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Contributed by Valerie Choo Huae Ling & Lau Yi Lin

The Human Rights & Contemporary Issues Committee of the Malacca Bar organised a human rights training workshop in collaboration with the Bar Council Human Rights Committee (BCHRC) and the Law Faculty of Malacca Multimedia University (MMU) on 21 February 2009 at MMU campus.  

The key speakers were BCHRC Chairperson Edmund Bon, BCHRC members Roger Chan, Saha Deva, Amer Hamzah Arshad and K. Shanmuga, and Chin Oy Sim from the Bar Council Secretariat, assisted by other BCHRC members. Around 150 participants attended the training, consisting mostly of MMU students together with legal practitioners and members of NGOs.    

The workshop aimed to raise the level of awareness and consciousness amongst the undergraduate students of human rights principles, current issues relating to human rights and challenges faced by human rights activists in dealing with infringement of rights. 

With Desmond Ho as the moderator, the four-hour training session kicked off at 9am after a brief welcome speech by Edmund Bon and Malacca Bar’s Human Rights Sub-committee chairman Anthony Chua. Before the start of each module, interactive sessions titled “Where do you stand?” were conducted by Chin Oy Sim, whereby questions were posed to the floor with the aim to invite participants to put on their thinking caps and to also learn to take a stand and state their viewpoints on contemporary issues affecting them. The interactive sessions were well-received, with participants warming up to them more towards the second half of the training.      


 
The first session was entitled “Freedom of Speech and Expression”. Shanmuga emphasised that the Federal Constitution is the underlying law and other laws must be consistent with it. He further discussed the protections and restrictions provided for under the Constitution and highlighted that freedom of expression as stated in the Constitution should allow people to express their views and opinions. However, Article 10 (1)(a) of the Constitution, which states that every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression, failed to include foreigners and permanent residents. In his presentation, he also gave a general overview of the Sedition Act 1948, principles in Civil and Criminal Defamation and the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984. 

The topic of “Abuse of Police Powers and the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC)” was the next session in line. Roger Chan enlightened the participants regarding the two major incidents whereby there was abuse of police powers even before a person is arrested, namely the Suria KLCC or Bloody Sunday incident and the Bandar Mahkota Cheras incident. One clear-cut situation of abuse of police powers is the blatant disregard of safeguards of arrested persons under the new Section 28A of Criminal Procedure Code, where rights of person arrested to be informed of grounds of arrest and rights to communicate with family or legal representatives were not respected. 

The second speaker on the same topic was Saha Deva who spoke on the need for an independent, external oversight mechanism such as the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), to investigate complaints against the police. Participants were also briefed on the differences between the IPCMC and the Special Complaints Commissions (SCC), which is the body that the government is proposing to replace the IPCMC with. 

Amer Hamzah Arshad took the floor in the third session with his presentation on “Issues affecting Migrants and Refugees”, during which participants were exposed to the plight of refugees in Malaysia. Amer highlighted the distinction between refugees and undocumented economic migrants, in that the latter leave their country voluntarily to seek a better life while refugees leave their country due to fear of persecution on grounds of race, religion or other factors, and cannot return home due to this reason. 

He gave a brief overview of the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits states from returning a refugee or asylum seeker to territories where there is a risk that his life, liberty and freedom would be threatened on account of race or religion. The principle of non-refoulement is an accepted customary international law, which is binding on Malaysia. He further opined that even though Malaysia is not a member to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951, it is a member to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Article 22 of the CRC specifically endorses the rights of refugees and asylum seekers to the appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance. 

Amer was of the view that refugees should not be governed or subject to the provisions of the Immigration Act 1959/63, in particular section 6(1). He explained that Malaysia has a moral and social, if not legal, obligation to render assistance and protection to refugees.


 
The final session was an interactive brain-storming session led by Edmund Bon and the BCHRC team. The participants were divided into groups and asked to list down three effective strategies they would use to advocate their position on two issues, namely whether the ISA should be repealed and whether admission to UiTM should be open to every Malaysian. Interesting ideas and arguments were presented by both schools of thought on the two issues.
 


The workshop ended with a closing speech by Desmond Ho wherein he thanked everyone present for their effort and participation. Souvenirs were presented by the Malacca Bar Committee to both the Law Faculty of MMU and the BCHRC.