Here....Learn YOUR RIGHTS

I’ve been asked by some of my friends recently to blog about the law like other law students do. Although I find it perfectly understable for law students to blog about the laws governing them, I often abstain from doing so for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most compelling reason is that in this country some people of major influence only want to hear what they like to hear and if you don’t speak (or blog) in the same manner, serious repercussions may await you! So, without going further, I will end the matter there. But, there are quite a lot of enthusiastic law students out there who have and will blog about the law inter alia Weng Tchung and Lay Hun and you can access their blog through my blog list located to the right of the shoulders of my page.

However, without dissapointing you, my readers, from time to time, I will make an exception to the general rule about not blogging about the law provided that I feel the post will bring some substantial benefit to the lay person sitting in the (not so) Rapid KL bus. Therefore, here, I will attempt to furnish you with the rights that you have upon an arrest by the police.

Remember these acronyms for they may (or may not) serve you well in times of need : GLS 24 (G- grounds of arrest, L- Legal Representation, S- Right to remain silent, 24- the arrested person shall be brought before a Magistrate within 24 hours)

1. Article 5(3) of the Federal Constitution: Where a person is arrested he shall be informed as soon as may be of the grounds of his arrest and shall be allowed to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.

(Therefore, if you ever have the misfortune of being arrested, you have the right to be told of the grounds of your arrest as provided by Article 5. You also may consult a lawyer of your choice and it is clear from the decision in OCCI Kedah- Perlis v Ooi Ah Phua, that if the police had refrained you from consulting your lawyer the ‘onus is upon the police to prove that they are reasonable in doing so’.)

2. Article 5(4) of the Federal Constitution: Where a person is arrested and not released he shall without unreasonable delay, and in any case within twenty-four hours (excluding the time of any necessary journey) be produced before a magistrate and shall not be further detained in custody without the magistrate's authority:

Provided that this Clause shall not apply to the arrest or detention of any person under the existing law relating to restricted residence, and all the provisions of this Clause shall be deemed to have been an integral part of this Article as from Merdeka Day.

(Article 5(4) is self explanatory. If you have had your rights infringed it is important that you know that you may seek to apply for a writ of habeas corpus to set yourself free from this illegal detention)

3. S.113 of the CPC: You have a right to remain silent after a caution has been administered (also self explanatory)

Hope this helps! This post was written at 2.15 am on 17/9/2007 mostly out of memory and therefore out of sheer weariness there may be some minor errors here and there though I believe in substance is it correct.

(Btw, as far as I know, to all my friends who watch legal based series like Ally McBeal, Boston Legal etc, there is no such right as a right to a phone call!Well, at least none provided by the law in Malaysia!)

Man’s best friend & the dog’s worst nightmare

Recently, one of the local municipal councils staged a competition to round up and catch stray dogs. Wow... bravo! Whenever I think that we can’t possibly sink to a new level, some one just tries their best to prove me wrong and make me eat humble pie!

I’m now dining over the said pie with more than a tear on my face. I shouldn’t be too surprised after all. We have a poor record of caring for other species besides our own and even then we continue to alienate even our own species through stringent criterias like skin color and race! I’m not a religious man. But, if I’m a person who believes in karma, I would strongly suggest to all those out there reading this blog, to abstain from participating on such competitions or any other of the same kind. I know it may be hard when there are numerous rewards for shooting a crow, or trapping a dog, or catching some monkeys and often these rewards are monetary in nature. However, I appeal to the human in YOU, to see and to realise that this is just WRONG.

The local municipal is taking the easy way out by letting others do their job. BUT, how many of us can show compassion to God’s other creatures? From my personal observation, not many people in Malaysia delight in caring for dog’s. As a matter of fact, they get more joy by stoning them to death. I have seen many sadist like these and I surely hope that YOU there behind the monitor is not one of them. Some people think that their religion forbids them to have any love for the our four legged friends. I think that any religion that actively indulges in other being's suffering is wrong or most likely just misinterpreted by man for their own fancy!

To some of us, the dog is man’s best friend.

To the dog, some of us is the dog’s worst nightmare.