BERSIH 2.0 is legal, High Court rules

Bersih 2.0 is legal, judge rules

UPDATED @ 02:24:52 PM 24-07-2012 July 24, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — Bersih 2.0 has been declared legal after the Kuala Lumpur High Court today quashed the home minister’s order last year that made the electoral reform group unlawful.


In her ruling today, High Court judge Datuk Rohana Yusof said the coalition of civil societies known as Bersih 2.0, though not officially registered, can be considered a society under the Societies Act.

“The minister’s order is quashed because Bersih is a lawful society,” Rohana said.

The home minister’s decision to declare Bersih unlawful on grounds the movement was a threat to national security was irrational and was not based on relevant facts, the judge said.

She noted that the then-Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Shah, had granted an audience to the movement’s leaders in the national capital and the authorities had been willing to negotiate terms prior to the July 9 rally last year.

“It does not make sense, that a week later the reason is no longer valid... the government’s declaration that the organisation is unlawful cannot be accepted.

“Even if that is so, then the declaration should have been lifted accordingly,” Rohana said.

Prominent lawyer and former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan (picture) and 13 of her colleagues in Bersih’s steering committee had in July last year filed a judicial review seeking to get the Barisan Nasional (BN) government to lift its July 1, 2011 ban of the movement.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had declared the movement unlawful, citing section 5 of the Societies Act 1966 as investigations had shown that Bersih 2.0 was not a registered organisation and that it was creating unease among the people.

The loose coalition of 62 registered civil societies led tens of thousands to demand for free and fair elections in the capital city on July 9 last year, which resulted in some 1,600 arrests but ultimately resulted in the government agreeing to set up a bipartisan parliamentary polls panel.

Bersih 2.0 also want the court to issue a restriction order against the authorities to stop government officers from entering and raiding its premises and to return all the Bersih 2.0 property and materials seized last September, ranging from the yellow T-shirts, posters, placards, pictures, members’ list.

Apart from Ambiga, the 13 other leaders named in the court filing are Maria Chin Abdullah, Datuk Toh Kin Woon, Zaid Kamaruddin, Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, Arul Prakkash Sinnappan, Haris Fathillah Mohamed Ibrahim, Andrew Khoo Chin Hock, Liau Kok Fah, Wong Chin Huat, Datuk Yeoh Yong Poh and Yeo Yong Woi.

The group has since held another rally on April 28 this year to push for electoral reforms to be enforced before the 13th general election due soon.

“Bersih is now a legal organisation,” the group’s lawyer, K. Shanmuga, told reporters outside the courtroom.

It is not known if the government will appeal against today’s decision.

Senior federal counsel Azizan Md Arshad, representing the government, told reporters the decision was up to the Attorney-General.

From The Malaysian Insider (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/)

Public execution of a woman in Afghanistan

News and video of a woman being publicly executed for alleged adultery in Afghanistan went viral for the past few days. Leaders, activists and the public all cried outrage towards the appaling act of violence. No one has the right to condemn, especially outside the court of law, what more the right to execute. Whether or not if the woman did commit adultery or not is not for debate here, but the way she was treated, executed demands conscience and mercy of all right-thinking people who all us are created in the image of God to condemn this violent act!

Justification for the execution?

Whether Islamic or the Law of Moses found in the Bible, both faiths have strict laws against adultery. Adultery is a sin, no more or less than the sin of deceit/ lies, greed...etc. The Law of Moses which both Islam and Christian faiths subscribe to requires the accused woman's partner in crime to appear and to be punished as well. What the executors done certainly weren't following the Law of Moses, so the execution has no justification at all as it is definitely un-islamic and un-christian! It is barbaric, inhumane, unmerciful!

Christian approach?

There is no better example and explaination than the Lord Jesus himself to deal with the issue of adultery. The Gospel of John in the Bible (NIV Version), Chapter 8:

" But went Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground  with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?''. "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin".

~ Chapter 8, Gospel of John, Holy Bible

Therefore to all right-thinking people, it is not right to commit adultery (I'm not even sure if the poor woman who was executed was guilty of adultery or not), but whether she was guilty or not, we must all have a merciful heart like Jesus, what more we are all sinners and fall short the Glory of God. If Jesus did not condemn the adulterous woman in the Bible, what more are we as sinners to condemn others at present time?

Shame on those executors! May God have mercy on the woman's soul and may God have mercy on all us, who we should forgive and love each other just as Christ forgave and loves us dearly.

"Lord, teach us to be humble, teach us to merciful like you are and teach us to love one and another as you commanded us to. In the most precious, loving and almighty name Jesus, we pray. Amen"

Joshua

We shall overcome

— Jacob Sinnathamby


The Malaysian Insider
Jul 07, 2012

JULY 7 — How often have you heard this statement? Those who do evil and wicked things in Malaysia seem to prosper but the good-intentioned are jailed, demonised and subject to continuous harassment by the mainstream media and authorities.

Or this line? It is so unfair that the crooked politicians can get away with anything.

These statements are often then followed with a burst of anger and frustration, and a despairing rant about how little we can do to bring the wicked to justice and bring about change in Malaysia.

But there is no reason to despair. I am a Catholic and I also sometimes find myself wallowing in the cycle of “nothing can be done”.

But every time I read Psalm 37 I am brought back to the realisation that the corrupt, wicked, evil will face their day of reckoning.

I put down a few verses which points out that God will reverse things, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked here on earth.

“Do not be provoked by evildoers;

Do not envy those who do wrong.

Like grass they wither quickly

Like green plants they wilt away.

“Be still before the Lord;

Wait for God.

Do not be provoked by the prosperous nor by malicious schemers.”

“The wicked plot against the just;

And grind their teeth at them

But the Lord laughs at them

Knowing their day is coming.

“Those whose steps are guided by the Lord;

Whose way God approves,

May stumble, but will never fall,

For the Lord holds their hand.”

I am sharing some of these verses because there is a danger that sometimes we get too despondent surveying the political landscape and the wanton actions of those in power. We seem helpless to act against the power of incumbency and the use of the institutions of the state.

In those times, we must remember to trust in God’s promise: “I have seen ruthless scoundrels, strong as flourishing cedars. When I passed by again, they were gone.”