Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

©Klue (Used by permission)
by Jerome Kugan

Edmund Bon Tai Soon, 33

For better or worse, Edmund Bon is now known as one of several lawyers who were arrested last year on 10 December (ironically, International Human Rights Day). While the rest were charged for other offenses, Bon was taken into detention after he tried to prevent KL City Hall officers from removing banners and posters from the Bar Council building. The incident sparked outrage among many lawyers and human rights activists, who considered the arrests of the lawyers based on ulterior motives, especially as it had happened so soon after the Bersih rally. Since then, the case has cooled down, as other court scandals have taken over media attention. Despite the events, Edmund remains chairman of both the Bar Council’s National Young Lawyers Committee and Human Rights Committee. (This Q&A was done before the incident.)

Describe the nature of your work with the Bar Council. What kind of issues do you work on?

The Bar Council is the governing body of the Malaysian Bar which has a membership of more than 12,000 lawyers. The Council is constituted of 36 elected leaders from across the Peninsula. Together with a large group of dedicated and passionate lawyers, both young and old, we constitute the Human Rights Committee which is one of the 34 committees of the Bar Council. We are tasked to look into various human rights issues. As human rights covers a wide area, we have legal experts in various fields of children and women’s rights, civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights. Our mission is to uphold, promote and protect human rights in accordance with international human rights norms. I’m fortunate to be part of the Bar Council’s National Young Lawyers Committee which represents the interests of young lawyers in the country. It’s made up of young leaders from every state, and it’s a platform for various activities to further the interests of the whole Bar. We’ve been at the forefront of many initiatives such as successfully getting the Government to do away with a discriminatory law in our Legal Profession Act 1976 barring young lawyers from contesting in the Bar elections, assisting the flood victims in Johor particularly the Orang Asli, and together with the Centre for Public Policy Studies, launching the 1st Young Malaysians Roundtable Discussion on National Unity. We are now working on the 3rd Young Lawyers Convention in Penang to be held from 18 to 20 January 2008 which promises to be an exciting affair full of “fireworks.” It would be no different from our previous conventions after which we were branded the “Young Turks” of the Bar due to our strong sentiments at the conventions!

What are some issues you think are of significant importance to the Malaysian public?

Really, we still see “bread-and-butter” issues as important. If fuel or bread prices go up, we jump. We care only when it hits us financially. On other issues which do
not affect us directly, we are quite ambivalent. It’s disappointing to see that many Malaysians are apathetic about equally important concerns such as how far our public institutions and leaders have denigrated to the extent that they’ve become good scripts for stand-up comedy. Or corruption—we complain about it but will give a sum to be let off a traffic summons. And our liberties, of course. We have a Constitution which is being torn to shreds by our courts and Parliament surreptitiously. What rights do you actually have against the police today for example? Are we living a full life just by having our three meals or do we aspire to more? Our rights as a human person, particularly not to be discriminated against or treated as a second-class citizen in many aspects are just as important as the money we earn to keep us going. Fortunately today, we see how information technology and the Internet has given us more to read about. The Government does not know how to control it, but in any case, it would be futile to do so. Hence, it tries to control us by other means. Yet, we’re seeing a more educated society, one which is more empowered especially the young, and one which is willing to take the cause all the way. The massive Bersih gathering on 10 November and earlier, the 2,000 lawyers walking for justice to the Prime Minister’s office are signs that the tide is turning our way. People power is breaking down the walls.

How did you get involved with the issues? What got you into it?

My education in the UK was a huge factor although the anti-establishment streak in secondary school helped in a small way. Things are way different in the UK. You make a sexist or racist remark and you are out of there. Here, it’s tolerated. Our so-called “culture” it seems. Bad habits slowly creep in as we stay on, and it’s bad. But the standards in the UK, including the quality of humanism and spirit of freedom really moves you to action. Education is so much different there. We used to be slapped or asked to sit down when we said something in school here, and I reckon it’s sometimes the same in tertiary education with the horror stories you hear. In the UK, it’s the complete opposite—if you’re silent, you’re the one who loses out. When I got back at the end of 1997, the Anwar saga was in full force. Got roped in by our Bar Council’s Kuala Lumpur Legal Aid Centre Urgent Arrest Team to represent the hundreds detained during the Reformasi demonstrations. It was unbelievable, being part of the large number of lawyers working round the clock—at police stations, in court, preparing for trial. The camaraderie it generated and the skills learnt was the launching pad for many of our friends in the Bar today leading in their own way and in their own right causes for the Bar. hen on, there was no turning back. Human rights used to be a “dirty word” until SUHAKAM was set up. I served at the Legal Aid Centre and got influenced by fellow lawyers leaving me with no choice but to continue in rights activism.

What do you think of the present situation of activism work in the country?

It’s encouraging and growing. Within the Bar, we’ve seen many young lawyers turning into potent forces fighting the cause. Many are ready to be doused in “rights talk and walk,” coupled with their innate sense of idealism, then peppered with some passion. That’s the ultimate combination. And believe it or not, contrary to assertions by some quarters, everyone in the field of activism loves the country, and only wants to see it get better. We are not traitors. Rather, we would rather do something about it, rather than just sit around and only talk about it. Another trend we have seen is how young lawyers, those of Generation Y are not so much as interested in making a great deal of money which they cannot take to their graves, but wanting to lead the “virtuous” life. A life necessitated by the concern of human dignity, and seeking to fight for what is right. It is apt that the lawyer’s mantra is to uphold justice without fear or favour, and without regard to his or her own interest. Sounds good, but difficult to achieve as one gets older and I for one would not claim to have succeeded. Yet, if that is the goal, it calls on us to always evaluate our actions with that benchmark.

Does the future look promising?

Definitely. Greater access to information and the agitation for a larger civil space has educated and empowered our peoples. Again, from the perspective at the Bar,
the role or perception of who a “lawyer” is or should be is changing. The “activist-lawyer” is a growing group within the Bar where sometimes the lawyer acts not as a lawyer but as a fellow human citizen of the country, unsure of his place in the demarcation but confident that he is doing the right thing, and articulating the right demands. The line gets blurred too often. And perhaps for the right reasons. Except for certain skills, lawyers are really no different from the person with no legal education. We may know how to use some legal terms and structure our arguments, but really, we need to bring ourselves and feel the “ground” sometimes to understand how the layperson feels. That’s why we’ve tried through the Human Rights and National Young Lawyers committees to bring the law and legal interventions down to the grassroots, and become more “human.” We’re glad that these initiatives have been well-received, and appreciated. It’s time to debunk the anecdotal theories that we only sit in our air-conditioned offices in our black suits demanding huge sums of money to provide advice. The Bar’s Legal Aid Centres is one important showcase in that regard. We give free advice to the public, and the Centres are entirely funded by the lawyers when international human rights standards actually demand that the Government provides legal aid!

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed