Merdeka movie

A friend of my wife told her that Tae Guk Gi is an interesting movie. As a fan of the military and historical movie, I spend my Merdeka countdown by watching Tae Guk Gi.

My comment: Highly recommended. Pre-requisite: History of Korean War.
The synopsys of the movie can be accessed here.

From Alor Setar to Lumut

Shamsudin, a former POPO detainee, related the story of successive remands (also known as chain smoking) in the POPO forum organised by Bar Council and Suaram held on last Saturday.

POPO is the acronym for The Emergency (Public Order and Preventive of Crime) Ordinance 1969. POPO is a product of May 13. It is enacted on May 16, 1969 to curb the racial riot.

Shamsudin was arrested at Alor Setar. He was brought before the magistrate and remanded for 10 days. It was alleged that the Police brought him from one town to another town and he was remanded for more than 143 days in total. He told the audience that he was brought before the magistrate at Alor Setar, Sungai Petani, Kulim, Bukit Mertajam, Butterworth, Taiping, Ipoh and Lumut.

In law, a magistrate can issue a remand order up to 14 days. However, multiple remand orders is a blatant abuse to rule of law. If the Police cannot finish the investigation within 14 days, then the detainee should be released.

Shamsudin was later sent to Simpang Renggam detention camp for 2 years under POPO. After 2 years, he was given a restrictive residence order to a place called Jerantut. He told the audience that he could not find a living in that backwater village. There were around 200 Malay families and he was the only Indian-Muslim in the community.

POPO is a law on preventive detention. It is the same genus as ISA.

In another related development, Minister in the PM Department, Dato Seri Mohamed Nazri told the Parliament that he has consulted the AG's Chambers on revamping the Emergency Ordinances. However, he will not commit to any possible reform.

This is what reported in the Hansard on 21-8-06.
"Terima kasih Tuan Yang di-Pertua. Saya ingin mengucapkan berbanyak terima kasihlah kepada Yang Berhormat bagi Bukit Gelugor. Dia telah membangkitkan berkenaan soal mengapa kita tidak menggunakan Artikel 150(3) untuk membatalkan semua ordinan darurat yang telah dikeluarkan pada tahun 1948, 1964 dan 1969.

Saya telah pun menghubungi pihak AG's Chambers untuk supaya kita menimbangkan pandangan Yang Berhormat itu yang memang memerlukan kepada satu exercise yang besar-besaran untuk melihat berkenaan dengan peruntukan-peruntukan yang mana kalau sekiranya ia masih diperlukan, maka kita harus memperaktakannya dan tidak lagi mengguna Ordinan-ordinan Darurat ini.

Jadi, dalam hal ini oleh kerana kita meminda maritim oleh kerana ordinan ini tidak dibatalkan, maka ia masih lagi menjadi undang-undang. Jadi dalam membincangkan rang undang-undang ini, maka sememangnyalah kita terpaksa meminda ordinan ini kerana ia masih lagi menjadi undang-undang."

The news coverage on the forum and the relevant material can also be found in the following links.

• Harakah Daily
• The Malaysian Bar
• Convicted Before Trial - Report by Human Rights Watch
• Merdeka Review

The mainstream media did not cover this forum.

On the road

I will be travelling to KL (again) this weekend. My 6th trip this year.
The 7th trip is scheduled on September 15th and 16th - A criminal law workshop for pupils and lawyers.

I will attend two events this weekend.

1. POPO forum. POPO is the acronym for The Emergency (Public Order and Preventive of Crime) Ordinance 1969. The POPO detention camp is located at Simpang Renggam, Johore. I have been following up on the POPO cases like Lee Kew Sang, Koo Tee Yam etc. Federal Court has delivered the judgment in Lee Kew Sang that the only ground to attack POPO order is from procedural aspect. Examples are the validity of the detention order and the composition of the Advisory Board etc.

2. Debat Perdana.

All events are organised by Bar Council.

I will blog it next week.

Remedy for a frustrated house owner

Dear Lai,

Thanks for the SMS.

Your question is: Is there any action can be taken against a neighouring house owner who has rented the flat unit to more than 30 foreign workers?

My short answer: You may file a complaint to local council. You may quote Section 78 of Local Government Act.

Section 78: Over-crowding of houses.
"Any person who permits a house to be so overcrowded as to be injurious and dangerous to the health of the inhabitants shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding two thousands ringgit or to a imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment to a further fine not exceeding one hundred riggit for each day during which the offence is continued after conviction"

If there is no action taken by the local council, then we may move to the next course of action.

