DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang has called o­n the Bar Council to initiate a five-month nation-wide debate o­n how to restore human rights and the rule of law culminating in a parliamentary debate as the first item of parliamentary business when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi takes over as fifth Prime Minister in five months' time at the end of October.

This should be part of a more activist and dynamic role by the Bar Council and civil society to monitor and pressure Parliament to play a more effective role to protect and promote human rights, he said.

Unlawful risk

Speaking at the Bar Council human rights training programme o­n "Promotion of Human Rights Through Parliamentary Process" in Penang this morning, Lim said that if Malaysia had a truly independent judiciary, the laws passed by the current Parliament run the risk of being declared unlawful, null and void because the tenth Parliament elected in the November 1999 general election had not been convened in accordance with the Constitution, making all its proceedings unconstitutional and invalid.

The first meeting of the tenth Parliament was summoned by a royal proclamation o­n Dec 9, 1999 but this proclamation was defective as under the Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong could act o­n the advice of the cabinet, which was formed and held its first meeting o­nly o­n Dec 15, 1999, he said.

Lim also listed several important areas where the tenth Parliament had failed to protect and promote human rights in the past 40 months. They include:

1) Failure to provide effective oversight over the work of Suhakam and to debate a single o­ne of the eight Suhakam reports which had been released in the past three years the three Suhakam annual reports and its five special reports.

2) Establish a just rule of law and a truly independent judiciary. Former Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Tun Mohamad Dzaiddin had stopped the rot in the system of justice but he had not been able to put in place before his retirement structural judicial reforms to lay down the conditions to restore full public confidence in the independence of the judiciary, concerning matters such as judicial appointments, judicial accountability and a meaningful code of ethical conduct, etc.

3) Press freedom dismal ranking of Malaysia's press freedom in the international arena not o­nly by American advocacy groups but also by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders which placed Malaysia in 110th position out of 139 countries, lower than many countries whose per capita GNP is o­nly o­ne-tenth that of Malaysia.

4) Abuse of ISA, as in the detention of the reformasi six, Tian Chua, Mohamad Ezam, Saari Sungib, Lokman Noor Adam, Dr Badrul Amin and Hishamuddin Rais despite the unanimous judgment of the Federal Court last September ruling that the police had acted mala fides for political reasons unrelated to national security in arresting them under the ISA and the

recommendations for their release by the ISA Advisory Council and Suhakam.

Countdown Day Seven

Saying that today is Countdown Day Seven for the reformasi five - Tian Chua, Saari Sungib, Lokman Noor Adam, Dr Badrul Amin and Hishamuddin Rais - whether they walk out of Kamunting Detention Centre as free men or they will continue to be shackled to the Kamunting detention centre with their two-year ISA detention order extended by another two years, Lim pleaded with the Bar Council in particular and lawyers generally in the country to speak out loud and clear in these crucial few days of the Countdown to make their voices heard loud and clear for the end of the ISA detention of the reformasi six .

They should also speak out against any extension of the detention which would be grossly inhumane by subjecting the ISA five and their families to double jeopardy and double injustices bearing in mind the triple objections to their ISA detention by the Federal Court, the ISA Advisory Board and Suhakam, the DAP chief added.