Sin Chew Jit Poh (Translation)
JOHORE BAHRU, Wed: What should you do if you are stopped or detained by the police?
Johore Bar members today distributed copies of the booklet known as "Know Your Rights" in the City Square Shopping Centre here to create public awareness about the rights of the citizens when they are stopped or detained by the police.
About 500 copies of the booklet were distributed to shopowners and shoppers. The team was led by the Johore Bar Committee Chairman, Datuk Abdul Rahman Abdullah; Johor State Bar Representative, Roger Tan and Chairman of the Conveyancing Sub–Committee, Loh Wann Yuan.
The 30–page booklet with an eye–catching red cover is in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Tamil. It also contains the contact telephone numbers of courts and legal aid centres.
The booklet teaches the public how to differentiate the different ranks of the police by looking at the colour of the officer's authority card.
It also specifies under what circumstances a person can be arrested, and his rights if arrested.
The public responded well when they received the booklets. Most of them started reading it and they did not ignore or throw it away. Some however sought clarification from the team members who were patient in explaining the contents to them.
However, only a small number of the those approached declined to accept a copy of the booklet.
Rahman said in view of the recent cases of police abuse, the Johor Bar hoped by distributing the booklet, it would create greater public awareness among members of the public of their rights under the law.
He added that the booklet contains tips about what one should do when asked to provide a statement to the police and his rights under those circumstances.
"The purpose of this book is to educate the public and we are not against the police," said Rahman.
He added that this campaign will be extended to other districts as soon as the Committee has received more copies of the booklet from the Bar Council.
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