Yours sincerely,
Hon Wai, Wong

My BOJ experience...

Dear Koh and David,

I received the emails enquiry from you on the similar topic. I am replying to both of you by this blog entry. Perhaps, this will be beneficial to other folks out there who are doing Bachelor of Jurisprudence (University of Malaya). Send my regards to all your BOJ classmates.

I started doing my BOJ in year 2001. During my first year, I sat for 4 subjects namely Constitution Law, Malaysian Legal System, Islamic Law and Contract Law. I managed to pass all of them in one sitting. I completed the BOJ by passing 15 subjects in 4 years time.

I was working full time then (from 8am to 5.15pm, Monday to Friday). I did not have any access to the notes from the tuition providers namely Kemayan or Brickfields. I am from Penang and did not know anyone who attended the tuition classes.

The syllabus outline from UM was my Bible. I used it to prepare my own notes. I travelled to UM Law Library at least 4 times a year. I usually took the mid-night express bus from Penang and arrived at Pudu Raya in the wee hours. I would normally stayed at UM for two days during each visit to buy books, checked out the MLJ cases, photocopied the necessary materials.
I also utilized the resources from the library of USM and UUM. My sister was in UUM then.

There are two places in UM you should visit frequently. The first is the Pekan Buku. And the second is the law library. In fact, it has become my habit to visit Pekan Buku every time I travel to KL.

I set aside a budget of around RM500 each year to buy books. For the first year, you have to invest in buying books on Constitution Law. For Constitution Law, you cannot just depend on one book. You have to read widely. I found that Kevin Tan on Constitution Law is quite comprehensive. Furthermore, you may refer to articles and books by Aziz Bakri, Wu Min Aun and Shad Faruqi.
For landmark cases, it goes without saying that you have to read the whole case. I meant you have to read from line 1 to last line. You will go far if you have developed the habit of reading whole cases in your early years.

At first, you may face problem in understanding the legalese. If you cultivate the habit of reading cases, you will find it not difficult to grasp the concept, the ratio decendi or dictum.
BTW, buy yourself a legal dictionary. Check out at Pekan Buku.

For MLS, it should be an easier paper. As long as you get the concept right, you should be able to pass the paper.

For Contract Law, practice made perfect. There is a good reference book by UM lecturer. You may check out at Pekan Buku. For Islamic Law, I downloaded the Al-Quran verses from the website of JPM. I like the Islamic Family Law. It provided me another perspective other than civil family law.

I started the preparation in August. I allocated 20 hours per week for reading books and cases. From April to July, I usually spent 30 hours per week to wrap up what I have learned and prepared for the exam. I am an early bird. So, for me, the best time to study is 5am to 7am.

You may opt to attend the LEEP programme organised by the Faculty sometime in May. In my first year, I only attended the Islamic Law session.

In my first year, I knew that I am ready to go further in law studies when I won the second prize for an essay competition organised by Bar Council. The first prize went to a chambering student. The third prize went to a LLM holder. The topic of my essay: "Hak Asasi Manusia: Imbangan Antara Hak Ramai dan Hak Individu". You may check out the bibliography (the last part) of the essay. I used those reference materials to prepare for the Constitution Law. The essay was a product on a weekend.

I have been talking to many BOJ aspirants who did not complete the first year. I understand that the drop-out rate is quite high for those on self-study mode.

I just want to share with you a quotation by the author of the book - The Paper Chase
"You teach yourselves the law. I train your minds. You come in here with a skull full of mush, and if you survive, you'll leave thinking like a lawyer." -- Professor Kingsfield"

I am displaying this photo to motivate you guys. All four of us are from BOJ (Malaya). We started the BOJ in 2001 and passed the CLP in 2005.

From left: Josephine (Seremban), Cha Kee Chin (Seremban), Ong (PJ) and me (Penang).

Josephine and Cha will be called to Bar soon.
Ong is doing his LLM at UM. I will start my chambering in a month time.

Let me know if you need further assistance.

Yours sincerely,
Hon Wai, Wong
Penang

GST in Hong Kong

The Government of Hong Kong SAR has given the following undertaking in the GST consultation paper. The consultation process will last for 9 months.

