31. Walk for Justice

About 2,000 lawyers and supporters converged today in a show of support as officials of the Bar Council handed over two memorandums to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, calling for the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the controversial video clip, and a Judicial Appointment Commission.

The memorandum was handed over to Abdullah’s political secretary from his Internal Security Ministry, Senator Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh by council president Ambiga Sreenivasan and three other members, including senior lawyer Datuk Shafie Abdullah, at about 12.30pm. They were in the office for about 40 minutes.

Earlier, the lawyers, non-governmental organisation members and well-wishers of all races turned up in this normally quiet administrative capital for a "Walk For Justice", causing a stir.

There was heavy police presence and roadblocks were set up at entrances to Putrajaya and about seven buses and cars with lawyers and civilians were denied entry.

The handing over of the memorandums followed Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s unveiling of a video recording of a telephone conversation between a senior lawyer and a "Datuk", that sounded like they were brokering the appointment of judges to important positions.

In a press conference later, Ambiga said the council has asked for a meeting with Abdullah and this was conveyed to his political secretary, adding that there were several recommendations made to the government on improving the judiciary.

Abdullah is in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly and will be back only on Oct 4.

Yesterday, the government announced the establishment of a three-man Special Independent Investigation Panel to determine the authenticity of the video recording.

The panel is headed by former Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohd Noor, former court of appeal judge Datuk Mahadev Shankar and Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye. Their report will be made public, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak had said.

On the legal standing of the panel, Ambiga said there is no problem but it is not clear what sort of powers they will have.

She said that under the Commissions Act, members have the power to call witnesses and administer the oath and compel evidence but with this panel, they may not have such powers.

"But they may get the information in some other way ... there is no problem with regards to their legal standing ... it is perfectly legal," she said.

Ambiga thus said the sooner the panel completes its work the better.

She added the council is prepared to cooperate, adding that all three members of the panel are "of the highest integrity".

Earlier, about five bus loads of Bar members were not allowed to enter Putrajaya. They had to walk 5km from the highway to the Palace of Justice, the meeting point, where they were greeted loudly by others.

Advised by Ambiga to behave with dignity, the crowd began their walk about 11.20am to Dataran Putra, a distance of 3.5km.

There was no move by the police to stop the walk. As the crowd reached Dataran Putra, directly in front of the PM’s office, they were met by a phalanx of uniformed police officers and a FRU Light Strike Force Unit.

Mother Nature also greeted their arrival with a torrential downpour.

Another group of about 500 people were stopped at Parcel C, where the Public Services Department is.

Speaking to reporters, Ambiga said though police initially stopped the buses bringing their members, they allowed them to walk in a peaceful manner.

The previous time the Bar Council marched in solidarity was in 1978 for the Societies Act and in 1998 for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Others who joined in the march were officials from the DAP, PAS, PKR, MTUC and civil society organisations - by R. Manirajan and B. Suresh Ram of The Sun.