The Malaysian Bar - Bar submits Bersih 3.0 report to Cabinet ministers

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Bar submits Bersih 3.0 report to Cabinet ministers

Saturday, 26 May 2012 11:41am

©The Malaysian Insider (Used by permission)
by Clara Chooi

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Despite recent criticism, the Malaysian Bar has pressed on with its recent resolution condemning the alleged acts of police violence during Bersih 3.0, and presented its views to two Cabinet ministers this week.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the Bar Council met with the two leaders to explain the resolution and their final report on the Bersih 3.0 April 28 rally, which details numerous witnessed incidents of police brutality and lists out recommendations on crowd control for future gatherings.

Council president Lim Chee Wee declined to reveal the names of the two ministers but told The Malaysian Insider that discussions with both individuals had gone well.

“We hope that positive developments will result from these meetings. We are undertaking diplomacy to engage with the relevant people in the government,” he said when contacted here yesterday.

Lim added that the “engagement process” with government leaders and other authorities, such as the police, was still ongoing and he would need more time before any definite statement could be made.

“It will take time but we hope something good will come out of it,” he said.

During the Bar’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) earlier this month, a resolution was approved condemning the police for using “excessive” and “indiscriminate” force to disperse Bersih 3.0 protesters on April 28.

The resolution also included demanding public apologies from the home minister and Inspector-General of Police for the alleged acts of violence.

Since the EGM, however, the Bar Council has become the target of criticisms from anti-Bersih proponents, who accused the body of being biased and pro-opposition.

Prominent politicians like former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz even called the council a “political party” and supported demands for the formation of a second Malaysian Bar for those who opposed the current council.

Following the EGM, Lim had said the council would “engage” with the authorities and arrange meetings with the prime minister, home minister and Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to discuss its findings on Bersih 3.0.

Lim had also said the council had not discounted the possibility of holding a lawyers’ march on the issue, following a suggestion from a member of the Bar during the EGM.

But Lim told The Malaysian Insider today that the suggestion has been put on hold for now.

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