KUCHING: The Bar Council is playing politics and acting like a political party if they are indeed drafting an alternative Bill to the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011, says Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah who is Chief Political Secretary to the Chief Minister.
The ‘controversial’ Bill has been tabled and will be debated in Parliament today.
Yesterday, Abdul Karim, who is also Assistant Minister of Housing and Assistant Minister of Social Development (Youth), said the Bar Council should use their MPs to voice out their concerns.
He added: “What rubbish is this council trying to prove (by drawing an alternative Bill)? That they are better or bigger than Parliament? Bar Council should have respect for Parliament, which is the highest law-making body comprising government and opposition elected representatives.
“If the Bar Council wishes to make their views heard, they can use existing members, be they from Barisan Nasional (BN) or the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), to voice them in Parliament, instead of barking from outside.
“In the alternative, if they think that existing MPs, be they from BN or PR, are not capable enough to deliver their (Council) views in future, contest in the next general election. If they win they can have a field day in Parliament. If they lose, respect who the majority chooses,” he said.
Abdul Karim said that the Bar Council not only said they would draft an alternative Bill, but also would conduct a Walk for Freedom today to protest against the tabling of the Bill which it (Bar Council) said should have been referred first to a parliamentary select committee for public consultation and deliberation.
They also claimed that there were inadequacies in the current bill.
“There is no good reason why this Bill cannot go through the same process as electoral reforms, both of which are important Constitutional rights,” its president Lim Chee Wee was quoted as saying to Bernama on Sunday.
The alternative Bill, he said, would be ready next week.
Yesterday, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said “the Bar council is not the Government and it has no responsibility for the consequence of and failure of the law, but the government has”.
“I’ve not seen the amendments to be proposed to the Bill. It’s quite difficult to comment without seeing the amendments. Anyway, the practice of referring to Parliamentary Select Committee is good and consistent with practices elsewhere,” he said.
He added that in drafting the Bill the government had to strike a balance between the rights of assemblers and the rights of others affected by the assembly.
He said: “This is where Lord Denning’s ‘Your right ends when the rights of others begin’ is useful. The Bill reflects that principle well. Where people could not appreciate the parameter of his right then the law will provide and government agency will enforce it. While we value the individual’s right the State has to preserve the group’s right too.”