Stand your ground, Bar Council

Whatever your ground is. Or is it, march your ground?

It would seem that "Marching" is the in-theme of the Bar Council. 1st, The March to send a memorandum to the Prime Minister, when the Prime Minister was not even in the country, (you could have checked with his office earlier), now this.

So.. "this is not a protest march", as you put it, but it is a march, nonetheless!

Surely lawyers have better means to show their causes than just conducting marches every time a topic or issue comes up. If the International Human Rights Day is the excuse, have a charity run for it then, that would have lasted longer, with more participation. Surely permits for charity runs wold be easier obtained, it being non-political and all. And the message if printed on t-shirts of participants for the run would be more prominent than what, another series of lawyers in their suits marching?

Out of curiosity, the law is to be upheld, (well, at least lawyers argue in the name of the law), are you now saying the Bar Council will no longer have creed for the law?

The people are counting on you lawyers. Please, lead the people with the intelligence and decorum that lawyers used to possess. Leave the marches to Bersih or other organisations. You.. prepare the arguments, recommendations, studies, whatever, that befits your profession. Think about it, seriously. We expect the Bar to fight with brains, not engage only in public displays.

Until the, the people impatiently await.

see quote excerpt below :
[ambiga] "We would decide whether or not to proceed without a police permit once the police get back to us."

courtesy : Malaysiakini
Bar: Dec 9 event not a protest march
Yoges Palaniappan
Dec 1, 07 6:23pm

Bar Council chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan has explained that the march on Dec 9 is not an anti-government rally but the Bar's annual event in marking the International Human Rights Day.

"The whole event is a celebration. It is the celebration of the International Humans Rights Day which falls on Dec 10," she said.

Ambiga said that the march would be peaceful in a manner causing "as little disruption to the public as possible."

She said the march is only one part of the three-hour program themed "Freedom of Expression though Art, Music, Culture and Conscience".

"It would only take 15 minutes out of the whole programme which is meant to encompass a whole range of activities which is attractive to a whole range of people," she said, adding that the two-year old program aims to raise public awareness about human rights.

Commenting on whether the Bar has obtained a police permit for the march, Ambiga said: "In our discussion with the police yesterday morning, we talked on ways to go ahead with the event with minimum disruptions."

She said she hopes to hear from the police on Monday as to whether a police permit will be given for the march.

"We want the cooperation of the police because it is good for the nation to celebrate the event in a united manner without caring which parties are coming for it. We want them to come as Malaysians," she said.

"We would decide whether or not to proceed without a police permit once the police get back to us."

'No news from Bersih'

Ambiga also denied knowledge that Coalition for Free and Clean Elections (Bersih) has voiced its intention to join the march.

Asked if Bersih has informed the Bar of its intention to participate in the march, Ambiga said: "That's what we read. But Bersih hasn't communicated to us its intention directly."

Ambiga also did not deny the possibility of Bersih or any other NGOs joining in the march.

She said the event is open for public participation; therefore it would not stop anyone from joining the Bar in its march.

"We have invited a whole range of people including NGOs, civil society groups, political parties from all sides of divide and also foreign embassies. We hope that this will be one event where everybody will drop their differences and join us to celebrate human rights," she said.

However, she said the bar is not interested in people going for the event and disrupt it. Therefore, she said he Bar is making its own arrangement of tight control to avoid disruption.

"We will ensure on our accord that no disruption is caused to our agenda, which is to celebrate human rights. We assure that we would not allow any party to hijack our event."