Sunday, December 09, 2007

Human Rights...what rights ??

Malaysia "celebrated" World Human Rights Day this Sunday morning.....this was the scene that greeted me as I arrived at Sogo/Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman....whoaa...! I made my way to the gathering amidst the "men in blue"....around 7.50 am. and the thunderous whirring from the choppers circling above !

after much "dialogue with the men in blue" the members of the Bar, represented by Human Rights lawyer Latheefa Koya, the crowd of about maybe 100 were allowed to walk peacefully, but on condition that the walk was limited to only 10 minutes from start-up time of 8.09am...

Shar 101.....masked from the haze or zipped from speaking ?

Haris too was lost for words...by the looks of it........but "stroll" we did !

nearing the Colliseum Cafe....the police barked orders that the 10 minutes was up...so...

more pleading by Human Rights lawyer Latheefa...to allow the marchers to continue and to which the cops gave an extension of 2 extra minutes to end the walk and the Bar Council was a good 500 meters away......perhaps we should make a dash/sprint to keep within the 2 minutes limit ??

So quickly the marchers picked-up the pace and turned into Jalan Tun Perak- short cut ?
2 minutes up....so end of march and much confusion and argument ensued between the lawyers and the police.....!
Latheefa trying to make a point and reason....but nooo...the police will have none of that !!

The ever presence of the "eye-in-sky" burning good fuel and at the tax-payers costs too !

big-wig man-in-blue with loud-hailer telling the marchers to disperse.....only thing missing was the FRU with tear gas guns and water-canons !

surely an agitated and angry Noorazah Othman demanding her right to walk wherever she desires...

Still explaining to the cops of her "right" to walk peacefully.......but......

the police started arresting 4 lawyers , Latheefa, Sivarasa, Amir and Surendran, first for defying the order to disperse and bundling them into a waiting van....

and also very roughly "woman-handling" activist Noorazah Othman and eventually arresting her !

this... a violent crowd ???....gimme a break ! All in, there were reports of 9 arrests including lawyer and Bar Council's chair-person of the Human Rights Committee Edmond Bon !

another infuriated marcher, Ashfar Ali Raja, too tired from pleading with the cops to release those unnecessarily arrested and trying hard to be heard given a helping hand and shoulder by zorro...

the visibly decent lot of marchers continue to walk towards the Malaysian Bar Council building in Jalan Lebuh Pasar.....except for the arrogant and high-handedness attitude of our police who repeatedly barked orders at the rakyat...

....suddenly Ashraf Ali Raja prostrates on the pavement beside the Masjid Jamek "benteng" begging in prayer !
view from the stairs of the Malaysian Bar Council....Ashraf Ali Raja demanding for justice....from the cops....and a few minutes later was hauled-up and arrested by the police ! So much for justice !!!

the crowd swelled with more curious on-lookers.....and as the marchers reached the Bar Council building.....sources say that the marchers were out-numbered 5 to 1 ....about 500 police personnel ??? my....if only they could deploy that same number to get the Nurin killer...... they could have closed the file on that case by now !

another young "marcher" amidst the adults....demanding a bright and fair future.....brave little girl !

Now.... this van with the Bandaraya" logo parked opposite the Bar Council building.....isn't this van supposed to monitor traffic flow and report traffic congested routes and relay on road routes for motorists to travel ??.....tax-payers money put to monitor tax-paying marchers ??...hmmmmm.......very suspicious of it's main purpose ! Mr. Mayor...care to explain ?

There you go folks... and of course a few of us later around 11am. adjourned to have "nasi lemak Kg. Baru.......for breakfast.... and rest our feet.....for we "did" walk where we pleased, but with the ever-present eye of the police watching our every move......"Happy Human Rights Day" to all and my special thanks to all who "strolled" with me at Sogo this morning ! Cheers !
*see more pictures and story here on rockybru .

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

nurin is no priority. two girls bundled into car, robbed and gang rape is no priority. crime busting is no priority.
what is their priority? i dont know and you better ask them.

xonar said...

this is a sad day for human rights in malaysia,if we have any...

"goverment that abuses human rights is terrorist"

Anonymous said...

I'm extremely oppose to what they did to the "PEACEFUL WALK".

OTAK YOU "WHOEVER" MADE FROM UDANG KAH?

Balik kampong laaa...

I hope I'm still living in so-called democracy country before I start packing.

-amitaba

cheguBard said...

http://chegubard.blogspot.com/2007/12/malaysia-is-members-of-un-human-right.html

dont forget Malaysia is one of UN HR council member...click that link..

Anonymous said...

A sad day for human rights. Shame on you Abdullah. What happened to your promises to improve civil society? What happened to the plethora of promises? Police have now diverted their efforts to clamp down on human rights rather than going after rapists, murderers and robbers. Police are now being used as an instrument to suppress the people. Police are no better than the Gestapo. Be that as it may, the nasi lemak looks very tasty. Must try it one day when we walk again.

Anonymous said...

Just vote BN out in the coming general election.then only malaysian will have human right and freedom

Anonymous said...

i think there are so many more important issues to attend to other than keeping the hands busy on this kind of issue unless walking down the road to celebrate and acknowledging the significance of the day is a wrongdoing.

chong y l said...

Stephen:

Glad to have thy gracious co and we walked up our APpetite for nazi lemak and tehtarik, didn't VVVVVVVe?
Cheers matey,
we will never walk alone, My Brother:)
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