YOURSAY 'We shall not be fooled by any concessions. We remember the concession by Najib himself in the form of an offer of the use of a stadium for Bersih and that came to zilch.'

your say Bender: To me, as an average Joe, this article by Eric Choo is all just lawyer talk which carries no weight whatsoever to justify the blatant lie made by PM Najib Razak.

Lawyers are good at using technicalities to obscure the obvious. We, on the other hand, look at the big picture. The big picture says Najib promised us more democratic space.

Restricting the people's freedom to voice our opinions goes against the very basic conception of that democratic space. It's as simple as that.

You may spin and twist the words of your honourable PM up to the very last full stop, yet to me, it's the intention that counts.

You judge people's intention by their gestures, not their words. Honourable men don't hide their intentions behind big and complicated words.

If the PM is serious about giving the people what they want, just go ahead and take actions that are reflective of his real intentions. Sorry Eric, your lawyer talk doesn't convince me one bit.

Abasir: This is a pathetic attempt to defend the indefensible. The writer, who is an MCA member, conveniently forgets to examine the real intent of the bill - to drive home the last nail in the coffin of free assembly and free speech, and doing so in the name of the "best democracy in the world". Despicable.

Onyourtoes: This is a red herring, period. Okay, may be the prime minister did not specifically make a promise on certain issues.

But to cut the long story short, let me ask Eric Choo this question: what impression did the prime minister convey to the rakyat on Sept 15, 2011 - something more progressive and liberal or something more regressive and restrictive?

If the answer is the former, what does the Peaceful Assembly Bill convey?

Malaysiasakit: Eric Choo, don't waste your time trying to defend Najib. MCA is, and has been, a bankrupt party and is increasingly irrelevant.

Look at your past leaders - except for Lee Kim Sai and Ong Tee Keat - the rest of your leaders are either corrupt or scandalous, for example Tan Koon Swan, Ling Liong Sik, Lee Kim Sai, Neo Yee Pan and Chua Soi Lek.

In short, the very existence of MCA is not tenable and the party will be wiped out in GE13. If I were you, I'd quit MCA and spend more time building my career.

Hang Babeuf: This article begins with a lawyer's defence plea for the PM. Then, after that, a clear admission of some of the serious defects in the proposed legislation.

So, let's not argue now about the PM. Let's all just agree that this bill is rotten. A disgrace. Beyond fixing. It must simply be opposed, rejected, withdrawn.

And while we are all busy with that, how about pushing for the setting up of a proper and permanent Law Reform Commission to consider new legislation and to canvass opinions from the public and from well-informed specialists - rather than having the job always done furtively, secretly and usually disastrously somewhere inside the murky interior of the Attorney-General's Chambers?

Mr KJ John : This is a mere post-facto attempt to rationalise Najib's U-turn on freedom of assembly.

We are concerned with the spirit of the law, not the letter of this law, which too are equally poorly conceived. It is like having a clean air bill.

Ksn: The only shortcoming in the new bill, according to the MCA president, is the lengthy notice period and his remedy is to reduce the noticed period from 30 to 10 days. Brilliant!

That shows MCA's standards on democracy and freedom of assembly. So MCA lawyer, do not waste your time as no one is buying it.

'Walk for Freedom' will proceed, declares Bar Council

Quigonbond: Given BN's abysmal track record every time they say they will reconsider an issue - be it state of emergency, ISA, PPPA, OSA, etc - we are hardly to blame for being highly skeptical.

Certainly, the march, and any other marches, should go on. Malaysians have been awakened since March 2008, and there is simply no going back to a docile, order abiding, unthinking citizenry.

The more this federal government, or for any matter any federal government, imposes restrictions, the more independent-minded people will slip through their grasp.

Loyal Malaysian: I read with pride this statement by the Bar Council. Thank you.

With the lawyers at the forefront of this battle not to allow the Umnoputras to curtail more of our civil liberties, the rakyat can heave a sigh of relief.

Yes, we must stand firm. The unholy haste of the government to push through the bill spells of bad faith, we must not allow them to take us for a ride.

Lim Chong Leong: We shall not be fooled by any concessions. We remember the concession by Najib himself in the form of an offer of the use of a stadium for Bersih and that came to zilch.

And his offer to repeal the ISA has come with a further arrest of 13. The UUCA (Universities and University Colleges Act) repeal too comes with an appeal to the Federal Court.

So we can expect his concessions to be ‘bullshit'.

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