Lawyer Lee Sin New says the Home Ministry must respect a 2012 High Court ruling declaring electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 a legal organisation. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 25, 2015.
The Home Ministry appears to be ignorant of a High Court ruling declaring electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 a legal organisation, said a lawyer today.
New Sin Yew, who is also a member of the group's steering committee, said the High Court had quashed a decision by the then-home minister declaring Bersih 2.0 an illegal organisation in 2012.
On July 24 that year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court quashed Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s order and declared Bersih 2.0, a coalition of over 84 non-governmental organisations, a legal entity.
Judge Datuk Rohana Yusof in her ruling said the coalition of civil societies known as Bersih 2.0, though not officially registered, could be considered a society under the Societies Act.
“The minister’s order is quashed because Bersih is a lawful society,” she said.
Prominent lawyer and former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and 13 of her colleagues in Bersih’s steering committee in July 2011 filed a judicial review seeking to get the Barisan Nasional (BN) government to lift its July 1, 2011 ban against the movement.
The government did not appeal.
New said Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Alwi Ibrahim must respect the High Court ruling and should not be making announcements banning the organisation again.
“The ministry must respect the ruling and not mislead the public. It cannot impose such a ban after it had accepted the High Court decision,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
New said this today in response to a statement by Alwi that the organisers of the Bersih 4 rally were an illegal organisation.
Alwi had also advised Malaysians not to attend the overnight protest in three cities across Malaysia as it was causing uneasiness and worry among Malaysia's multi-racial citizens.
"The Home Ministry has investigated Bersih 4 and found that it is not a registered organisation.
"As such, the ministry is requesting the public not to attend the gathering on August 29 and 30 as it did not obtain the authorities' approval, and it is organised by the unregistered organisation," he said in a statement today.
This weekend’s rally, organised by Bersih 2.0, is called Bersih 4 as it is the fourth such public gathering in Malaysia. Previous gatherings were only in capital city Kuala Lumpur but this weekend's rally will also be held in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
Constitutional lawyers have also said citizens are free to congregate and express themselves peacefully.
Lawyer Syahredzan Johan said this right was guaranteed in written laws and further implied following a landmark Court of Appeal ruling last year.
- TMI
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