HUNDREDS of lawyers have failed in their attempt to march to Parliament for judicial independence when police officers present at the gathering formed a human barricade to prevent them from continuing forward.
Bar Council president Karen Cheah said lawyers who gathered at the venue in Padang Merbok would not create a scene.
“We will not make this into a circus. If they stop us from walking, as lawyers we will know what to do,” she was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini. “We will know exactly what to do in terms of our legal recourse against the authorities who have stopped us from exercising our constitutional rights. We have assembled peacefully.”
It is also understood that the police had agreed to allow only 20 representatives to march but the organisers said no to allowing only 20 people to march.
The gathering dispersed at around 11:30am while a smaller crowd headed for a walk towards Parliament.
The Malaysian Bar’s resolution to hold the protest was approved by over 600 members present at an extraordinary general meeting in May.
The Walk for Judiciary Independence was in response to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency’s (MACC) investigation against Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali after a politically-linked blog claimed he had unexplained wealth.
The judge who had previously convicted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the RM42 mil SRC International corruption case had lodged a police report denying the allegation.
Initially, the protestors had demanded to hand over the memorandum in the Parliament but due to the restrictions by the police, Deputy Law Minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin came down to Padang Merbok to receive the memorandum on behalf of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri.
“Today I came on behalf of the Prime Minister to accept a memorandum from the Bar Council,” said the Masjid Tanah MP who was once a lawyer. “Thank you for your cooperation and I apologise for any difficulties and inconvenience.”
“May justice and judicial independence continue to be upheld,” Mas added in pledging to forward the Bar Council’s memorandum to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and Prime Minister Ismail Sabri.
In the memorandum, the group had listed four demands, namely (i) for the judiciary’s independence to be upheld; (ii) for the Government to preserve the confidence of the public in our judicial system; (iii) to condemn the action of MACC; and (iv) a possible legislative reform to set the parameters so that allegations against sitting judges can be done in a manner which does not erode judicial confidence. – June 17, 2022