"It is the Government's intention that the tax reform package would not need to generate additional revenue. It is our plan that for the first five years after GST introduction, all revenue so generated would be returned to the community as tax relief and other compensation measures. We also proposed that all key elements of the tax reform, would remain unchanged for the first five years."

The tax relief could be the reduction of income tax rate or additional tax relief.

How about Malaysian version of GST? Everything is keep in the dark. No such undertaking was given by Abdullah's administration.

Let's wait for the budget day, September 1st. I believe the 84-day maternity leave package for the female civil servants will be announced then.

Qing Zhen -- born on August 10th.

My wife and I will like to invite you to view our baby's photo online at Penang Adventist Hospital Baby Photo Homepage.

Website: http://www.pah.com.my/public/babyphoto/v2/
Photo Access Code: 238531JZV

Both mother and baby are doing well. Birth weight is 7lbs 7ozs. Mode of delivery: natural.

We named the baby as Qing Zhen 慶琛. Zhen in Chinese language means treasure. The other prominent person with the name Zhen is Qian Qi-Chen 钱其琛, Former Vice Premier and Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China.

We named our first kid as Qing Lynn 慶琳. In Chinese language, it means jade. She is 4 years old now. Her first name sounds similar to the name of Soong Ch'ing-ling 宋慶齡. Mdm Soong was one of the Soong sisters—three sisters whose husbands were amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20th century. She was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China.

Our second kid is Qing Ray, 慶鋭. In Chinese language, it means agile, sharp. He is two years old. His first name is similar to Goh Keng Swee, 吴慶瑞, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore.

UEM, LKS, O53, PIL and QSR

I shall put a disclaimer here: This blog entry is not about Da Vinci Code.

1. On 18 August 1987, Lim Kit Siang filed at the Penang High Court and applied for an interim injunction against United Engineers (M) Sdn Bhd to restrain it from signing the North South Highway contract.

The Supreme Court ruled that Lim Kit Siang did not have the locus standi although he might be a politician, a road user and a taxpayer. The court did not grant the leave and did not even discuss about the substantive issue.

2. Moving fast forward. Now, it is year 2006. The Abdullah Administration announced that UEM will be granted the contract to build the second Penang Bridge. No open tender was called.

3. Is there any changes to the law on locus standi since the case of UEM v LKS?

In the case of QSR Brands Bhd v Suruhajaya Sekuriti [2006] 3 MLJ 164, Court of Appeal noted on the changes of the new Order 53 (Rules of High Court). The test of threshold locus standi is "adversely affected". Gopal Sri Ram, JCA, quoted a case of Supreme Court of India and outlines the test on locus standi namely:
(a) Is there a sufficient personal interest? or
(b) Is the application a public interest litigation (PIL)?

4. Base on the fact of UEM v LKS, it is clearly fall under the category of Public Interest Litigation as described in QSR Brands. Should the UEM v LKS to be heard after the new Order 53, it will definitely pass thru the leave stage and at least will have a chance to be heard base on substantive issue.

LPA, Hansard and Interpretation.

There have been heated debates among the legal fraternity on the amendment to Legal Profession Act. In fact, both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara have passed the amendment. It is now pending at Royal Assent.

There are two opposing views. To me, it is the pragmatism versus idealism. All of them agree on the quorum clause as well as young-lawyer clause. However, they disagree on the issue of secrecy clause, DB proceedings and appeal/judicial review clause.

The idealists camp has provided their input to Senator YB Dato Rhina Bhar. I have read the Hansard and the speech by Rhina Bhar was more or less the same input as discuss in the Malaysian Legal Forum.

It is uphill task to reconcile the interest of every party. If you want to go for the United Nations type of consensus building, it is time consuming.

For those who are going to participate in the discussion at a forum organised by Bar Council this Saturday, I would think that they should at least read the Hansard particulary speech by Rhina Bhar as well as the wind-up speech by Kayveas.

I shall put a caveat on this. The Malaysian Court, in ascertaining the intention of the legislature, will only refer to the speech by the Minister. The speeches by MPs as well as Senators will not be refer to. However, the speeches will be helpful to those interested to understand the nuances of the issue.

Singapore has a clause which enable the court to have recourse to statements made in Parliament to ascertain legislative intention in the event of any ambiguity in a statutory provision.

Section 9A of Singapore Interpretation Act states that interpretation of a provision of a written law shall include, inter alia, any relevant material in any official record of debates in Parliament.