Malaysians have been urged on the eve of Merdeka day to understand the true meaning of independence by embracing the constitution.

Constitutional lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar made the call at a Kuala Lumpur forum on independence and the constitution on Wednesday evening, adding that the people should not fear the constitution.

"I think it is the duty of all to make efforts to understand the constitution better. Nobody can tell you it is illegal to read the constitution," he said.

"When you don't know enough about the constitution and your rights, there is fear that comes with ignorance. If you know more, there is no fear," Malik, who is also National Human Rights Society president told the audience of about 100.

He went on to say that the current state of rights abuses in the country could be attributed to ignorance among the people of their rights as guaranteed in the constitution.

"A larger difficulty is that control over the law and the constitution has been handed over to certain quarters by our own conduct in being apathetic, ignorant and not caring enough in coming to forums like this."

"We've handed it all to a group of people who are deciding on how things should be based on their own value system," he said.

School subject

Malik encouraged the crowd to take greater interest on constitutional matters and not to wait for such forums to be held.

"Speak about the constitution (now) because if you don't speak about it and you wait for forums like this to understand what it is and to clarify your own understanding, we would be here for the next 2000 years."

He also suggested that constitutional law should be offered as a subject to primary school children "so that we can better understand that as a nation each and every one of us has a place in the country."

In wrapping up the forum, he said that the government has been promoting a wholesome image and have talked about "addressing difficult questions".

Malik's advice in relation to this: "We should take up that challenge as Malaysians. We should be committed that much about finding out about our constitution in safeguarding our common future."

Other speakers at the forum were Institute for Policy Research director Khalid Jaafar, Civil Rights Committee/KLSCAH chairperson Ser Choon Ing and Centre for Independent Journalism executive director Sonia Randhawa. It was moderated by Writers Alliance for Media Independence chairperson Wong Chin Huat.