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Bar votes against death penalty

By Anis Ibrahim

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat.(18/3/2006)
The Malaysian Bar today called for the abolition of the death penalty and an immediate freeze on all executions.


Lawyers also urged that death-row sentences be commuted, or reduced to life sentences or fixed jail terms.

The resolutions were part of a motion carried out by the Bar at its 60th annual general meeting today.

Co-proposer Amer Hamzah Arshad said although the abolition of the death penalty was often discussed by lawyers, this was the first time such a motion had been proposed at a Bar AGM.

"It came about because a few of us realised that lawyers as a collective body had not made a clear announcement on the matter."

Lawyers voted overwhelmingly in favour of abolishing the death penalty, with 105 in favour, two votes against and 21 abstentions.

One of the resolutions passed called for an ‘immediate moratorium on all executions pending abolition’.

"We will work with the Bar Council, non-governmental organisations and the authorities to realise this.

"The workings of the moratorium will be looked into in detail," added Amer.

At the AGM today, 2,404 lawyers signed in by 11.15 am, above the quorum of 2,337.

Yeo Yang Poh, Ambiga Sreenevasan, Ragunath Kesavan and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera were returned unopposed as the Bar president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer respectively for a second term.

"Credit goes to members of the Bar for being here so soon after the reconvened 59th AGM in October.

"They’ve come today despite an unfair and oppressive quorum requirement," said Yeo at a Press conference after the AGM.

One-fifth of the Bar must attend an AGM for it to be considered valid.

"This is seen as difficult to achieve, owing to the number of lawyers, and unfair, as other professional bodies are not subject to similar requirements.

Yeo, however, said it was unlikely that lawyers would be faced with the same problem at the next AGM.

"The authorities have indicated that they understand the difficulties we face and they are in principle agreeable to changing the quorum requirement.

"We are confident it will be a more workable and practical figure by next year."

The Bar has proposed that the quorum for AGMs and extraordinary general meetings be fixed at 350 and 700 respectively.

The Bar also unanimously carried a motion to ask the Prime Minister to urgently implement the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission as recommended by the Royal Commissions on the Police Force.

A motion of no confidence against the Attorney-General for being "extremely slow" in prosecuting criminal abuse of police powers was, however, defeated.

Yeo said while there had been few suits against police personnel for alleged abuse of power, lawyers felt it was unfair to blame the A-G for it.

"We were unanimous in deciding that the problem should not be attributed to one person. Many things are not within the A-G’s powers."
     
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