Bar Council to decide tomorrow whether to sue Datuk Bandar and his officers

FILE SUIT AND THEN TALK

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:56:28 +0100

Dipendra, Alex Tan and Neo Lok Tian You are right. File suit and then talk. The Bar Council and Edmund Bon is the aggrieved party. By doing that, we are not being confrontational, but just being reactive. By talking to them, we show that we can be pro-active. We cannot take this lying down. This kind of officers, acting on behalf of the authority, must be exposed for what they are - bullies, no less. He must be exposed as the pure bully hiding behind the law when there is not even a colour of the law behind him. I feel that he has acted beyond his brief to observe the proceedings. He has led his subordinates in an unauthorised raid, thereby giving all honest, sincere and hardworkiing civil servants a bad name. Even our country's reputation has been sullied - unnecessarily, I may add. Stephen Tan Ban Cheng - Stephen Tan Ban Cheng

To File Suit Immediately

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:27:10 +0100

I think the suit shall be filed IMMEDIATELY. It is not so much the revenge thing. Sometimes these little napoleons must be taught a lesson that they just cannot simply do what they want in the name of "penguatkuasaan" , especially if the Bar Council and Edmund have done no wrong. Alex is right. We sue first then only we talk. Neo Lok Tian - Neo Lok Tian

Dipendra is right

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:59:34 +0100

We can talk to the authorities, AFTER we file suit. Dato' Krishna may be right that to punch back is to possibly start a brawl, but to do nothing is to get a black and blue face (at best) and to be seriously injured at worst. As for Lim Yang Yang saying "enough is enough", just like most of us are feeling, what do we as individuals do? For most of us, we tell our friends about this website, and we talk openly about the decline of human rights in Malaysia. We can tell our friends that they can check whether they're registered as voters via www.spr.gov.my. More difficult for many of us, but definitely worth it, would be to write more in Malay rather than English. We must engage the masses, the common man. We lawyers number less than 0.1% of the population. Maybe that's why the authorities continue to be so brave to insult and bully us. They know we can't do much. Alex Tan Ken Seng - Alex Tan Ken Seng

Just serve them the writ

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:45:29 +0100

Have we lawyers become so intimidating that they need to prove it to people that they do have P O W E R over us? Yeah, they created headlines alright! Police arrested lawyers! Lawyers are not above the law! And all these make them look better? How? Noor Arianti Binti Osman - Noor Arianti Binti Osman

Lets do the right thing

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:38:18 +0100

Dear Dato' The Police were fully aware that the Bar had called off the walk/march. In fact the PM and the police had commended the Bar for taking this bold step in the face of fierce criticism from its members in everyone's interests. But a few lawyers went ahead nevertheless - no one could stop them and indeed they have now paid the price for their actions. But that is a different story altogether. As far as the Bar is concerned, by virtue of calling of the walk, they were no longer in the middle of it or in the middle of anything. As you know, this is the 3rd edition of the Festival of Rights -something we organise yearly to commemorate the world Human Rights Day. Therefore, the action by DBKL was wholly unnecessary, a violation of personal rights and indeed confrontational. The organisers of the Festival of Rights did not put up the posters and banners on public property and as such there was no need for a permit or for DBKL to behave like thugs. If you were there celebrating human rights with us, you would have seen DBKL acting after being egged on by an external party. There was no reason for them to do so as the Festival of Rights was nearing its conclusion and would have finished quietly and peacefully. No need for any interference from the goondas of DBKL, led by Corporal Kula. I am not sure what Hindraf or the mistaken assumptions has anything to do with this but to my mind, it is important we must distinguish and separate the actions by the Bar and the actions by lawyers acting on their own accord. That is indeed two very big and opposing considerations. If DBKL cant tell the difference, they would do very well to err on the side of caution. The Bar was not provoked and the Bar acted with great responsibility. If Corporal Kula and bandits could not keep their emotions in check, then they must pay for their actions. As lawyers, we can only seek redress in the courts. I am sure you know that. Negotiations and talking will not work, where the damage has been done. All the hard work by the organisers in the past few months appear to have all gone to waste because of a moment of madness by DBKL. Unless, of course, DBKL will now issue a full page advert in all major papers apologising for their rash actions. Yeah, I didn't think they would. I for one, do not like my own property being violated as i am sure you don't as well. Not at least when the world celebrates the human rights day. Corporal Kula and his men walked in and tore down our posters. Edmund Bon tried his best to talk to them that the Bar building was private property and they had no warrant to tear anything down. But guess what, they were confrontational, emotional and most of all fascist in their manner as they stepped into the Bar building pushing their way through and removing the banners and posters with no justification at all. They should have just worn brown shirts. You couldn't really tell the difference. If we don't do anything about this, one day our very own auditorium may very well be sieged by vigilante groups. What do we do then? negotiate further? I agree with you that we can talk to them. After we serve the Writ. May the right force be with us. Dipendra H Rai - Dipendra H Rai

Dear Dato,

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:21:21 +0100

I personally think that the arrest on Bon within the Bar Council premise showed that the authorities NEVER respect WE as LAWYERS. unless they immediately apolozise to US. How many times do we need to talk to them. Lim Yang Yang - Lim Yang Yang

Engage the Mayor first

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:00:37 +0100

My fellow members, Yes what was done is wrong. There is no doubt. Before we subject the BAR to litigation maybe it would be wise to engage the Mayor and the Inspector General of Police and raise these issues with them first. The situation is already tense and by suing the Mayor etc will worsen the situation. When someone punches you and you punch back there is a brawl. Someone needs to step back and discuss the issue. The BAR consist of professionals let's start with that. We should step back and not jump into the brawl. The BAR leadership should be talking to the IGP and AG now with the hope of explaining the issue and not hold a vigil outside the IPK. This again makes it confrontational. Always look at ourselves first before saying the other is at fault. The entire Nation is reacting to HINDRAF. Now there is a Human Rights March and the BAR is the middle of it. The authorities reacted and our fellow brothers detained. Its wrong but the message the BAR sent out to the authorities isn't exactly right either especially after the Council decided against the March. The authorities reacted presumebly under the impression that the BAR was going ahead with the March. The message sent was vaque and the authorities reacted in a high handed fashion. Please take a step back, explain the issue and make them understand that it was misintepreted. Do not get our members charged and it will happen if the BAR holds vigils, threatens to sue etc. Always remember that we are lawyers and we must check our actions first before we attack another, irrespective of what we think or believe. Our standards should always be higher. Please think it out before throwing the BAR into a battle that injures every member of this honorable profession. Lastly, I sincerely hope that the BAR decides to do the right thing. May the force be with all of us and GOD bless us all. Regards, Dato' Krishna Kumar - Dato' Krishna Kumar

MY FULL SUPPORT TO ALL OF U THERE !!

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:02:01 +0100

Enough is enough!!!! Lim Yang Yang - Lim Yang Yang