-old Woman Grand Chessmaster in her third year in Wellesley College in the United States have rubbished the allegation, as she had not been in Malaysia for seven years and does not know Guan Eng or my grandson.

Can Muhyiddin explain what is “inadequate” when there is the total and unequivocal denial and rebuttal of the most irresponsible, diabolical and devilish allegation which could be hurled against an innocent 16-year-old student solely for the accusers to score political points against Guan Eng? Continue reading “Is Muhyiddin fit to continue as Education Minister when he could violate a student’s child rights just to serve a blatant and dishonest political agenda?”