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Malaysian Bar supports call for independent law reform commission
Categories
| Update MP warns of police 'trend' to deny legal counsel |
| Politics & Government 2009 | |||
| Written by Chua Sue-Ann | |||
| Wednesday, 20 May 2009 14:09 | |||
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Teo, who was among the 11 detained at a candlelight vigil in Seputeh on Tuesday night, said the police had consistently denied the rights of those detained access to legal counsel when recording their statements for alleged illegal assembly. "The right for legal representation is a fundamental right guaranteed under the Federal Constitution... Are we (citizens) becoming an imminent threat to the country?" Teo said during a press conference here today. While Article 28A(2) and (3) of the CPC provides detainees the right to legal counsel, subsection (8) of the Code states that the said right shall not apply where a police officer "reasonably believes" compliance with the right to legal representation would likely to result in an accomplice of the person arrested taking steps to avoid apprehension. Additionally, Section 28A(8) may be invoked if the police officer reasonably believed that granting access to legal counsel could result in the concealment, fabrication or destruction of evidence, the intimidation of a witness or if the recording of a statement were urgent with regards to the safety of other persons. The police had detained 11 DAP members, including Teo and Teratai state assemblyman Jenice Lee Ying Ha, on Tuesday night at a DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) candlelight vigil in Seputeh. The vigil, held to "mourn the death of democracy", was attended by about 20 black-clad supporters to express dissatisfaction over the Perak political situation. Those detained were brought to the Brickfields police station and were released on police bail at about 4am today after having their statements and photographs recorded. The police force had recently come under fire by civil society groups and the Malaysian Bar Council following the arrests of more than 120 people in relation to vigils and protests over the Perak political crisis. Five lawyers were also arrested on May 7 for alleged illegal assembly when they arrived at the Brickfields police station to provide legal assistance to a group arrested during a candlelight vigil in support of Bersih activist Wong Chin Huat, who had been arrested for alleged sedition on May 5. Teo, who read a statement by civil society groups at the press conference, also urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to make police reform one of the most urgent tasks in his reform agenda. Commenting on the same matter, Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh said the Home Ministry and the police force's priorities "have gotten everything wrong". "I don't see the same passion (by the police) in solving crime," Yeoh said.
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