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Reports that the 45 alleged followers of Ayah Pin who were charged in court had difficulty getting Syariah lawyers to represent them rang an ominous alarm bell. Upon learning of the same, the Bar Council (through its Human Rights Committee and Legal Aid Committee) managed to procure a Syariah lawyer to represent the accused in their bail hearings.

These persons continue to experience difficulty in seeking defence counsel to act for them in relation to the substantive charges, as has been widely reported in the newspapers. The Bar Council has obtained a list of all the Syariah lawyers in Terengganu, and has written to each and every one of them drawing their attention to the dire situation and urging them to avail themselves in providing legal representation to these accused without fear or reservation.

It is a hallmark and a responsibility of lawyers all over the world to provide their professional services without being inhibited by any unpopularity of the client’s cause; or by any difference (no matter how great) in ideology or belief between the client and the lawyer or between the client and the society at large. This duty to prosecute a client’s case or to defend a client’s action to the fullest is as sacred as, for example, the duty of doctors to treat their patients without regard to their personal beliefs.

It is thus hoped that Syariah lawyers in Terengganu will quickly rise to the occasion and come forward to offer their services. The credibility and integrity of any criminal legal system require, among other things, the availability of proper and adequate legal representation for the accused, the absence of which will plunge that system into a state of meaningless existence.

While most of the cases are fixed for mention on 1/9/05, we are informed that one case is fixed for hearing tomorrow (10/8/05). If this accused is unable to obtain proper legal representation by tomorrow, it is hoped that the court will adjourn the matter to allow the accused more time to look for a suitable Syariah lawyer, and that it will in the meantime grant bail.

The Ayah Pin saga has brought to surface other perennial matters of importance as well. The issue of the freedom of belief is no doubt a central one, highlighting once again the impropriety for the State to regulate one’s thoughts and beliefs, or to criminalize those who do not subscribe to “mainstream” doctrines.

Unlike in similar incidents in the past where criminal laws alone were used against persons conducting spiritual activities perceived by the authorities to be undesirable, the Terengganu authorities this time sought to use land law in order to wipe out such activities; by invoking the National Land Code in forfeiting and taking possession of the land and demolishing the structures on the land, all of which were carried out with unusual and lightning speed. In so doing, the relevant authorities were even prepared to ignore their knowledge of the existence of a High Court Order granting a stay of further action pending a judicial review of the steps taken by them under the National Land Code, preferring to argue that the sealed Order had yet to be extracted or served on them. This extraordinary move is akin to taking the law into their own hands; something which should not be permitted and ought not to have been done.

In addition, there was an earlier incident of taking the law into one’s own hands, when on 18/7/05 a group of masked vigilantes entered the village and committed acts of arson and mob violence. While the relevant authorities have acted quickly to charge Ayah Pin’s alleged followers, it appears that no one has yet been charged in respect of the shameful and cowardly crimes that were perpetrated on 18/7/05.

The entire episode is a wake-up call to the authorities and to all Malaysians. We must realise that there is an urgent need to find proper and fairer ways of addressing matters of this nature, and that the ways in which we had dealt with them in the past leave a lot to be desired. The injustices that resulted must be addressed and redressed. Lessons must be learned. Individuals’ rights and freedom must be respected.

Dated 9th August 2005

Yeo Yang Poh
Chairman
Bar Council

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