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Friday, May 8, 2015

Bar alleges multiple violations by police at GST protest rally

‘Authorities must learn to embrace peaceful expressions of dissent, and promote engagement to address concerns’.
Steven Thiru
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar today issued a stinging condemnation of police action at the “Bantah GST” rally held here on May 1.
In a statement issued by its president Steven Thiru, the Bar challenged various actions attributed to the police in the aftermath of the rally as being excessive and a deprivation of the fundamental constitutional rights of citizens.
The statement roundly condemned the police for their treatment of 6 minors who were part of 29 persons arrested, claiming that their treatment violated the provisions of the Child Act 2001, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Malaysia is a signatory.
In particular it claimed that the police had, in breach of various provisions of the Child Act 2001 –
  • wrongly handcuffed and dealt with them together with adult suspects
  • failed to ensure the presence of a probation officer
  • failed to inform the parents or guardian of the minors immediately upon arrest, and
  • failed to produce them before a Court of Children.
Other alleged violations by the police include –
  • unnecessarily delaying arrest until long after the rally had ended
  • unnecessarily prolonging the detention of suspects
  • issuing notices requiring several persons to present themselves at the Dang Wangi District Police Headquarters before 10.00 pm on 1 May 2015 and threatening them unnecessarily with arrest if they failed to do so
  • arresting those who had voluntarily presented themselves pursuant to such notices even before their statement was recorded, and
  • seeking a lengthy remand period of four days which was unjustified in the circumstances.
The Bar took the view that offences under section 4 of the Sedition Act 1948 and section 143 of the Penal Code do not require arrest and overnight detention, and certainly do not justify the excessive remand orders sought.
“The impression given is that detention was used to punish these persons, before any finding of guilt by a court of law,” the statement pointed out.
The Bar said that as a modern and progressive nation the authorities must learn to embrace peaceful expressions of dissent, and promote engagement to address the concerns sought to be expressed.

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