©The
Malaysian Insider (Used by permission)
by Debra Chong
A view of the chaos in the hall at the forum.
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — An open forum organised by the Bar Council to discuss matters of conflict in family law arising from one party's conversion to Islam today was interrupted by protesters from several Malay–Muslim movements.
In her opening speech, Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan invited
the protesters to join the forum and share their dissenting views.
"I'm aware this forum has drawn many criticisms from many quarters. I don't have
a problem with criticism... there are demonstrators outside, you can hear them,"
she said.
Jerking her chin towards the windows at the back of the auditorium, she
continued: "We have absolutely no quarrel with them. They are exercising their
freedom of speech. We hope they'll be allowed to carry out their demonstration
peacefully. We're certainly not lodging any police report."
At 9.25am, just as the forum was warming up, Ambiga informed
the participants inside the auditorium that the police had advised the forum be
wrapped up by 10am.
According to reports, the 100–plus protesters, who had been demonstrating
outside the building since 8am, had swelled tremendously and were in danger of
turning more than unruly.
[Strong police presence outside the Bar Council building.] At 9.50am, a handful
of protesters, led by Kulim Bandar Baharu parliamentarian Zulkifli Noordin from
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), muscled their way to the front of the first–floor
auditorium at the Bar Council headquarters in Leboh Pasar Besar here amid an
ongoing and lively discussion on the 2006 court case of R. Subashini, whose
ethnic Indian husband T. Saravanan had embraced Islam and converted their
five–year–old son without her knowledge or consent.
Despite the heavy police escort, heated words were exchanged between some of the
protesters and some members of the Bar Council. The word "monkey" was heard
bandied about several times by both sides.
Calls for calm by the forum moderator, Zarizana Abdul Aziz, a lawyer from the
Penang–based non–government organisation Women's Centre for Change, were
ignored, as were calls from the floor for the protesters, hogging the central
aisle, to sit down and not block the view of the forum panellists.
Surprisingly, the discussion still went on. In fact, the topic had moved onwards
to the case of S. Shamala, whose husband Dr M. Jeyaganesh embraced Islam four
years after their marriage and converted their two children as well.
The incident came close to turning into a real fracas when one of the
protesters, a stout man in a white shirt with green lining on the sleeves,
grabbed a microphone and shouted: "I represent Umno Malaysia! Close this forum
right now!"
The man, who only identified himself as Jais, added: "We want to give advice;
next time, don't have things like this that challenge the people of Islam."
Immediately, an incensed woman, lost within the crowd of hulking men, latched
onto another microphone and hollered right back: "You represent Umno; I
represent the Muslims! I'm ashamed by your behaviour! Islam does not condone
this behaviour! Do not make use of Islam!"
Turns out that the chilli padi was Dr Mehrun Siraj, an outspoken law lecturer at
the International Islamic University and a former member of the Human Rights
Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
The male protesters looked fit to burst a blood vessel at her words.
Fortunately, members of the Bar Council secretariat were on hand and quickly
intervened before anything untoward happened in that highly charged atmosphere.
A lawyer on the sidelines shook her head and tsk–ed at the chaos in front of
her. "They're bullies! Such bullies!" she said, though she did not elaborate
whom she was referring to.
[Protestors gather outside to express their opposition to the forum.] The
organising committee from the Family Law Department of the Bar Council went
around the room and repeatedly called on the protesters and the annoyed
participants to take their seats. They too were mostly ignored.
It was only when Ambiga finally took control of the microphone and announced in
a loud and exasperated voice that the crowd inside finally listened: "Ladies and
gentlemen, I'm going to close this forum, right after everyone sits down. Please
sit down."
The time was three minutes to 10am.
For all that the forum lasted only an hour and 10 minutes, when it was schedued
to last till lunch time, Ambiga was satisfied. She found the discussion
fruitful.
"It's unfortunate that we could not carry on with the forum. It's a real shame
we had to stop the forum due to the advice from the police.
"I have great faith in our ability and maturity, as Malaysians, to discuss
sensitive issues sensibly. I do not subscribe to the view that we cannot talk
about sensitive issues, not for one minute. Not today. Maybe it was the case 30
years ago, but not today," Ambiga concluded.