Rights group, Bar Council members hit out at Takiyuddin over criticisms

 

National Human Rights Society president, Gurdial Singh Nijar says law minister Takiyuddin Hassan has failed to realise that legal recourse for constitutional violations is a fundamental rule of law.

PETALING JAYA: A rights group has slammed the law minister for criticising the Malaysian Bar for taking the government to court over the emergency ordinances.

Takiyuddin Hassan had said the Bar should explain the related laws instead of challenging the government on the matter.

The National Human Rights Society (Hakam) said the statement had left it “incredulous on so many levels”, and that Takiyuddin’s statement implied that the Bar should support the emergency.

Its president, Gurdial Singh Nijar said Takiyuddin failed to recognise that the challenge to the emergency proclamation was grounded on the argument that there had been a clear violation of the Federal Constitution.

Article 150 of the Constitution, he said, stipulated that the proclamation and the ordinances enacted under it must be tabled before Parliament, a procedure “thwarted” by the suspension of Parliament and the state assemblies.

Takiyuddin had also failed to recognise that questioning the action is a fundamental pillar of a functioning democracy, as well as legal recourse for constitutional violations being a fundamental construct of the rule of law.

Gurdial went on to say that Takiyuddin failed to realise that access to justice, via the courts, had long been recognised by the Federal Court as a fundamental right and that such rights cannot be “willy-nilly suspended especially in this case, for an indeterminate period”.

“Finally, we say, with utmost respect, that the minister has done little more than expose his disdain for the Rule of Law, the Constitution and our established legal processes,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile Bar Council member Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said Takiyuddin’s statement on Tuesday was an attempt to deny lawyers’ rights to speak up and question the emergency proclamation.

“There are several civil actions pending before the court. The minister should not supersede the courts with such remarks,” he said.

Rafique added that Takiyuddin, who is a former lawyer, should understand the importance of check and balance against the government during this emergency period.

Recently, the Malaysian Bar commenced legal action against the government, seeking to nullify several provisions of the emergency ordinance.

The Bar’s lawsuit against the government will be heard on April 26 at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Besides the Malaysian Bar, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, former Umno leader Khairuddin Abu Hassan, as well as several NGOs had filed civil actions to question the government’s use of the emergency to fight Covid-19. - FMT