Contributed by Vivian Kuan, Member, Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee
On 23 Jan 2016, six members from the Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee and the Bar Council Environment and Climate Change Committee (“ECCC”) embarked on an exciting and much awaited journey to Kuantan, Pahang, to conduct a MyConsti workshop. This workshop was organised in collaboration with the Malaysian Nature Society (“MNS”) Pahang Branch.
With the bauxite mining issue taking centre stage in the Malaysian news, members of MNS Pahang Branch, and the public in general, were keen to be informed of their constitutional rights, particularly in terms of environmental rights and the relevant laws.
The workshop kicked–off at around 11:00 am with the “Where do you stand” module. Statements were given and each participant had a choice on whether to agree, disagree or remain neutral. Participants were required to explain their choices, and the session saw a lively and spirited group of participants.
The workshop then proceeded with the “Reconstitution Earth v. 2.0” module where the participants were divided into two groups. It was a buoyant session as the groups had different sets of citizens in their respective “planets”. This sparked a healthy debate as to the difference in choices. After lunch, the groups had to name 10 items which they deem to be essential in life. However, the groups were not told that it should be a constitution or a piece of law.
Both groups covered almost 90 percent of the rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) — which contains 30 articles — with just 10 “items”. At this point, the UDHR was not yet shown to the participants. This reinforces the position that the rights stipulated in the UDHR are innate to human beings and flow naturally from our inner selves.
Next was the presentation of the various fundamental rights in the UDHR and in the Federal Constitution. Needless to say, the participants already had a strong grasp of the various rights. The final session, at about 4:00 pm, was a presentation by Roger Chan Weng Keng — Chairperson of ECCC — on environmental rights with reference to the bauxite mining issue. Roger gave a detailed analysis of former and existing legal framework on environmental laws in Malaysia. The participants were keen in finding out ways on how to hold the relevant parties responsible for the environmental damage caused by the bauxite mining.
It was indeed very inspirational to see that the public are willing to fight to have their rights upheld despite how the Lynas litigation turned out. One would expect the public to be jaded after seeing the manner in which the courts treated the Lynas case. The participants from Kuantan are a true testament and example of citizens that uphold the constitution without fear. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Special thanks goes to MNS Pahang Branch for collaborating with the Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee and ECCC, for the opportunity to reach out to more Malaysians to raise awareness of their fundamental rights.