The public inquiry into the detention last year of five lawyers got too hot today for the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), which was forced to adjourn early.

This followed the Menara Tun Razak building owner's refusal to switch on the air-conditioning system, Bernama reported today.

    

As a result, the inquiry - scheduled to be concluded after the 12th witness, Brickfields police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid's testimony - was tentatively fixed for hearing at the Jalan Duta Court Complex for three hours, beginning 8pm.

    

The inquiry was into the arrest and detention of the lawyers at the Brickfields police headquarters on May 7.

    

Suhakam commissioner Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who chaired the inquiry, said: "We were forced to adjourn early today, because the owner of the building, which is Tradewind, became unreasonable, in spite of our offer to pay for all costs involved in the air-conditioning of the building at the hearing during the weekend.

"Now, we are resorting to do it at night...we are trying to get the court premises to accommodate us, in case the building owner refuses to put the air-condition on tomorrow night," he said.    

Failure to understand Suhakam’s public function

    

He also expressed disappointment that the building owner failed to understand the importance of the public function that Suhakam was trying to perform.

    

The inquiry's aim is to ascertain, among others, whether the detention and arrest of the five lawyers at the Brickfields police headquarters was a denial of legal representation, and a breach of Article 5 of the Federal Constitution and section 28 of the Criminal Procedure Code and therefore, tantamount to a violation of human rights.

    

The five lawyers detained were Puspawati Rosman, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Murnie Hidayah Anuar, Ravinder Singh Dhalliwal and Syuhaini Safwan.

    

They were detained and put in a lock-up for attending a gathering outside  the police headquarters between 9.25pm and 9.30pm, as a follow-up to a gathering, a day earlier, to protest the detention of blogger Wong Chin Huat at the police station.

    

The lawyers claimed that they were there to represent people who had been detained earlier.

Muhammad Shafee said, being the tenant for three floors in the Menara Tun Razak building, Suhakam also gave the undertaking to pay for all expenses incurred for the air-conditioning.

    

"So, we fail to see why the building owner had behaved almost obstructive in our function and they have disrupted our function...not only on this occasion, on previous occasions also, they have not maintained the air-conditioning well, in spite of charging us the full amount," he said.

Muhammad Shafee, who was assisted by commissioners Michael Yeoh and Denison Jayasooria, said the building owner had even refused to put the air-conditioning on, from the very beginning of today's proceedings.

    

"And, I would have thought that this is sheer irresponsibility on their part, knowing very well that we are performing public function without any remuneration and when it comes to this sort of thing, every citizen has a duty to suppport and assist the commision in doing its public inquiry because the benefit goes to the public," he said.

    

Asked whether Suhakam would write a letter to the government to explain its predicament, he said: "We will definitely do that...this will be in relation to probably on our need for a bigger budget so that we could, perhaps, secure our own building so that we don't have to rely on anyone.

    

"Our budget is small now...it's about RM8 to RM9 million...the government should think about providing us with, perhaps, a permanent building."

Individual vs organisational responsibility

    

Earlier, Wan Abdul Bari, who is also a heart patient, told the inquiry that he was briefed by DSP Jude Blacious Pereira, who is the Brickfields police headquarters CID chief, on the arrest of the lawyers.

    

"I have full confidence in him and if there is anything wrong or untrue, I will not say it is the police mistake but the mistake of an individual.

"Jude is responsible to clarify the matter as he is responsible for what he is doing," he said.

    

The police chief said his refusal to see the lawyers was because public order was not restored at the time, adding that as a result, they should have dispersed.