MCCBCHST: PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY IS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT

30.06.2011

Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) notes that Bersih Organisers, Perkasa and UMNO Youth are intending to hold peaceful Assemblies on 9 July 2011.

MCCBCHST is of the view that since our Federal Constitution, the Supreme Law of our land provides under Article 10(1)(b) that “all citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms”, the proposed assemblies by the said groups should be allowed. Further, one of the pillars of our Rukun Negara is “Keluhuran Perlembagaan”. i.e. Supremacy of the Constitution. Even the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) has stated that the People have the constitutional right to assemble peaceably (The Star 28/6/2011) and the Government should allow it.

Any pre-emptive banning of proposed peaceful assemblies would mean that one has no right to peaceful assembly, making the fundamental guarantee illusory. The police have the duty and the capacity to control such assemblies and can designate routes and separate the different groups as has been done during the recent by-elections.

The fact that such assemblies may cause traffic jams and inconvenience the people is not a legitimate reason. People generally are prepared to put up with some inconveniences in furtherance of their fundamental rights. Many national and religious functions and processions are held on regular basis and Malaysians have accepted these inconveniences as part and parcel of the heritage of our Malaysian Society.

MCCBCHST therefore appeal to the police to act professionally in the matter and allow people to exercise their fundamental right to peaceful assembly. The police can call the groups concerned and make arrangements on the route each may take. On the day itself police should be there to separate the groups and to control the traffic and crowd with humanity and professionalism.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) call upon all concerned citizens of Malaysia to earnestly pray that all parties concerned will conduct themselves with decorum and respect as we approach the day of the proposed peaceful assembly.

Reverend Dr. Thomas Philips – President
Daozhang Tan Bon Sin – Deputy President
Sardar V. Harcharan Singh – Vice President
Venerable Ming Ji – Vice President
Mr. RS. Mohan Shan – Vice President
Mr. Prematilaka KD Serisena – Honorary Secretary General

MCCBCHST: Revoke Conversion of a mentally-ill woman

22.06.2011

The MCCBCHST is disturbed to learn about the conversion of Eow Su Chin, 23, a mentally-ill woman to Islam recently. We have learnt from the Newspaper report appearing in STAR on 10/6/2011 that Eow Su Chin has been certified to have the mental age of a 7 year old. We appreciate that while the Islamic religious department of Balik Pulau where the conversion took place may not initially have been aware of the mental state of Eow Su Chin (now known as Sofiah Eow Abdullah) before her conversion, but now after having been shown the medical records of the mental incapacity and the fact that Eow Su Chin had been taken away from a Handicap Centre, the Islamic Department’s inaction in not righting a wrong does not bode well for the Department.

The following wrongs appear to have been committed in this case against Eow Su Chin: -

(i) The person “Kassim” who took Eow Su Chin away from the Eden Handicap Centre must have been aware of her mental incapacity. He thus may be Guilty of having removed Eow Su Chin from a place of safety without lawful authority which can amount to abducting a woman to compel her marriage, an offence under Section 366 of Panel Code.

(ii) The Islamic Religious Department of Balik Pulau by not revoking the conversion Departmentally on learning of the mental state of Eow Su Chin may be guilty of Committing a moral wrong.

(iii) Since Conversion of Eow Su Chin was done in haste, it appears that no prior religious counseling had been given to her.

The MCCBCHST therefore calls on the Balik Pulau Religious department to departmentally revoke the Conversion of Eow Su Chin to Islam, in view of her incapacity to give consent for conversion to Islam. This will go a long way in righting a wrong that has been committed to Eow Su Chin and her family.

Reverend Dr. Thomas Philips – President
Daozhang Tan Bon Sin – Deputy President
Sardar V. Harcharan Singh – Vice President
Venerable Ming Ji – Vice President
Mr. RS. Mohan Shan – Vice President
Mr. Prematilaka KD Serisena – Honorary Secretary General

SCHOLARSHIPS – GAPS POSITION IN CONFLICT WITH CONSTITUTION

08.06.2011

GAPS (Gagasan Anti Penyelewengan Selangor) President Hamidah Khairuddin has been reported to have said recently that only Malays and Bumiputras have the right to receive Government Scholarship and Federal Constitution says that only Malays and Bumiputras have the right to receive a Scholarship. This POSITION OF GAPS is UNTENABLE as shown below.

The only provision relating to special position of Malays in the Federal Constitution
Relating to Scholarship is Article 153.

The following POINTS in respect of Article 153 should be noted:-

- It only talks about special position of the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak. Special rights is not mentioned in the Article.

- The word Bumiputra is not found anywhere in the Federal Constitution.

- Article 153 (1) imposes responsibility on the Yang Dipertuan Agong in addition to safeguarding this special position of the Malays to also safeguard the legitimate interests of the other Communities.

- Article 153 (2) allows (amongst others) reservation for Malays and Natives of Sabah and Sarawak “…… of such proportion as he may deem reasonable ….. of Scholarship ……”. Thus a reasonable proportion of Scholarships awarded can be reserved for Malays and Natives of Sabah and Sarawak.

- The use of the word “reasonable proportion” rules out reservation of 100% of Scholarship for Malays. Therefore, after reservation of reasonable proportion, the balance should also be available to the Non-Malays, as they have legitimate interest in it.

- Article 153 is found under PART XII “General and Miscellaneous provision” of the Constitution. It therefore has to strike a balance with Fundamental rights Guaranteed under the Federal Constitution in Part II, for eg. Article 8 (1) which states “All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law”.

From the above it is clear that Article 153 only allows (amongst others) a reservation of reasonable proportion of Scholarship for Malays and Natives of Sabah and Sarawak. What is reasonable has not been defined. But the use of word “reasonable” connotes a fair percentage and the word “proportion” rules out absolute or total percentage.

It may be pertinent to state here that the Lord Reid Commission had proposed a 15-year limit on this special position provision under Article 153 as there was objection from the various communities to its extension for a longer period. But in the final draft this limitation is not found. It is said that the Alliance partners had agreed to allow the Malays to decide when this special position provision should be revoked.

This is what the LORD REID COMMISSION had stated in respect to ARTICLE 153:

“We recommend that after 15 years there should be areview of the whole matter and that the procedure should be that the appropriate Government should cause a report to be made and laid before the appropriate legislature; and that the legislature should then determine either to retain or to reduce any quota or to discontinue it entirely.”

Article 153 only allows reservation of reasonable proportion of quotas in 3 areas i.e. (i) positions in public service (ii) Scholarship, exhibitions etc. and (iii) obtaining permits or licences for operation of any trade or business. Thus, there cannot be quotas in other areas. Therefore any racial discrimination, for example, barring non-Malays from tenders, Impositions of compulsory price discounts in favour of Malays in housing projects, blanket barring of Non-Malays to public funded academic institutions, having courses which only cater for bumiputra students, etc. are in violation of Article 153 and Article 8 (Art. 8: All persons are equal before the law).

Therefore GAPS statement as reported is clearly Not Tenable and does not find any support in the Supreme law of the Federation – The Federal Constitution.

Reverend Dr. Thomas Philips
President
MCCBCHST