Stop questioning Tamil Tigers probe, lawyer Haniff tells DAP leaders

(FMT) – Lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla today said the DAP’s attacks on police investigations linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) were not doing the country’s image of upholding the rule of law any good.

He said such attacks also gave the people the impression that DAP, by the virtue of being part of the ruling government, was meddling in police affairs.

“DAP leaders such as P Ramasamy and Lim Kit Siang and others had given comments asking how Sosma is used to arrest when Sosma ought to be repealed,” he said, referring to the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.

“Their comments had given a different perception to the rakyat, as people thought the government was meddling in police affairs, especially so when the DAP is part of the government.

“As a government, it is their responsibility to not interfere with the authorities. The government’s duty is to dispel any perception that could give an impression that the rule of law is being compromised,” he said in a video interview with Kelab Inspirasiku Mahathir uploaded on YouTube.

Haniff said the reason he had raised the alarm was that it appeared the government was bending the rule of law for the benefit of its own members.

“That is why I made noise… I will not agree to that. There is no compromise to bending of the law, no matter how high a post the leader holds.

“Even the prime minister follows the rule of law. If he was wrong, he would quickly correct himself. Can we say the same about other leaders?

“I feel that when the rule of law is compromised, so too the sincerity of the ruling government,” he said.

Haniff also said Pakatan Harapan had never promised to repeal Sosma in its election manifesto but had merely promised to amend the law concerning bail.

He said that even before PH became government, its supporters had no plans to repeal it and felt the law was needed to counter terrorism.

Separately, he urged economists, sociologists, financial experts and others to give feedback directly to the government, “rather than talking behind the government’s back in coffee shop gossip”.

He said the government was willing to listen.

Three DAP members – two assemblymen and a local councillor – have been charged with supporting the now-defunct LTTE in Melaka in November last year.

Nine other men were also arrested in Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Perak, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Selangor on terrorism charges linked to LTTE.