SAPA TAKES MALAYSIA GOVERNMENT TO COURT .. against democratic freedoms of speech and right to association .. denied natural justice of the right to be heard - ‘audi alteram partem’ .. irrational, an abuse and unreasonable exercise of discretionary power, .. unconstitutional and procedurally improper. Plaintiffs Lina Soo, Hugh Lawrence Zehnder and Tibram Pilang on behalf of SAPA filed for judicial review against the Home Minister Minister Order, naming Dato Seri Hamid, Pengarah ROS and the Msia govt represented by the Attorney-General as respondents. Application for leave to adjudicate will be on 9 Feb 2015 at Borneo High Court. On 14 November 2014, the Home Minister Dato Seri Dr Zahid bin Hamidi had declared SAPA as an unlawful society pursuant to Section (5) of the Societies Act 1966 via a Federal Government Gazette on the ‘opinion of the Minister’ that ‘SAPA is being used for purposes prejudicial to the interest of the security of Malaysia and public order’. Counsel Dominique Ng declared that the banning of SAPA is a serious matter of public interest as it has struck at the very tenets of democracy and fundamental civil liberties which are guaranteed in the Malaysia Constitution – freedom of speech and expression, and freedom of association. Ng reiterated that SAPA has always conducted its activities within the ambit of its Constitution as a legally constituted organization, and yet SAPA had been denied the natural justice of the right to be heard as in the principle of ‘audi alteram partem’; and that the Order to ban SAPA is irrational, an abuse and unreasonable exercise of discretionary power, unconstitutional and procedurally improper. Panglima Peter John Jaban, wellknown human rights defender, was also present at the press conference to call upon the Malaysia government to respect democracy and human rights
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 07:53:52 +0000
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