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Contributed by Ruhil Razak, Administrative Assistant, Bar Council

On 12 June 2009, Kei Ichikawa, the Second Secretary in charge of the Political Department of the Embassy of Japan in Malaysia came to the Bar Council (BC) to discuss issues pertaining to judicial review and review of the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA).

Present to welcome Ichikawa were Malaysian Bar Vice-President, Lim Chee Wee, who was joined by Datuk N. Sivananthan, one of the few Asian lawyers on the list of counsel for the International Criminal Court, and Ragumaren Gopal, co-chair of the BC Human Rights Committee’s Working Group on Prisons and Centres of Detention (PriCeDent).

During the informal meeting, Ichikawa expressed his concern over the use of the ISA in Malaysia and two other major laws that similarly provide for detention without trial, namely the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969 and the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985.  Under these three laws, there are approximately 3,000 people who are being detained without recourse to trial.  Datuk Sivananthan explained how these laws infringe fundamental human rights and contradict Malaysia’s claims of applying the rule of law and the protection of fundamental liberties.

There was also lively discussion on steps the Malaysian government has taken to review the ISA.  Both Datuk Sivananthan and Ragumaren explained that so far no concrete action has been taken, although a significant number of ISA detainees have been released in recent months.  Lim Chee Wee stressed that the Malaysian Bar is unequivocally against all detention without trial laws and will continue to strive to repeal them, particularly the ISA.  

The meeting ended with Ichikawa expressing his hope that there would be more opportunities for such fruitful discussions in the future.