Nazri: Bar Council’s decision to sue govt an attempt to intimidate

(Bernama) – The decision by the Bar Council to sue the government over the May 7 detention of five legal aid lawyers is an attempt to intimidate the enforcement authorities from discharging their duties, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said today.

He said it also showed that the legal practitioners themselves wanted to undermine the country’s legal system.

“The Bar Council is supposed to be a role model. If police enforce the law and among those caught are their (Bar Council) members, they have to accept it.

“We have the judiciary. Let the court decides whether the five lawyers are guilty or not,” he told reporters after opening a programme for Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) pupils in the Padang Rengas parliamentary constituency at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Temenggong, Kati here.

He was commenting on a resolution passed by the Bar Council at its extraordinary general meeting on Friday to sue the government and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan over the detention of the five lawyers during the candlelight vigil for the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) activist Wong Chin Huat last week.

On the political crisis in Perak, Mohamed Nazri said, the court was the best avenue to settle the dispute and that there was no need for a fresh state election as the state legislative assembly was still intact.

“There is no hung assembly”, he said, adding that the request to dissolve the state assembly cannot not be made by the minority.