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It is good that the High Court in Shah Alam allowed Raja Petra's Habeas Corpus application and ruled that his detention under ISA unlawful. It gives us all a glimmer of hope that the courts will interpret the law in favour of a detainee where there is doubt.
Very often I have read with distress judgments where judges rule in favour of the government or prosecution where there is ambiguity. I am a firm believer that where there is grey area in law, judges should interpret the law in such a way that it advances freedom and protection of human rights.
Judges in India are famed for such inclinations and that is one of the reasons why India is able to maintain a robust democracy despite having a very corrupt political and civil service system. Good for RPK. He is a free man once more, free to speak his mind. Good for our democracy too.
Touching on the subject of ISA, MIC Youth met with Indian based NGOs again yesterday ( 7th November, 2008) to discuss what could we as a group do in order to secure the release of the Hindraf 5. The first meeting was held just before Hari Raya.
After much discussion, it was decided that demonstration will be counter-productive in this instance. It was agreed that MIC Youth together with NGOs will meet with either the Prime Minister or the Home Affairs Minister to make further representations as to why we think the Hindraf 5 are not a security threat and why their continued detention untenable.
For the nay-sayers, I have stated earlier and reiterate it here again, that we are doing this with full knowledge that we will still be criticized for taking this effort; but we are doing this on human rights ground and with the realization that it is the only right thing to do. Nothing less, nothing more.
For those that genuinely feel that the Hindraf 5 should be released, this is all I ask of you, let us do our job and you do yours. We can fight and find faults on other issues. Enough finger pointing has been going on whilst the 5 have been detained without trial and their families suffer. Lets move on.
Murugesan Sinnandavar
Very often I have read with distress judgments where judges rule in favour of the government or prosecution where there is ambiguity. I am a firm believer that where there is grey area in law, judges should interpret the law in such a way that it advances freedom and protection of human rights.
Judges in India are famed for such inclinations and that is one of the reasons why India is able to maintain a robust democracy despite having a very corrupt political and civil service system. Good for RPK. He is a free man once more, free to speak his mind. Good for our democracy too.
Touching on the subject of ISA, MIC Youth met with Indian based NGOs again yesterday ( 7th November, 2008) to discuss what could we as a group do in order to secure the release of the Hindraf 5. The first meeting was held just before Hari Raya.
After much discussion, it was decided that demonstration will be counter-productive in this instance. It was agreed that MIC Youth together with NGOs will meet with either the Prime Minister or the Home Affairs Minister to make further representations as to why we think the Hindraf 5 are not a security threat and why their continued detention untenable.
For the nay-sayers, I have stated earlier and reiterate it here again, that we are doing this with full knowledge that we will still be criticized for taking this effort; but we are doing this on human rights ground and with the realization that it is the only right thing to do. Nothing less, nothing more.
For those that genuinely feel that the Hindraf 5 should be released, this is all I ask of you, let us do our job and you do yours. We can fight and find faults on other issues. Enough finger pointing has been going on whilst the 5 have been detained without trial and their families suffer. Lets move on.
Murugesan Sinnandavar
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