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The departure of a member of the Bar, Mr Uthayakumar, to England to seek asylum there, has been a matter of concern to the Malaysian Bar; and the Bar Council has been in touch with his solicitor to find out more about the surrounding circumstances.

Mr Uthayakumar had alleged that his life was in danger from the actions of the "police top brass"; an allegation which has been vehemently denied by the Police. In the face of such a serious allegation, an independent and thorough investigation is no longer optional. The Police Commission or Suhakam will be best placed to perform the task. An independent and transparent inquiry will on the one hand afford adequate opportunity for the substantiation of those allegations, and, on the other, equal opportunity for the Police to demonstrate the contrary. Welcoming an independent search for the truth would be the appropriate response by the Police, instead of going ahead with the threat of a charge of criminal defamation against their accuser (which the Bar Council hopes will be quickly abandoned).

While these events are unfolding, we must also not lose sight of the plight of the families of those who have died in police custody. In this connection, it is encouraging to learn that the Police have now given their assurance that all deaths of detainees in police custody will be investigated within a month and a timely inquest will be held in each and every case. The Bar Council calls upon the Police to immediately demonstrate their seriousness by commencing inquests into the many deaths that have already occurred in the past few years.

Various NGOs have for a long time been probing and asking pertinent questions about the value our society places on human lives, often to the displeasure of the authorities. It is thus refreshing to read recent reports quoting Dato Nazri Abdul Aziz (Minister in the Prime Minister's Department) giving an assurance that NGOs such as Suaram "will not be persecuted" for their work, and that the report presented by Suaram will be discussed in the Cabinet as it would be "meaningless for the government to ignore the report". The Bar Council hopes that this will herald a new and sustained trend in the government of according the work of the NGOs the importance, respect and recognition that it deserves. In line with this trend, however, the Government must ensure that the Suhakam Annual Report 2003 will be promptly and fully debated in Parliament.

The Bar Council also welcomes two further suggestions made by the Minister; the first is to have a parliamentary select committee to deal with human rights issues, and the second, to hold an open forum on the Internal Security Act. They are both long overdue.

Dated 11^th June 2004.

Yeo Yang Poh
Vice-Chairman
Bar Council