Lawyers refuse to turn march into 'circus' after cops block road to Parliament
Hundreds of lawyers failed in their attempt to march to Parliament for judicial independence after organisers resisted calls from participants to break through a barricade of police officers and move from the parking lot where they gathered since around 9am under police watch.
Bar Council president Karen Cheah said lawyers gathered at Padang Merbok will not create a scene.
Hundreds of lawyers failed in their attempt to march to Parliament for judicial independence after organisers resisted calls from participants to break through a barricade of police officers and move from the parking lot where they gathered since around 9am under police watch.
Bar Council president Karen Cheah said lawyers gathered at Padang Merbok will not create a scene.
"We will not make this into a circus. If they stop us from walking, as lawyers we will know what to do.
"We will know exactly what to do in terms of our legal recourse against the authorities who have stopped us from exercising our constitutional rights. We have assembled peacefully," Cheah said after two rounds of failed negotiations with the police.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Mas Ermieyatie Samsudin, who was initially expected to receive a memorandum from the Bar Council at Parliament, instead came to the scene and met with the lawyers.
"Today I came on behalf of the prime minister to accept a memorandum from the Bar Council.
"Cheah is an old friend and I also met with many friends who I knew as a lawyer in Malacca," said the Masjid Tanah MP who was once a lawyer.
"Thank you for your cooperation and I apologise for any difficulties and inconvenience.
"May justice and judicial independence continue to be upheld," Mas said in pledging to forward the Bar Council's memorandum to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
‘Fundamental right’
Earlier, seen among the crowd of mostly black and white suits were former attorney-general Tommy Thomas, former Malaysian Bar president Ambiga Sreenevasan and activist-lawyer Haris Ibrahim in a wheelchair.
At close to 10am, Bar Council committee chairperson Roger Chan took to a makeshift stage and rallied the lawyers with cries to free the judiciary.
Chan noted the police presence and stressed that to gather and march is a fundamental right for all.
"This is a fundamental right. We have to do our duty and they (police) have to ensure this duty is carried out in an orderly manner," he said.
Chan announced a list of speakers to take the stage with speeches, prompting Thomas to quip: “Are we walking or not? It’s 10am.”
Failed negotiations
Chan also led the two failed negotiations with the police.
It is understood that the police had agreed to allow only 20 representatives to march but organisers had refused.
The gathering dispersed at around 11.30am while a smaller crowd headed for a walk towards Parliament.
The Malaysian Bar's resolution to hold the protest was approved by over 600 members present at an extraordinary general meeting in May.
The walk was in response to MACC’s investigation against Court of Appeal judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali after a politically linked blog claimed he had unexplained wealth.
The judge, who previously convicted former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case, has lodged a police report denying the allegation.
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