The Bar Council has been urged to hold an independent inquiry o­n the Petaling Jaya Selatan clashes, better known as the Kampung Medan tragedy, following a resolution passed at the council's 56 th annual general meeting last month.

Human rights lawyer P Uthayakumar ( left ), in a letter to newly elected council president Khutubul Zaman Bukhari today, stated that the proposal was raised by his peer Ramdas Tikamdas.

A copy of the letter was made available to malaysiakini today.

Civil suit

In seeking for the status of the proposal from the Bar president, Uthayakumar noted that former president Mah Weng Kwai had informed members that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) was unable to hold an open inquiry as there was a civil suit pending against it.

On Suhakam's dilemma, Uthayakumar said: "I have clarified during the meeting that plaintiff's solicitors in the Kampung Medan civil suit have already written to Suhakam that they will withdraw the suit if the latter was willing to hold an open inquiry.

"Unfortunately, there has been no reply from Suhakam o­n this so far," he claimed.

Uthayakumar, who is also Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (PRIM) pro tem secretary-general, said an independent and impartial inquiry by the council would enable it to establish the actual causes that led to the racial violence in March 2001 which killed six persons and severely injured 78 others over two weeks.

In his letter, Uthayakumar questioned whether the tragedy was a "pre-meditated operation" and whether the police had acted sufficiently to protect the victims.

He stressed that the inquiry, if held, would also lead to the formulation of a proposal to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy.

Proposal

Uthayakumar suggested for an independent and impartial fact finding mission involving three members of the Malaysian Bar to be formed immediately, possibly led by Ramdas himself.

An independent inquiry board should follow, to study the outcome from the fact finding mission.

"Then, the finding of the inquiry board could be forwarded to the authorities concerned, such as the prime minister, home minister, law minister, attorney-general," he said.

"We hoped that the Bar Council would take a very serious view of this matter because there has been no action from the government or Suhakam after two years," he stated o­n behalf of his associates.

"The Kampung Medan tragedy is the worst form of violation of human rights in Malaysian history," he said.

Uthayakumar claimed that the Malaysian government also refused to compensate the victims adequately.