Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Advocates Association of Sarawak ask Najib to honour promise and repeal Sedition Act?

Sarawak legal body slams sedition probe on lawyers over AG motion
Monday April 4, 2016
05:38 PM GMT+8


(From left) Karen Cheah, R. Shanmugam, Francis Pereira and Charles Hector arrive at Bukit Aman to give their statements in Kuala Lumpur March 31, 2016. ― file picture  













(From left) Karen Cheah, R. Shanmugam, Francis Pereira and Charles Hector arrive at Bukit Aman to give their statements in Kuala Lumpur March 31, 2016. ― file picture

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — The sedition investigation on lawyers over a Malaysian Bar motion calling for the Attorney-General’s resignation violates the rule of law as they were merely exercising their statutory rights, the Advocates Association of Sarawak said today.

The association’s central committee president Leonard D. Shim pointed out that Malaysian Bar secretary Karen Cheah Yee Lynn and the three lawyers who had moved the motion — R. Shanmugam, Francis Pereira, Charles Hector — were exercising their statutory rights and duties under Section 64(6) of the Legal Profession Act 1976 to propose “any motion” during the peninsula legal body’s annual general meeting (AGM) on March 19.

“Section 42(1) of the LPA provides that the Malaysian Bar has a statutory duty to uphold the cause of justice without regard to its own interests or that of its members, uninfluenced by fear or favour,” Shim said in a statement.

“The questioning by the police of the lawyers who moved the motion relating to 1MDB and the Secretary of the Malaysian Bar for carrying out her statutory duties is regrettable and inconsistent with the principles of the Rule of Law.

“The Advocates Association of Sarawak again urges the Government to respect the statutory rights of the office-bearers and members of the Malaysian Bar, and to honour the Prime Minister’s own 2012 promise of repealing the Sedition Act,” he added, referring to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Police recorded last Thursday statements from Cheah, Charles, Shanmugam and Pereira over the motion, which urged Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali to quit as AG, that was adopted at the Malaysian Bar’s AGM with over 700 votes.

The contentious motion called on Apandi to resign over his decisions in cases involving state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), former 1MDB unit SRC International, and the transfer of RM2.6 billion into the prime minister’s personal accounts, after the AG announced that Najib did not commit any criminal offence in the SRC International and RM2.6 billion cases. - Malay Mail, 4/4/2016



 

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