Comments: Contempt of Parliament by Malaysian Police

It is rather disgusting to hear that there is abuse of police powers to conduct arrest within Parliament's compound in Malaysia when the people whom had voted for PM, came to deliver the Memorandum to him for consideration. PM had denied the rights of the people to meet him or deliver memorandum to him about their grievances. Earlier, one read that he has "Big Ears" and willing to listen to people's suggestion and petition. Now he used ISA to detain HINDRAF leaders and authorised the arrest of protestors at the Parliament. Shame on those who authorised such defilement of the parliament (powerhouse of the lawmakers).

 

 

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Posted by Wong Ho Leng on December 12, 2007 at 16:20:06: at Sarawak Talk

Contempt of Parliament

When Parliament (be it Federal or State) is in session, it is a contempt to serve any court process on the Members (of Parliament) in the Parliamentary precincts. It is also contemptuous to effect arrest in the Parliamentary precincts.

Yet this happened yesterday, with the police arresting 29 people in the Parliamentary precincts.

The sanctity of Parliament and the honour and dignity of the MPs are effectively blown away by the arrest.

Those arrested included political leaders from the Opposition Parties as well as activists from the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH).
Some of those arrests were made in the presence of Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang who subsequently lodged a protest in Parliament against the abuse of police powers.

This must be the most shameful episode in the annals of Malaysian Parliamentary history, and the Prime Minister and the Inspector-General of Police must be held accountable.

Those arrested were in Parliament to present a Petition to the Speaker against a proposed constitutional amendment, being a proposal that would extend the retirement age for Election Commission officers, likely allowing its current Chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman to stay in the role during polls expected next year.

The Petition complained that Abdul Rashid's service is continuously marred with recurring electoral frauds and manipulations and is not fit for the job and must go immediately.

The arrestees were alleged to have defied a Court Order which restrained them from entering Parliament to present the Petition.

In the event that the arrestees had breached the Court Order or any law in the country, there is nothing to stop the police to effect arrest when they had stepped outside the Parliamentary precincts.

The precincts of Parliament includes the Parliament building and the surrounding land and building under the jurisdiction and care of Parliament. It includes such spaces as the car park. It will not include land outside its gate.

The laws clearly prohibit any arrest in the Parliamentary precincts. If the Police could blatantly ignore the laws prohibiting arrest in the Parliamentary precincts, then there is every reason to believe that they would breach laws outside it. No wonder the former IGP could smack a panda-eye out of Anwar Ibrahim when he was brought to the uppermost sanctum of the police headquarters at Bukit Aman.

All righteous and law abiding Malaysians should register a strong protest against the blatant and shameful abuse of the law and police powers.

All Malaysian voters should also send a signal to the BN MPs who steadfastly declined to give support to Kit Siang's Motion in Parliament to release those whose arrests were effected illegally. That shows the class of the BN politicians.

In the event that the Government does not consider Parliament as a mere scrap of paper, it should have annulled the arrest forthwith. It denied itself the opportunity.

Yet Abdullah was reported as telling the Opposition Parliamentary Leader, Lim Kit Siang, that the arrest would not be allowed in the Parliamentary chambers, but outside it would be allowed.

The Government propaganda machine will do all things possible to justify the police action, but the fundamental issue will remain – the police cannot arrest in the precincts of Parliament.

Trees lining the streets were posted with copies of a Court Order obtained by the police that banned campaigners from Parliament.

How could the Court issue an Order restraining persons who are unspecified will be questioned by the legal fraternity. It is believed that when the Court Order is unspecific, it is susceptible to the challenge that it is void.

Also, it defies logic that an Order could issue to restrain anybody from going to Parliament to hand over their grouses to the MPs whom they had voted. Since when has the Parliament been reduced to a forbidden ground to citizens who had grouses?

The Prime Minister should walk the talk and listen to the voice of the people containing those grouses.

The arrest against people with grouses may be interpreted as a harassment against leaders from the Opposition and a sustained crackdown on Government critics. The arrest is not only a blatant contempt of Parliament but a blatant indictment against democracy and freedom of expression in Malaysia.

Arresting those who legitimately demand for Fair and Clean Election is an indictment against Fair and Clean Election.

If there is a din of freedom and honour left in the BN Government, it should purge the contempt of Parliament and nullify the arrest forthwith. The Prime Minister should undertake that such embarrassing episode in the county will not be repeated.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that he was willing to sacrifice public freedom to maintain national security. "Public safety above all", said the Star, the BN mouthpiece.

All Malaysians should ask whether presenting to the Parliamentarians a Petition, containing mere words in a few sheets of paper, was threatening the safety of Malaysians, or whether the demand for a clean and fair election had become an impediment to national security.

What Malaysians saw was the police resorting to elaborate measures to stifle the BERSIH campaigners. It blocked all roads to Parliament, causing traffic chaos in Kuala Lumpur. Then, instead of containing and solving crime, more than 400 police surrounded the Parliament to block the electoral reform campaigners.

By making arrest in the Parliamentary precincts against harmless campaigners, the police had violated the highest and most sacrosanct institution of the country.

How can the police violate the sanctity of Parliament with impunity?
Such a brute display of immoral and illegal force and unmitigated abuse of constitutional propriety cannot and must not be tolerated!

No Government should deem a petition presentation as a show of violence or threat to national security. Malaysians of today have sufficient sanity to treasure and nurture peace. It is a fundamental right they demand, in any event.

12/12/2007